• A few of weeks ago I went to the British Museum and actually handled the original artwork of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies. I got to spend the afternoon studying the artwork close up so I could get an idea of how she drew and painted.

    In this video I show you my sketches and notes and then go through the process of sketching, inking and painting a part of an illustration from the book.

    If you don’t know the story, here is video retelling of the Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies by Beatrix Potter. I should let you know that Soporific means something that will send you to sleep and improvident means being a bit careless and having too m much fun and not providing for the future.

    See the Beatrix Potter Playlist of videos here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuQ9vjXNtWEQO2t0VZEv5B4TJxVoir6qn

  • Learn – along with me – how to draw and paint watercolour like Beatrix Potter copying an illustration from The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher.

    You can get the pencil sketch, copies of the two versions I painted and a copy of Beatrix Potter’s version from the book all in hi res scans when you support me on Patreon – You can also get an ebook copy of my book Everyone Can Draw!

    I think this must be my longest video ever! I’ve not cut out a huge amount, maybe five minutes, so this is pretty much in real time.

    My first attempt went very wrong, because I was using the wrong paper and the wrong brush. The second attempt was much better but I think the pencil is all wrong and I still haven’t got the right brush.

    I think I’m going to have to go to the British Museum and get up close with some of her artwork to really understand her style.

    Looking more closely I see she makes her backgrounds very pale and misty, but her foregrounds and shadows are made up of dark colour tints rather than dark overlays, like I instinctively do – which have a habit of going dirty. So I have learned something!

    Now you can listen to my telling of the story of Mr Jeremy Fisher here:

  • I was on the beach in Cape Cod in the USA last week. I didn’t see any jelly fish, though the beach was littered with the remains of Horseshoe crabs. I’ll have to add them to my very long list pdf things to draw. In the meantime, follow this simple drawing video and learn how to draw a jellyfish for yourself.