experimentation: insects

I wanted to produce an image that was intricate and concealed insects within the lines. I chose insects as they are a perfect example of camouflage as some are small and have developed into looking the same as their surroundings. With this image I have made the lines travel through each insect and are not angular because I want to keep a natural organic feel creating a cobweb effect. However with this piece I do not like the medium (pen) I have used as it produces no tone, although I like some of the lines and I tried in some cases to have a mirror like effect on the insects bodies.

For this piece I have used ink and blown at the ink blots to create more tangled and interesting lines across the insects. I prefer the effect the ink has made because it has more tonal variation.

I think what has worked best in this is the legs from the insects as they interweave and attach to other insects. However, the fact that the insects are filled in makes it quite obvious where the insects are which is going against the camouflage, hidden theme.

Using the same method as before, however this time not filling in the insects body, although this has lost some nice texture, it has made the cobweb effect becoming more of a challenge to see the insects which is what I want to achieve. I think I may add some detailed patterns or more lines to make it much more harder to see the insects as they are still quite prominent.

I had a little play on photoshop and repeated the image above in different shades. I like the formation of lines that were created however I can't make my mind up if i like the finished image. It may need more done to it however I don't think I want to produce them on the computer and I JUST DONT LIKE IT!

I tried a completely different approach to hiding the insects by using a toothbrush to splatter ink across the insects, which makes a mysterious effect. Although I prefer the details in the line formations because I like how you can follow the lines throughout the image.

Things to experiment:

-Water and ink
-Printing techniques e.g lino cut or dry point
-Paper cut out
-Sewing
-COLOUR!!!

-Patterns