Big world, small things. A fly.

[buckobeck]

I thank you Ron, and so does Brian.

[Ron Duke]

Sorry. I really did mean Mark.��

[buckobeck]

No need for apologies here Ron, just a little teasing on my part.

Let me ask you this. Is it in the details?

This weeks entry for "Big world, small things" is not actually a new one and has been posted before as part of a poster I created. I reopened the file and clean it up a bit and added some more fine details; the more I look at it the more details I see that could be added, but, at the risk of reworking it too much (is that possible? LOL) I decided to quit at this point. However; knowing myself as I do, there is always the possibility I may pursue it further at some time. I also wanted to consolidate all of my vector insects in one thread.

I noticed while doing this that I used hundreds or perhaps thousands of shapes to illustrate it, much more than the other insect drawings in this thread, perhaps all of them combined. So this time I also enclosed the wire frame to show the intricate detail of the insect and especially its wings. They involved so much work I decided to draw just one side and then copy and flip them, kind of cheating? not really, just using the tools available, but I still like the symmetrical look and was worried that I might not be able to adequately match the other side (given the large number of small shapes and lines) if I drew them separately. Not to mentioned, it saved a whole lot of time.

I've learned quite a few new ways to to use the tools in Xara since I drew this one and believe I could create something similar without using so many small shapes and lines, this is how we learn. If you look at the wire frames of the previous newer drawings in this thread I believe you will see what I mean. Though I'm VERY happy with the way it turned out I now know there were easier ways to achieve it. So here we have kind of a dual example, if you want to put this kind of work into your creation you can, the tools are there. But there might be an easier way to do it, the tools are there for that also.

What do you think? Could it have been done smarter and faster while still achieving a comparable look? Or am I completely wrong?
And more so, how do the other renderings in this post which were created smarter and faster compare to this one?

Details or smarter and faster? Hmm

Here's to using the tools available. Will be back next time with a completely new creation, hope everyone had a great weekend.

[buckobeck]

Late summer pale green male Luna Moth with brownish yellow margins. The generations later in the year are not as brightly colored as the early spring generations and males do not sport the brighter colors like the females.

Won't bore anyone with friendly banter, silly questions, or information on techniques used.

[pauland]

Excellent!

The gold edging seems to give the wings a thickness that isn't really there.

You've certainly got the hang of these.

[Ron Duke]

Another beautiful rendering!

[buckobeck]

Paul, thanks. I thought it might be difficult to emulate the texture of a moths wings with a vector drawing program, but Xara seems to have the tools for even that. Hope to improve on them with my next attempt.

Ron. Thank you.

[Igor01]

Uno perfecto! Very nice picture. Thanks for sending.
igor

Late summer pale green male Luna Moth with brownish yellow margins. The generations later in the year are not as brightly colored as the early spring generations and males do not sport the brighter colors like the females.

Won't bore anyone with friendly banter, silly questions, or information on techniques used.

[buckobeck]

Thanks Igor!

[gray]

All excellent drawings, Mark. You'd make a good illustrator for biology books.