illustration showing how 3 aquatic insects use the surface tension in water

I love the fact that many insects pass through an aquatic stage on their way towards maturity.  And those that spend their whole lives either in water, or never more than metatarsal-length away from it…fascinating!

The myriad different paths of evolution that those insects, (and arachnids for that matter) have evolved to make a go of it full time are just amazing to ponder.  I did this project to explore (just) 3 ways that 2 hemipterans and 1 coleopteran use surface tension differently.

The gerrid, (“water skeeter”) seems to hover on the water’s surface, propped up on its legtips inside concave cups of unpierced surface tension.  Its mindboggling to watch how quickly they beat their way across a body of water.

The gyrinid has a 2 pairs of eyes!  One to monitor what is going on above the surface, and one to track the comings and goings below.  It beats its paddle-like legs and rests “within” the surface…meaning a waterline bisects its gorgeous hydrodynamic curves.

The Notonectid is something like the Gerrid but in an inverse paradigm…it rests what we think of as upside down with its leg tips resting on the surface tension…but from below!  How cool is that?

the ratios of these insects to one another have been modified slightly to allow them to mingle comfortably on the page.  you can check out this image in greater resolution in my portfolio.

We all (15 of us) have met each other, the personalities are beginning to emerge, and the projects with their fudgeless deadlines have just begun to descend upon me.  We are starting with black and white, which seems fitting, and are steadily seeing on the horizon projects that will be rendered in pen and ink, (…funny term- is there ever a pen without ink?)

as for traditional media, all is done in pencil, and it was splendid just to hear someone explain the difference between H, HB, and B leads!   I could tell you but then what could I justify paying this frightening tuition for?

There is a huge case of shells and bones and pinecones and whatnot to inspire a first project…I wanted to do something that had’nt’ve been done yet…so I found this badass gourd at the grocery store, and decided to make the sweet warts and imperfections on it morph into the most fantastically patterned and delicate sea urchin “core”.  I was quite happy with the outcome, and here it is for you to see.  using all different leads was almost as crucial as reserving the whites!  I definitely grasped even deeper the utter gravity of ensuring that the preliminary sketch was dialed…but when is that not the case?

anyway, let me know what you think!

btw you can see a larger version in my portfolio gallery