Amphibians, Reptiles and Fish

Drwaings showing variations in Moor frogs, Rana arvalis.

My series of amphibian and reptile drawings is slowly growing: every year I make the artwork for several covers of monographies. The series started many years ago; back then I was working in black and white. Because not only new parts are published, but also older ones are updated with new information, I have a chance to redo my older artwork in colour 🙂 

StyleVector art
Made forBook covers
ClientLaurenti Verlag

Inspiration

Amphibians, Reptiles and Fish are among my favourite animals. Many species have beautiful colours and they can often be observed from a close distance. They are also ideal animals to educate people about nature: not only is it possible to show them in nature, but they also have highly specific requirements for their surroundings. So their presence is a good indication of the state of the natural environment. 

North sea fish

The Flounder here is an old drawing. Soon, I will replace it with a new colour drawing of a fish, because I will start working on an exciting new project: a Field guide to Sea Fish! 

The authors plan to use photographs of most species, my task will be to draw species that are hard to photograph and to prepare all drawings for identification keys. 

I will update this text once I can tell you more!

 

Black and white drawing of an European flounder, Platichthys flesus.
Vector illustration of a Horvaths rock lizard, Iberolacerta horvathi.

Drawing many scales

Over the years, my drawings have become increasingly detailed, and, after trying several methods, I found a way to draw reptile scales in vector images. The trick is, to include an extra layer for the scales. But, it comes with a price: such a detailed drawing costs twice as much time to make … I think that the result is worth the effort and time. 

Books with my illustrations

I am lucky that, for many years, I can use my amphibian, reptile, and fish artwork in a wide variety of publications. The images here show a selection of those which I like most. They are: 

  • Field guides to the amphibians and freshwater fish of Slovenia, which I made together with Jana and which we published through Institute Symbiosis. They can also be ordered through us (in Slovene). 
  • Identification keys to the amphibians, reptiles, and freshwater fish for Society RAVON (in Dutch). 
  • Handbook of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe, 3 parts on Frogs and Toads (one more in preparation), by Aula Verlag (in German). 
  • The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Netherlands, which is basically the Dutch Herpetofauna Atlas. This publication is online at Researchgate (in Dutch).
  • Monographies on Amphibians and reptiles of Germany, mostly published as Beihefte der Zeitschrift Fuer Feldherpetologie, by Laurenti Verlag (in German, some also in English).Â