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Weekly Art Practice - Week 41

· 4 min read
Kylie
Kylie
Admin

First WAP of 2025!

I’m keeping some WAPs in the mix with my other practice things this year to give me some easier weeks and also to keep drawing things I don’t usually draw. It’s nice to return to a practice format that’s familiar and feels doable. Versus some of the larger challenges I’m also trying to give myself this year.

This first WAP is beetles, so I guess stop reading now if you don’t like looking at bugs as there will be zoomed in pictures of bugs.

Day 1 - Drawing from imagination​

Beetles aren’t too complex right? I can just draw some from the ether.

Day 2 - Figure sketching​

There are a lot of hercules and rhinoceros beetles on Pinterest so that’s what I ended up focusing on. I didn’t know how large these bugs were until this week and boy, I’m not sure if I’m better off knowing or not.

Quick hand sketches using references

Day 3 - Reference studies​

Some of the biggest things I missed in my initial sketches were how complex beetle legs are. They are very spiky and have a decent amount of joints. I also missed that some have some antenna things going on but you need a very good photo to see them.

Day 4 - Style studies​

There are some really nice stylized beetles out there. And it was nice to see how much people simplified the complicated limbs.

Reference: Pinterest says this is by opossum_jesus on Instagram but their account is private so I can’t verify. There is also a Redbubble account selling a sticker version but it’s been taken down. So whoever drew this has been taking down their art from public spaces.

I didn’t do the really pretty pattern as it wasn’t going to contribute to grasping the shape of a beetle but i do really love this piece by Oddarette.

Reference: By Oddarette on Cara

Reference: A vector image from[Freepik]https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/beetle-illustration-cartoon-character-drawing_69868105.htm)

Day 5 - Drawing from imagination​

For test day I drew some basic guys but then also wanted to do a slightly more cartoon-y character. Hence the warrior beetle holding a staff in the corner.

Conclusion​

Insects definitely aren’t something I draw regularly, nor are they something I often want to look very closely at. But I think it’s important to draw them, and at least understand how to draw them as they are everywhere and looking at them so closely helps to demystify them. Makes me squirm a little less at each new photo.

It was nice to return to the WAP format, I feel like I can get through the daily task fairly quickly now. Made for a good practice exercise for a week where I was still feeling pretty ill and low energy. This coming week I’m trying something a little more intensive, doing an exercise to help learn how to draw from reference.

I created 3 pin boards:

  • Colour schemes
  • Locations
  • Characters

Then for each one of those boards I rolled a di so I would randomly get a colour scheme to use for a type of location which will feature a random character. Forcing me to get creative in how all three pieces fit together and create something new. I want these to be fully rendered pieces and I have the sketch for my first one completed already but I’m struggling with how to colour it. Do I want to try a digital painting style? Do I stick with my default black linework? Should I try to bring in some of the techniques I learned from my Root study week?????? Just so many options and none of them are working for me just yet.

Pinterest board of beetles.