A free, browser-based timed drawing tool. It pulls research-grade plant observations from iNaturalist near a location you choose, shows you one specimen at a time with its common and Latin names, and runs a timer while you draw. Each session includes a focus prompt — silhouette, branching, leaf attachment, and so on — to direct your attention. It is meant to be the botanical equivalent of figure-drawing gesture practice.

From iNaturalist observations that have reached "research grade," meaning the community has agreed on the identification. Each image is credited to its observer and carries the license they chose. The Lab displays images for study only; it does not redistribute them. If you want to draw a close copy of a particular photograph for a finished piece, check its license on iNaturalist first — see our guide to iNaturalist licenses.

So that the specimens are plants that actually grow near you — the ones you can go and see in the field afterward. Your location is used only to query iNaturalist for nearby observations; it is not stored on our servers. You can type a city instead of sharing your device location. Details are in the privacy policy.

Free, and no account. The site is supported by unobtrusive advertising. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing is saved between sessions other than any settings your browser keeps locally.

Sparse areas — deserts, high alpine, or places with few iNaturalist users — have fewer research-grade observations, so the pool is smaller. Try widening the location to a nearby city or a larger region. If nothing loads at all, iNaturalist's servers may be slow; wait a moment and try again. If it persists, let us know with your location and browser.

Yes. The interface works on any modern browser. Many people use a tablet propped beside a sketchbook, or a phone for two-minute studies on the go. The magnifier lens works with touch on most devices.

A short, fast drawing that captures the overall character of the subject — its posture, its main lines of growth, the proportion of its parts — without detail. Figure artists have done this for centuries with the human body. Applied to plants, it trains you to see the whole before the parts: the arc of a stem, the way leaves are held, the silhouette of a flower cluster. It is the foundation that measured, detailed botanical drawing is built on.

Two minutes is for gesture: the big shapes only. Five minutes is for form: the main structure and a few relationships. Ten minutes is for a detail study: one leaf, one flower, drawn carefully. A good practice session is several two-minute studies, a couple of fives, and one ten. Twenty to thirty minutes a day, most days, does more than three hours once a week.

No. They are supposed to. The point of a timed study is not the drawing but what the time limit does to your attention — it forces you to decide what matters, because there is no time for anything else. The improvement shows up in your longer drawings, not in the studies themselves. Keep them anyway; after a few months, comparing the first week's studies to the latest is the clearest evidence of progress you will ever have.

Both, with real plants taking priority whenever possible. Photographs are available at any hour and in any season and they never wilt; living plants show you three-dimensional form, true color, and scale that no photograph can. Use the Lab for daily practice and for species you cannot reach, and take the same habits outside with a field sketchbook. Our guide to photographic references covers what a photograph cannot tell you.

For timed studies: any pencil and any paper. Really. A cheap sketchbook and an HB pencil are the right tools, because you should not be precious about a two-minute drawing. For finished work, see the guides on graphite and choosing a medium, and the resources page.

Botanical illustration is scientific: the drawing must be accurate enough to identify the species, usually at a known scale, often with magnified details and dissections, and conventionally lit from the upper left. Botanical art uses the same subjects and often the same techniques but prioritizes the aesthetic result and may omit or simplify diagnostic features. Many artists do both. The plate composition guide explains the conventions of the scientific plate.

You need to know enough to see what you are drawing. That is less than a degree and more than nothing: the parts of a flower, the terms for leaf shapes and margins, how flowers are arranged on a stem, what makes a grass a grass. Our flower anatomy and leaf vocabulary guides cover the essentials, and every species spotlight on the blog points out the characters that matter for that plant.

Several botanic gardens run certificate programs — the Denver Botanic Gardens School of Botanical Art and Illustration, where the author of this site studies, is one; the New York Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, Filoli, and others have similar programs, and there are strong programs in the UK and Europe. The American Society of Botanical Artists maintains a list and runs workshops and exhibitions. See resources.

Only where it is permitted and only sparingly. Public lands, parks, and preserves usually prohibit collecting; protected species must never be taken; private land needs permission. Your own garden, a nursery, and a florist are the friction-free sources. Our guide to collecting and preserving specimens covers the ethics and the practicalities.

Use the contact page. Species requests, especially for plants in the Rocky Mountain region, are welcome and shape what gets written next. Bug reports with your browser and location are equally welcome.