Kane’s Trilobite Drawings

[Mark Kmiecik]

@dinosaur man You can get a Faber-Castell set of drawing pencils online for about twelve dollars. A set usually includes grades from 8B (soft/dark) through 2H (hard/light). However, all you really need to get started you can find in the school supply section of any store that carries school supplies, like the larger grocery chains. You need one dark, one light and one in between -- in other words, black, medium gray and light gray. Once you have those it only takes a few thousand hours to get good at it.

[Jackson g]

I get more amazed each drawing you do! You could do this as a job, with all that artistic talent. 

[Ruger9a]

Wow, fantastic work.  I wish I was endowed with your artistic talent, but alas I was only given the talent of losing/misplacing things.

[NCPhilip]

Oh my goodness! I just discovered this thread and am in love with your drawings. I can't begin to decide which is my favorite, although I think the white on black and the gold bug Triarthrus are excellently executed artistic challenges. You have an amazing eye for shade and so any time you depict nodules they really project beautifully from the page! I might have to ask you about a commissioned work when the summer comes and school life becomes less demanding Thank you for sharing these treasures with us (and the awesome gifs of the process)

 

Philip

[Kane]

Thanks, gents! Apologies for the delay, and my thanks for your kind words.  

I do have two lichids in the hopper, but those take an eternity due to their tendency to be so pustulose. And, well, I have to draw each pustule, right?  

[Kane]

Finally got this one done. Took me a lot longer due to a nasty carpal tunnel flare-up.  

 

There are about four more in the queue, but I'll be taking it slow on account of my hand going numb.

Materials: pencils (4H, 2H, HB, 3B), blending stumps, tortillion, all on standard white printer paper. I'm including the process start to finish.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Amazing! 

That really looks like a photograph. 

[FossilNerd]

It’s crazy that these are done with only pencils. I’m amazed by your artistry Kane! Great job!  

[Ludwigia]

Hopefully you'll be seeing light at the end of the tunnel soon.

[NCPhilip]

Beautiful as always! 

[Kane]

Thanks gents.  There will hopefully be more. 

At some point, I'll have to look at effective ways of scanning/photographing them all, which is tricky as graphite tends to reflect light. 

Both wrists are kind of pooched, sadly. Elective surgery may be necessary for the one, but that won't be happening anytime soon, understandably. 

[taj]

amazing!

 

[snolly50]

I very much enjoyed seeing that masterful illustration.

[Kane]

Thank you all for your kind words. They keep my pencils moving.  

 

And here's another. It looks a lot better in person on account of the left hand side getting washed out by the lightbulb.

[Bobby Rico]

8 minutes ago, Kane said:

And here's another. It looks a lot better in person on account of the left hand side getting washed out by the lightbulb.

Beautiful Kane you should in the future have an exhibition. Your drawing and some of your bugs together would make a captivating show.
All the best my friend. Bobby 

[Ruger9a]

52 minutes ago, Kane said:

Thank you all for your kind words. They keep my pencils moving.  

 

And here's another. It looks a lot better in person on account of the left hand side getting washed out by the lightbulb.

 

Darn, it looks so life like, it could just walk off the paper...……  Great job.

[Coco]

Hi,

 

I don’t often comment on your drawings, but they are wonderful. Every time it’s a real pleasure to discover them

 

Coco

[Kane]

Aw, shucks, thanks all. 

Now that 741/800 final papers have been read, graded, and given feedback, I'm near the end of the semester which means... more time to doodle! 

 

Some challenges for this year will include seeking the best way to photograph pencil drawings, a better way of removing/blending pencil strokes, a more practical way of getting even more crisp detail (particularly on pustules). I'll continue working to the size of the paper. It does take longer to fill it, but it allows for more detail. I consider myself about 80% to where I want to be, pencil skills-wise (last year at this time, I'd have said about 25%, so definitely pleased with the progress that comes of patient application). 

 

In the hopper is a Damesella, Metopolichas, Dicranopeltis. If anyone wants to see a particular bug being given the graphite treatment, let me know and I'll see if I can get it in the queue.  

[Tidgy's Dad]

The Damesella could be a spiky challenge! 

[Kane]

15 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

The Damesella could be a spiky challenge! 

Consider it my next challenge. A fine choice for the discerning trilo-palate such as yours, sir!

[Kane]

On 2020-03-31 at 10:13 AM, Tidgy's Dad said:

The Damesella could be a spiky challenge! 

Challenge accepted and hopefully well met. 

 

No cheating on this one; each pustule was drawn with fidelity, and then shaded/blended. There may be up to 8 of them missing, but they are buried in shading. Drawing the pustules meant keeping the pencil constantly sharp, if not chipping off the tip to make an even sharper edge. Blending had to be done with a tortillion as none of my blending stumps were sharp enough (and even the tortillion was not as sharp as I would have liked). 

 

Many breaks taken as hand went numb. Materials were the humble 8.5" x 11" printer paper + pencils (HB, 2H, 4H), 5/16" tortillion mostly, some other sizes, too. 

 

Zoom in for pustular goodness (particularly around the cephalon). Lighting is crap, as usual. 

[Fossildude19]

Man that is cool!  

Pretty amazing, Sir Kane! 

Well done, indeed.

[Kane]

Thanks, Tim.  

I'm just glad it is done as I didn't think it would ever be finished. 

Any time I have to do lots of pustules, I always think of @fossilcrazy and his steady work on the Rochester lichids. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Phenomenal! 

Zoom in I did, and the detail is mind-boggling.

Boggle.

See?

Thanks very much for taking on the spiny one, but, though it may have been difficult, I think everyone will agree that the result is superb. 

Thank you. 

[Kane]

Thank you, Adam.  If only I could scan these as the camera just washes out the fussier detail (which is so much better in person  ). I'm hoping someone out there knows more about scanning/photographing graphite drawings. 

 

Well, I have a few lined up, but did you have a favourite you'd like to see in the list? Apart from a teaching gig in May, I'm free until September.  Rainy days will be drawing days.