Sunday, February 5, 2012

BEETLE MADNESS: COLOR PEN SKETCH



This is a Willow Leaf Beetle, one of the ladybug-like beetles that are destructive but beautiful.  I used the Pitt Brush Pens for most of the work on this sketch, and then switched to Sharpee Color Pens for the pop of color.  Normally I don't draw bugs...I don't have a particular fondness for them. (More a morbid fascination!)  Beetles are a definite exception.  They are so colorful!  I read somewhere that in Victorian times, the ladies actually wore the more colorful beetles as brooches on their gowns...still alive and somehow chained to a pin!!!  What people won't do for fashion...My favorite part of this drawing was what I left out.  I let the paper shine through for the shiny highlights on the beetle's back.  It is really a challenge to leave OUT the color!  I plan on doing more of these beetles.  I am fascinated by the rhinocerous-shaped one...

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