Xerxes at Woodland Park Zoo, colored pencil on drawing film
colored pencils
Coltsfoot Poster
Coltsfoot Poster, colored pencil on Dura-Lar film, pen and ink, Adobe Illustrator
I spent some time this past quarter volunteering to draw a couple of illustrations for an update to Flora of the Pacific Northwest, a comprehensive book originally published at the University of Washington in the 1970’s.
One of the drawings was of Coltsfoot (Tussilago fanfara). I made a poster out of that drawing for one of my class projects, taking the diagnostic drawing I had done for the book and expanding on it to include a variety of animals that interact with it.
Grasshopper Poster
The Grasshopper’s Leap, colored pencil on Dura-Lar film, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Animate
This is the poster I made for my class project from my previous grasshopper drawings. I wanted to focus on how the grasshopper jumps, because they have a secret: they have a spring in their legs! They can jump 20 times their length, which for a person would mean being able to jump the length of a basketball court. They also, at liftoff, feel a force of 20-times the force of gravity (20-g’s). For reference, the space shuttle lifts off at 3 g’s.
Their muscles alone are not capable of generating this force; this poster explains how a bendy cuticle in their leg makes their leap possible.
I also wanted to do something fun with the poster and make the poster come alive by connecting it to the web in some way, so I added a QR code that, when you scan it, takes you to an animation I made in Flash (via Adobe Animate) of the grasshopper leaping. (I also animated the inclusion/close-up.)
Grasshopper
Grasshopper, Colored pencils on Dura-lar film
This week’s class assignment is to draw an insect. Our teacher handed out bugs in class encased in acrylic. I had a cool red-spotted bug but chose to draw a grasshopper I had (also in acrylic) because of a follow-up project I’d like to do with it.
The drawing measures about 10 inches. The cool thing about drawing on film is you can also draw on the back to enhance the color and sharpness of the edges, which is great!
Nicotiana
Nicotiana, pen & ink, colored pencils
It may be fall, but flowers are still blooming here in our backyard in Seattle.
Dahlia
Dahlia, colored pencils on watercolor paper.
Snapdragons
Snapdragons, Uni-ball pen, watercolor, colored pencils, graphite, Photoshop.
Sunflower
Sunflower, watercolor and colored pencils on watercolor paper, cleaned up in Photoshop.
Fir Branch
Fir Branch, graphite and colored pencils on watercolor paper, Uni-ball pen, Photoshop polish.
I clipped this end of a fir branch from one of our trees on Orcas Island.
Spent Daffodils
Spent Daffodils, graphite and colored pencils on watercolor paper, Photoshop.
It’s almost the end of daffodil season. Our family planted dozens of daffodil bulbs on our hillside on Orcas Island a few years ago, and last year my wife planted dozens and dozens more. Now in the spring the fields are dotted with bright yellow, and it’s dazzling.
They’re still eye-catching—even beautiful—as they wither and become bedraggled, ghostlike and faded.
