191: True To My Word, Part Two

I've reached the Ides of May, and have managed to stick to my sketching guns: fifteen drawings in fifteen days. For the most part, I've been able to wake up on any given day and have a pretty good handle on what I might attempt to do for an assignment. Most times I've scoured my photography vault for inspiration. On occasion I've gone through a bird book, Applied Arts or Communication Arts illustration annual for inspiration or a technique to try. A couple came straight from my head; none, to date, have been from direct observation.

This one was an exception to the above. I'd cracked open my watercolours to try a paint/pen combo piece, and had a paper scrap beside for mixing and brush-wiping. When I was done, I looked at this garble and – like puffy clouds in the sky – began to see shapes. I nabbed my chisel-tip pen and, in the space of two minutes tops, fleshed out this bug. Later I scanned it and cleaned up surrounding blobs (and within the eyeball) so it could stand solo. All told, mebbe 10-15 minutes.