Discover the Art of Field Sketching: Nature-Inspired Techniques for Pencil, Pen, and Watercolor - Hardcover

by Kristin Link (Author)

An empowering guide to the many ways of noticing, connecting with, and documenting the world around you, based on the renowned workshop that Kristin Link has been leading in remote Alaska for over a decade. ​

For over 15 years, artist and illustrator Kristin Link has taught everyone from children to experts to draw everything from a single acorn to a breathtaking mountain vista. Now her popular field sketching course is available as a guide that anyone can use.

Discover the Art of Field Sketching is a nature illustration book for artists of all skill levels. It starts with the basics of pen, pencil, and watercolor, then introduces more advanced techniques for complex landscapes and animals in motion. It features visual subject matter for wherever you live: you can learn to sketch a night sky, a backyard bird, or a squirrel in the park as well as a rugged mountain wilderness. The book includes 30 step-by-step lessons, and many more inspiring examples of finished products. It also focuses on the meditative and philosophical aspects to field sketching, like slowing down, presentness, and learning to love nature of all sizes.

Discover The Art of Field Sketching is just as informative on why to get into field sketching, as it is on how to make the most of your projects.

Author Biography

Kristin Link's art is rooted in curiosity and beauty, capturing the details of landscapes, wildlife, and seasonal changes. With a graduate certificate in science illustration from California State University, Monterey Bay, she combines storytelling with scientific precision. Her work has been featured in museum exhibits, fine art shows, periodical publications, interpretive education materials, and her own illustrated products.

For the past 15 years, Kristin has called Alaska home and lives in an off-the-grid cabin near McCarthy, surrounded by the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Kristin has extensive experience in the backcountry and glaciated mountains of Alaska. From climbing Denali to guiding teenage students on wilderness pack-raft trips to skiing at -20 degrees Fahrenheit with her partner and dog on the Nizina River, she is always finding inspiration in the natural world and striving to share it with others through her art.

She has been hired to create art displayed inside National Park buildings and along scenic Alaska highways, to teach and help rural students create murals reflecting their local environment and subsistence culture, and provide original artwork for museums, galleries, and individuals. Kristin teaches field-sketching workshops, as well as joins undergraduate students on wilderness courses to teach science communication and field sketching.