Insightful Classes for All Levels: Botanical and Eco-Botanical
Foundational Courses For Beginners, Zoom
Drawing Fundamentals for Beginners, 2027 schedule will be announced…..
The most sought-after drawing workshop year after year….
An Intensive course with lots of detailed technique demos, meaningful assignments and constructive feedback. Informative PDFs prepared by Kim will help students understand the drawing process naturally and logically. Kim’s deep understanding on the medium helps students experience the whole drawing process from a completely different perspective. Many students from the past workshops told that they went through a breakthrough moment via this course by learning how to actually use pencils and other tools.
PDF and Zoom link will be emailed the day before of each session. Classes will be recorded for students to review.
Weekly contents and Dates (will be announced… )
Week 1: Understanding tools, light, Tonal Value (Gradation), light and shadow.
Week 2: How to draw 3 major flower types. Measuring techniques for free hand drawing.
Week 3: Perspective & foreshortened form 1 - Flower.
Week 4: Perspective & foreshortened form 2 - Leaf.
Week 5: Composition and how to create a scientifically informative botanical drawing.
2. Watercolor for Beginners: 3 Courses - Zoom, 2027 schedule will be announced….
“I had taken a botanical illustration course a year or so ago and have learnt much more in 2 classes with Heeyoung- It’s the depth and clarity of her knowledge paired with the readiness to share it, that makes this course a sturdy foundation to build my art skills on.”
You Can and Should Control Everything! Watercolor paintings in general look loose and spontaneous, which is the charm of the medium. When it comes to a traditional botanical art/illustration style, however, it is far from being loose and spontaneous. Perfect renderings including ‘clean-but-not-hard’ edges, soft blending and gradation, accurate descriptions of the plant subject in shape, color and texture, etc are critical to create a botanical artwork of good quality.
In this series of three courses, Heeyoung Kim will guide the students with simple, visual, logical and scientific explanations about watercolor painting process, which will help them internalize the techniques naturally.
Suitable for beginners and those who are still not quite sure about how to handle all the watercolor materials and techniques, even after some experiences.
PDF and Zoom link will be emailed the day before of each session. Classes will be recorded for students to review. 3 Thursdays for each course, 10 am - 1 pm, CT. Each course: $190. Register for all 3 courses and get 10% discount ($513). For registration, Click Hereand select the option.
Course Contents and Dates (will be announced ….
Course 1: Fundamentals of watercolor painting.
Tools and how they interact under the artist’s control, and how to achieve 3 dimensionality
Course 2: Focus on flowers.
Practice: Achieving translucency, 3 dimensional form building though smart use of color temperature. Rich and intense color… edge control and more.
Course 3: Leaves with linear and net veins.
Intuitive green mixing, painting leaves with various venation types
“Drawing Fundamentals for Beginners’ is a great entrée into the botanical world. You are a special teacher that can show both the macro (elegant form) and micro (technique/measurements) and how they work together to create art. I’ve truly enjoyed this class.”
“Heeyoung’s Watercolor class for beginners focusing on leaves was so incredibly helpful to me. I’ve been painting for over ten years and taking this class was so refreshing and informative with new tips and ideas of how to address mixing “greens” and managing the painting of intricate veins of a leaf. This class was not just for beginners, it’s for everyone at every level of your art journey. The green color and leaves are always a challenge but Heeyoung broke down the process in a clear, concise way that was easy to understand. I would give the class a 10 on a scale from 1-5!”
Intermediate Courses, Zoom, 2026
Furthering Drawing Skills: Light, Form and More
Do you want to learn more about graphite drawing to further your fundamental drawing skills?
These 2 sessions will offer good opportunities to study how to apply all the basic skills, how to analyze the way light hit the surface on your specimen, how to use the relationship between elements to create visual impact, and more. Proper for those who have basic drawing skills (those who finished my Drawing Fundamentals in the past), for those who want to brush up drawing skills, or for those who are still not quite sure how to handle light and shadows and such. All sessions will be recorded for review.
The specimen: A bunch of grapes that shows a good light/shadow, and complex relationships between the individual grapes.
Dates: October 3 & 17 (2 Saturdays), 2 pm - 5 pm, CT. Fee: $130. Click Here for Registration
Color Translation and Value Relationship
Always wondered how to translate colors in black and white?
What if you drew a light yellow flower, but the viewers see it as a dark purple flower? Well, that is a pretty tricky matter, isn’t it? Let’s talk about it in this workshop. We will study how to translate colors into values and the complex relationships between elements in a drawing.
Students will choose a proper specimen via further communication upon registration. Proper for intermediate and advanced level, and those who want to acquire refined drawing skills beyond basics. Materials list will be sent after registration.
Dates: November 21 & 28 (2 Saturdays), 2 pm - 5 pm, CT. Fee: $130. Click for Registration
Pre-Studies for Eco-Botanical: Bees, Butterflies and Birds, Winter 2026-2027
This series of 3 workshops are designed for those who want to add faunal elements such as bees, butterflies and birds to their botanical paintings, but have not gotten courage to start yet, or do not have enough knowledge and experience about drawing/painting them. Now, Kim will guid students from drawing to painting with easy-to-follow demonstrations.
Learning about Bees: Anatomy, Drawing and Painting
Bees look cute, but the little fuzzy body is confusing to draw… to say the least, often resulting in an awkward or wrong appearance. In this workshop the instructor will point out what to know about the bee anatomy to draw and paint them accurately.
November. 19 (Thursday), 10 am - 1 pm, CT
Fee: $70 (Bundle with Butterflies workshop: $250). Click for Registration
All about Butterflies
Butterflies can add sparkles of color and ecological context to botanical art. However, it takes some efforts to figure out their not so simple body and wing structure to be able to draw and paint them accurately. In this workshop students will learn the anatomy of butterflies in general and lean how to draw and paint them in watercolor. Students may choose their favorite butterfly species. Instructor’s demo painting will be with Monarch Butterfly.
December 3, 10 & 17, 10 am - 1 pm, CT
Fee: $190. (Bundle with Bees workshop : $250). Click for Registration
The First Step toward Bird Painting
Demystifying the Complex Bird Anatomy for Accurate Drawing and Painting experience.
Backyard birds, grassland birds, shore birds…. They are all precious indicators for the environment. When you are a botanical artist who loves to include proper ecological context, this workshop is for you. The instructor will walk you through the anatomy, drawing and painting process step by step with demos and visual materials to help you understand the birds. The Instructor’s demo will be with Bluejay. A good chance to learn all the blue colors, too.
January 7, 21 & 28, 2027. 10 am - 1 pm, CT
Fee: $190. (Bundle with all 3 workshop - Bees, Butterflies and Birds- 10% off- $405) Click for Registration
Study at Your Own Pace with Heeyoung Kim
You can have a renowned botanical artist as your mentor! Heeyoung Kim’s credential is proven by prestigious awards, numerous solo exhibitions, gallery representation experiences, not to mention her rich teaching career for all levels in various media.
One-On-One Critique And Mentorship
Award winning contemporary botanical artist, Heeyoung Kim has distinctive style of drawing and painting demonstrating her mastery of media she uses in traditional and scientifically accurate botanical art. Her understanding on the botanical specimens adds precise and accurate scientificc information to her art. As a founder of Heeyoung Kim Botanical Art Academy, she has been teaching graphite pencil, pen-and-ink and watercolor to all levels of students locally and nationwide.
Session Date and Time will be set after discussion. Contact Heeyoung before registration.
Fee: $385 for 4 sessions. $100 for one session
Composition Clinic: Case Study
All the rules to Improve Composition? Easy to Say, but Hard to Achieve! Do this! Do that! You can find plenty of ‘guidelines’ regarding a good composition, but those rules and guidelines don’t work like a ‘cure-al’. Each piece is unique; hence, it should be treated as a unique case.
In this small group setting class attendees will bring a work in progress and an open mind to find a way to improve the composition through constructive critiques and suggestions.
Dates: Aug 29, Sep 12, 26, Oct 10 &24.. 2 - 4 pm, CT. 2 sessions per month to allow enough time to work on the progress), Fee: $350. Suitable for intermediate & advanced level. Click for Registration Contact Heeyoung to join anytime.
Brushwood Open Workshop: In-Person
This course is a unique feature of Heeyoung Kim Botanical Art Academy suitable for all levels. Kim assists students with drawing and painting botanicals, insects and animals.
When you have questions about your ongoing or new botanical projects, or need help/suggestions, this is the right one for you!
Date: Mondays, 10 am - 3 pm. Fee: $75 per session
Contact Heeyoung if you like to join for the first time.
Advanced Watercolor: Botanicals in Ecological Context
Continuing Study Group to Develop Independent projects…
The courses in this section are designed for students who want to explore regional naive flora and fauna with broad ecological themes to create their own independent projects with Heeyoung’s instructions.
Who’s eating what? Who needs that? What’s the ecological role of that plant? Most of Heeyoung’s painting subjects for this series are developed from these questions. Students will choose the same or similar native plants and associated faunal elements with advice/recommendations from Kim. Habitats are often included in the context.
Heeyoung’s compositions are usually large and complex, but students adopt the complexity to suit their skill level or time they can devote for painting. Students can participate in this courses regardless of their regions and study their native plants using Kim’s instructions.
Each project: 4 weeks, 10 am - 1 pm, CT. Fee: $250 Click for Registration
After finishing 5 projects in 2026, we are having Feedback Sessions to prepare an exhibition which will start on January 16, 2027. Details will be announced soon.
When interested in joining in this group in the future, Contact Heeyoung
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