How Much Do Botanical Illustrators Make?

Illustrators earned an average annual salary of $63,030 in May 2019. Their salaries are highly contingent upon experience and where they reside.
The salary of a botanical illustrator is $45,115 annually. An experienced illustrator working for a high-profile client in a large city may make significantly more.
Income can be supplemented by bonuses and commissions.

Botanical illustration requires detailed knowledge of plant anatomy and artistic talent.
Illustrations must be scientifically accurate with minute detail from the tiniest vein to the most colorful blossom.
Success might lead to work for a textbook publisher, catalog company or museum.

The process followed by each botanical artist and scientific illustrator is slightly different.
Some illustrations take three days, others months or a year.
For public education, scientific illustration is important, particularly pen-and-ink drawings used to illustrate new plant species.
Indeed, the illustrator may see details the botanist misses.
Botanical illustrators use their accurate drawing talents to portray plants for various scientific purposes like recording endangered species or replicating the natural world around us.

As a botanical illustrator, your role is to accurately draw all the features of plants for different publications or displays.
Your sketches will require flawless attention to detail and scientific accuracy to represent the natural environment.
This can involve very fiddly work but also means seeing your work published.