John Muir Laws demonstrates how to paint clouds using gouache, watercolor, and toned paper. (Class session from 20 April 2023) How to make your own gouache palette: https://youtu.be/Y6xWMHpTRoE?si=VPiX55tB8dOuFrVF Read More
Category: Art Technique
Making Papier Mâché Birds (Sep. 7, 2023)
John Muir Laws interviews Nancy Overton, an artist who makes incredible paper mache birds to inspire and increase awareness and care for the natural world. (Class session recording from 7 September 2023) Nancy shares step-by-step photos of how she makes a bird: tools and materials, collecting reference photos, making a silhouette drawing, making wire silhouettes, Read More
Understanding Birds Through Sculpture (Nov. 21, 2024)
Join John Muir Laws and Jack Revie as we explore the process of carving birds and how to think about birds three dimensionally. This process will improve your ability to draw birds from any angle. You may wish to bring some sculpy, or modeling clay to help you construct your own birds. (Class date: 21 Read More
NJEF: Journal Resources Page Insert (Apr. 30, 2021)
A class from the past! On 30 April 2021, John Muir Laws asked the Nature Journal Educators Forum for feedback on the resources inserts that later went into his blank sketchbooks, which hundreds of nature journalers now use and enjoy. You can find John Muir Laws’s blank sketchbooks for sale here: https://johnmuirlaws.com/product/the-laws-sketchbook-for-nature-journaling/ Read More
“Straight” lines on a sphere
Drawing Latitude and Longitude lines on a sphere is an amazing way to doodle your way to three-dimensional confidence. Famousandfaded created this wonderful tool to help you see the lines and use them as a reference. This is an interactive model. You can enlarge it to fill the full screen. Then use your mouse to Read More
Wild Wonder 2021 Supplementary: Insect Texture (Aug. 3, 2021)
In this follow-up to John Muir Laws’s 2021 Wild Wonder workshop about painting shiny insects, let’s look a bit closer and get into texture! Class session from 3 August 2021. Read More
Raccoon and Coyote (Jun. 10, 2021)
John Muir Laws demonstrates how to draw raccoons and coyotes using the keystone method, as well as comparing and contrasting these critters to see and render each one better. (Class from 10 June 2021) Read More
Ask Jack: Grab Bag of Tricks! (May 18, 2021)
In this “Ask Jack” session, John Muir Laws goes over various tips and tricks, including how to sight with binoculars, creating a foggy landscape, using a smudging tool, and iridescence. (Class from 18 May 2021) Read More
Animal Three-Quarter Views (Jun. 13, 2024)
Let’s look at 3/4 views of animal faces! This is one of the most useful ways to think about drawing animal faces, because you’re more likely to see 3/4 views than any other view! This workshop includes a mini-lesson on heads of herbivores vs. carnivores and primates. (Session from 13 June 2024) Read More
Simplifying Bird Wings (Feb. 29, 2024)
With a little help from Vivek Khanzode’s website https://www.birdpixel.com, John Muir Laws explores the different feather groups on a bird’s wing, and then demonstrates how to simplify drawing the wing as a whole. “Show less than you know” – if you know where the different parts are on the wing, then that will show you Read More