About This Tool
Botanical Gesture Lab is a free, browser-based timed drawing tool for botanical illustration students at any level. Real plant specimens from your area are sourced from iNaturalist's database of research-grade observations — every image comes with a verified common name and Latin binomial.
The premise is simple: load a specimen, set a timer, and draw. Each session is guided by a focus prompt to build deliberate observational habits over time. It is, in essence, a sketchbook for the curious.
How to use
- 01 Allow location access, or type your city — specimens are drawn from nearby iNaturalist observations.
- 02 Choose a time limit: 2 min for gesture, 5 min for form, 10 min for detail.
- 03 Click Begin Study. Draw what you see — let the focus prompt guide where to look first.
- 04 Hover over the image to activate the magnifier lens for fine surface detail.
Matthew Raya Steinbeiss
Botanical Illustrator · Denver, CO
Matthew Raya Steinbeiss is a botanical illustration student at the Denver Botanic Gardens School of Botanical Art and Illustration (SBAI), one of North America's premier programs dedicated to the scientific and artistic documentation of plants. A scholarship recipient, Matthew brings an eye for precision and a genuine curiosity for natural form to every study.
He works across pencil, watercolor, and ink — mediums that reward patience and close observation. Each piece begins with the same question a field botanist might ask: what is actually here, and how does it grow?
Botanical Gesture Lab grew out of a personal need for a daily practice resource that felt substantive — real specimens, real science, real places.
Share Your Practice Work
Finished a study? Post it and tag #BotanicalGestureLab — we'd love to see what you're drawing. Include the species name for extra credit.