Clown Moths

I created this illustration as part of @byloishannah’s #littlecircus2021 art challenge on Instagram. The prompt for this day was “Clowns” and since I don’t particularly enjoy drawing people, I decided to take it in a direction that I was much more familiar with, moths!

Moths are somewhat of a comfort drawing subject for me, I can always count on them to be an enjoyable drawing experience and they always appeal to my aesthetic. When I’m struggling with not knowing what to draw or having art block, I fall back onto moths to help me out.

To tie in the “Clown” prompt I included clown makeup as part of the moth wings’ designs, playing off a fairly common natural pattern of eyespots. I think it’s quite effective!

A Collection of Garden Friends

Isn’t this a sweet little group? I sketched them just for fun since I thought it would make a really cute collection, plus I hadn’t drawn anything except birds for a while so it was nice to draw some plants and bugs!

The dandelion is not my favourite but it wasn’t my intention to create a full illustration since I was just enjoying myself.

Chaffinch Couple

Here’s my illustration that I made for Valentine’s Day! I went for a pair of Chaffinches since I’ve been seeing them a lot in the garden lately, and I also thought the Male’s pink plumage fit in very well with the holiday!

I’m particularly happy with how their faces came out and how the pencil scribbles make them look fluffy. The branches they sit on were drawn very roughly and quickly since I wanted the focus to be on the birds so I do think it looks a little scruffy now, perhaps I would give them some nicer perches if I were to revisit this one.

I also experimented with adding some colour in a similar style that I’ve been painting my landscape skies, which you can see here. I do like how they look fully coloured, and in the various colour-ways I made to represent different kinds of couples, but I think that black and white illustrations will always be my favourite!