Butterfly and Insect Illustrations

To explore other options for my FMP, I decided to do some drawings of butterflies and insects based on photos from a friend who visited The Darwin Museum. I started by making some more natural inks from frozen berries, coffee and Turmeric. Before using them, I tested the colours on a piece of paper and left them for an hour. As you can see, the colours changed for a few of them, and as you can see from my finished illustration, the colours continue to change the longer you leave them. I separated my page into sections and painted a coffee wash as I wanted my drawing to look like a specimen box. I started by roughly sketching the outline and some details of the insects and then went over the outline in pen. I then added colour, using the natural dyes to get as close a match as possible to the original. I experimented with mixing the dyes, which was interesting as you never knew the exact colour you would create. I like my beetle and butterfly wing outcomes, as they look quite realistic and detailed. I think that my two full butterfly drawings are not at the same level as my other drawings, as they look really simple, and it’s hard to show the detail of the wings and torso.