I haven’t posted for quite a while, but I have been busy. My current university project is an anniversary hardack edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species, with at least 14 chapter illustrations, some full page and some vignettes, so I’ve been quite busy reading the damn thing, researching and drawing for it. These are some of my initial drawings for the themes of the book. I wanted to make it quite new looking, but still referencing the media of the time.

I’m carving each illustation as a lino cut (i know it should be wood cut but I am a poor student!), and so I’m focusing on shapes and lines rather than colours. I think each image will be one colour, which means an added simplicity which seems to complicate the planning.

Tags: valeriepica, illustration, flower, floral, natural history