Illustrations of Bugs

Once upon a time I had the idea that I would be a scientific illustrator. I really didn't know what doing that would entail. I figured I could just make some good bug drawings and BANG! I'd be a successful scientific illustrator. I found out that's not the way it works. After speaking with my entomology professor in college, I realized that while I truly love bugs and good drawings of bugs, I was probably not the guy to do it as a professional. This was not because of my abilities or anything like that, rather it was that I didn't want to go to school for a master's degree in entomology on top of what I had already done.

In the mean time, I still really like making bug drawings. Some real, some not so much.

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, watercolor. I had quite a lot of these at one point but I got skeezed out and got rid of them.

This is a Florida Plant Footed Bug, watercolor and ink. No skeez factor here, it's just a cool looking relatively large bug.

Stag Beetle, pencil. These small stag beetles were super common where I lived in PA. I think their larvae ate the decaying mulch on playgrounds and the emerging adults were then easy to find while I was taking my kids to the park to play.

Mydas fly, pencil and white ink. One of my kids caught this Mydas fly at a playground. He just reached out and grabbed it. I had never seen a Mydas fly at this point and it looked very wasp-like to me. I prepared for the worst, but it never came. It just made a cool drawing.

Alien Insect Head, photoshop. Alien insect heads are not so real. I made this one up, but it was fun to draw all the imagined nooks and crannies.

Perelandra

My friend and art director, Ned, knows me well. He plays to my strengths. This is the creature that Ransom encounters in the caves on Perelandra just before he kills the un-man.

Moleskines galore

In addition to a sneaky profile, here is evidence of my love of crawdads and bugs.

Wasps

Ink on paper. This was an illustration for the Inferno. The souls that were neutral in life don't even get to go to hell. They have to wait in the anteroom to hell where they are tormented by wasps and maggots.