Nature Journaling vs Nature Drawing

Nature journaling and nature drawing can sometimes feel confusing to tell apart.

When you’re sitting outside with a sketchbook, looking at a flower or a bird, you may wonder - am I nature journaling or nature drawing?

The truth is that the two overlap quite a lot. But they also have slightly different purposes.

On this page I’ll share how I personally think about the difference between nature journaling, nature drawing, and nature illustration - and how understanding this can help you relax and enjoy your creative time in nature even more.

Bramble nature journal page

If you’re completely new to nature journaling, you might like to start with my guide explaining what nature journaling is and how people use it to connect more deeply with nature.

Nature Journaling vs Nature Drawing - What's the Difference?

Understanding the difference between nature journaling vs nature drawing can help you decide how you want to approach your creative time outdoors.

A simple way to think about it is this:

• Nature journaling is about the experience of noticing nature.
• Nature drawing is about creating the artwork.

We draw in our nature journals, so in that sense nature journaling can be nature drawing - but nature journaling is also so much more than nature drawing - and nature drawing can also be so much more than nature journaling...

Many nature journalers like to make a drawing or diagram of some kind in their nature journal entries, but you can also nature journal without drawing if you wish, and make your entries purely words or words and figures. Your drawings may also look more like diagrams than works of art, and that's absolutely fine.

For me, drawing in my nature journal is about the process of looking, noticing, and connecting with nature - I'm drawing to connect with and understand what I'm drawing. Some of my drawings look pretty good, and some could look an awful lot better, but I do try, very consciously, NOT to get caught up in trying to make a perfect drawing in my nature journal...

Shaggy inkcap drawings in my nature journal

For a start, this would take too long. I do make drawings of nature outside my nature journal, and they can take multiple hours or days, so this is not practical for a fun nature journal where the purpose is to connect with nature for personal wellbeing. So I need to make a quicker drawing that will likely be not as accurate and not as detailed.

Secondly, sometimes it's nice just to draw for fun like the way I did when I was a child and I wasn't worrying about making a drawing as perfect as possible, I was just having fun - so I don't worry about measuring and detail and just look and draw and make mistakes and correct my mistakes and if I'm lucky, I'll have something that's recognizable as what it is. There's also the fact that all the hours of drawing practice over the years helps too!

Nature journal page drawn for fun - for the pleasure of looking and understanding and feeling connected with nature

Some people do like to make finished nature drawings and paintings in their nature journals and that's great as that's the way they choose to do it, but for me that's not what my nature journal is for...

I want to make a quick drawing that I can just enjoy doing and while doing it feel connected to nature - that's why I started my course 'Imperfect Nature Journaling' to remind us to enjoy what we're doing and not worry about making it perfect and turn this down-time enjoyable thing into another stress or way to judge ourselves!

It's not a case of not caring about what we're doing or not trying to make it look good - a large part of the drawing we make is looking at what we're drawing and trying to make our drawing reflect what we're seeing. In truth, we're practicing our drawing skills every time we draw, but because we're drawing for fun we enjoy it more and do it more, and get better quicker because it's fun.

Your nature journal is just for you and it should be a space without judgement - of yourself and by others. Drawing in this fun way can make it that. Let's leave the perfect drawings for another time...

Because I'm not saying that we shouldn't ever try to make perfect or very good drawings. If you've seen any of my natural history illustrations and nature-inspired artworks, you'll see that I spend a lot of time over these nature drawings and paintings and I aim to make them as accurate and as beautiful as I possibly can. This takes time though...

It's the difference between making a nature sketch and a nature drawing. The sketch is quicker, it's less accurate - if you sketch, you likely do it because it gives you pleasure - and you know that practicing your drawing skills little and often in this way is the key to getting better and not losing the drawing skills you've already acquired. This is the mindset you need for your drawings in your nature journal.

Find out why I keep a nature journal, here...

My Big Rose Chafer Beetle natural history illustration

A page from my nature journal with a Hawthorn Shieldbug

Full nature drawings and paintings take longer - you'll take more care over accuracy, perhaps measuring carefully rather than just looking and drawing and include more detail so that your artwork looks more finished - you might want to put it in a frame and display in on the wall.

There's no hard and fast rule over when a sketch becomes a full drawing - as some sketches can be masterpieces that you'd like to frame and some drawings that you spent a lot of time over and tried really hard over can still look bad and you can feel disappointed with the results.

In truth, the drawings in my nature journal are somewhere between a drawing and a sketch - and actually you don't need to label it as a sketch or a drawing. I just find it helpful to distinguish that in my nature journal, my drawing is there for the process of doing it - for the enjoyment of looking and drawing and finding that connection with nature that makes me feel happier and more relaxed.

It's not there to look good, impress, win awards, or anything else. It's personal drawing, just for me! And I hope that's how you can start to feel about drawing in your nature journal too - it's something personal, for you, to enjoy doing - and you can learn drawing skills as a bonus too...

So when you do want to make that finished drawing, painting or artwork, you've got the drawing skills and the drawing becomes more enjoyable to do.

Remember: your nature journal doesn’t need to contain beautiful drawings - it only needs to contain honest moments of noticing.

Nature Illustration

My natural history illustration of a Peacock Butterfly (watercolour) - it shows it clearly and you should be able to identify which type of butterfly this is from this illustration

Nature illustration or natural history illustration can be a sketch or it can be a finished nature drawing. It's more in the concept of what the drawing is intended for. Illustrations can be used in books or other media or as artworks in their own right.

The word illustrate means to show or explain visually - so nature illustration focuses on creating a finished artwork that shows the subject clearly and beautifully.

These kinds of drawings or paintings often take many hours and may be intended for books, prints, or display.

So your drawings in your nature journal may well be nature illustrations, however quickly you did them, as the intent is to show the subject matter clearly in a visual manner.

My own nature illustrations tend to be completed watercolour paintings or ink and coloured pencil - these are quite detailed and do take a good number of hours, often over a few days. So I wouldn't consider doing them in my nature journal - they're 'nature illustrations' to me, and distinct from the kind of quick, loose drawings I make in my nature journal.

Nature Journals vs. Nature Sketchbooks

Trying out paint in my sketchbook

Preparatory drawing and notes in my nature sketchbook

The easiest way to understand the difference is to think about purpose...

Many artists keep both a nature journal and a nature sketchbook, but they use them in slightly different ways.

Let's think about the journaling aspect of nature journaling! I've written about this before, here, but a nature journal implies both a regular practice of nature drawing or sketching (as well as other kinds of nature journaling that don't involve drawing but are equally valid) and a personal aspect to the recordings of nature which you make.

So I do have a nature sketchbook in addition to my own nature journal, but I use it in a different way to my nature journal. In it are the preparatory sketches and drawings and paint try-outs for planned nature illustrations. I even make notes about the nature I'm sketching and drawing in my nature sketchbook like I do in my nature journal...

But my nature sketchbook is not a personal record of that nature I've seen or interacted with in some way over a given week, month, etc - it's not got notes about the weather that day or what else I can hear, smell or see while I'm making my entry. It's not got personal reflections like my nature journal has.

Some people's nature sketchbooks may include things that could make it a nature journal, but they may still see it as their nature sketchbook and not a journal. And, in fact, it's up to each individual to decide for themselves whether they think of their drawing book or note book as a nature journal or a nature sketchbook or something else.

There's no nature journal police and you can journal or sketch, draw or paint, in the way that works best for you - and change your mind and how you do things or see things over time, if you want, too.

Nature journal page with rose drawing

In the end, there’s no strict boundary between nature journaling, nature drawing, and nature illustration.

What matters most is the reason you’re making the drawing.

When you draw in a nature journal, the goal is usually connection - noticing the details of the natural world and recording your experience of them.

When you create a finished nature drawing or painting, the goal is often to create something more refined that you might share or display.

Both approaches are valuable, and many artists move naturally between the two.

If you'd like to explore nature journaling further, you might enjoy:

• my guide to what nature journaling is
• my nature journaling hub with prompts and seasonal inspiration
• my free guide to Getting Started with your First Nature Journal
• a gentle guide to help you through your first few pages
• how to feel mindful in nature
• my gentle course Imperfect Nature Journaling

And if you enjoy seeing nature translated into finished artwork, you can also explore my wildlife art and illustration collections here.

Deepen Your Nature Journaling Practice

Deepen your nature journaling practice with me...

If you’ve enjoyed my nature journaling reflections, you might also like my 20-lesson course, Imperfect Nature Journaling.

It’s a gently structured, self-paced journey designed to help you:

• Slow down and notice more deeply
• Build confidence in drawing and observing
• Create a calming journaling ritual you can return to
• Feel more connected to the seasons and the natural world

No perfection required. Just curiosity and a notebook.

You can explore the course here whenever you’re ready...

P.S. If you’re just beginning - or would like something quieter and more simple to start with - you might first like to get started with my free 'Getting Started' guide or gain momentum with my 'Gentle Introduction' guide to help you through your first few pages - here...

Shall we stay in touch..?

Each month, I share stories from my own nature journal, new art from my studio, and simple seasonal inspiration to help you feel more connected with the turning year - if you'd like to stay updated, please sign up with your email address below...

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Lotti Brown is a self-taught nature artist and nature journaling educator whose hand-drawn work is inspired by wildlife, folklore, and close observation. With 18 years in creative fields and 10 years creating nature art, she brings deep practical experience to her work. Trained by the Wild Wonder Foundation, she shares nature journaling courses and guides online. Her artwork has been licensed internationally and exhibited at Goole Museum and Bridlington Spa in the East Riding of Yorkshire, UK.