In my first semester of graduate school, I took an independent study course with my labmates to refresh our landscape representation skills. In this course we focused on reviewing and practicing the basics of hand sketched graphics, as well as growing our personal styles through the exploration of others’ styles.
We began by practicing traditional landscape drawings…
Finding styles from artists that we liked, and tracing them to understand the techniques behind the drawings…
Then we tried to imitate others’ styles by freehand copying drawings.
To exercise our skills and get others involved, we help a workshop where we asked fellow landscape architecture and design students to draw native trees in various styles to have a fun database of native plant drawings for and by students.
Using the following layout, we asked participants to choose a plant native to Indiana to draw along with various features of the plant.
I didn’t complete my sketches during the workshop, but the plants that I started sketching were a Black Willow and a Ginkgo (not native to Indiana, but fun to draw!).
This course allowed us to be more creative in our research projects by giving us the tools to approach land analysis and communication through different means than the norm.
During this time, I was researching the various ecoregions, habitats, and wildlife in my study area (Northwest Indiana), so I was able to visualize these ecosystems in a different medium than just maps and images.
Overall, this course gave me the opportunity to refresh my hand graphic skills, and to see science and research through a more creative lens.
Grace Lentz 
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