insects and friends

An evolving sketch over days--I started over a week ago.  All of these were on my deck at the shed at one time...so I did the rough sketch below with a Prismacolor Verithin black colored pencil, then took photos to refine them.

These are not much more than quick gesture sketches...I was standing up, the butterfly might move at any time, and the katydid, DID!  Sort of a slow-motion sloth effect...

 

I increased contrast so you could see the lines better...really, mostly just going for shapes and poses here, not detail.

slow-moving but definitely MOVING bush katydid...

My reference photos were really helpful in getting at the details I'd missed, although I never COULD get my camera to focus properly on the walking stick. 

I love the cricket-like sound of katydids on a summer night...

I waited a few days to add color, until my new open-stock Verithin pencils arrived from Dick Blick--and then decided to add some watercolor after all! 

 I couldn't resist adding the daddy longlegs or harvestman, which strolled up later...and before you say "ick, I hate spiders," these aren't spiders at all!  They have their own order, they are non-poisonous, and they eat other small insects.  They're very beautiful, up close, like a jeweled mosaic box.

Colored pencil and watercolor.