Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects

and Arachnids
Overview
Introduction

Where the previous lesson focused primarily on flowing flat shapes as they push through all
three dimensions of space, this lesson is going to set its sight on conveying the solidity of
constructed forms, and combining them to create complex objects.

We also look at techniques that can be used to imbue insects' legs with solidity without causing
them to appear too stiff as can often happen when employing constructional techniques too
frivolously.
 Anatomy

Insects (and arachnids) are composed of three major components:

 Head
 Thorax
 Abdomen

This holds true for the majority, though in some cases - like in beetles, spiders, and so on - you'll
find that the head and thorax are fused. Despite this, you can still visually separate these
elements fairly easily.

The other significant point to note is that insects (and some arachnids) display a shape language
focused around the triangle. This can be seen in the general shapes of their heads, the way their
legs bend, etc. Triangles naturally tend to be more sinister and unsettling as shapes (while
squares are solid and circles are cuddly). That is, however, a conversation for a much later
lesson.
 Working with solid forms

It's not uncommon to see artists starting with a loose, vague sketch to explore their drawing
before committing more firmly to their lines. That is not how we will be approaching things
here. That's not to say it's not an entirely valid approach to drawing, just that what we're doing
here is specifically an exercise in construction.

As mentioned in previous lessons, construction is accomplished in successive passes, starting

At no point are we ever 'sketching'. Instead, every single pass should end with forms that feel
solid to you - not like flat shapes pasted on top of one another, or loose collections of strokes on
the page. Think about how these forms relate to one another, and add contour lines where you
feel these relationships or the illusion of form need to be reinforced.

Try to perceive these solid forms as real, weighty objects in a three dimensional world, and look
beyond the fact that you're drawing on a piece of paper. The page is not a flat surface - it is a
window into a boundless world.
Homework and exercises

Before starting the homework, be sure to go through all of the demonstrations included in this
lesson. I strongly recommend drawing along with them as well and following them closely when
doing so.

Also, remember that this homework must be drawn from reference. When looking for reference,
I recommend that you specifically look for those of a higher resolution. Google's image search
tool allows you to limit your search to large images, and I recommend you take advantage of
this.

To get you started, here is an album of hundreds of high-res images:

The homework assignment for this section is as follows:

 2 pages of organic forms with contour curves, just like from lesson 2
 4 pages of insect/arachnid drawings that are purely constructional with no texture or
detail.
 6 pages of insect/arachnid drawings that can go into texture and detail if you wish.

All the assigned work for this section should be done in ink, using fineliners/felt tip pens as
described here. You may also use a brush pen to fill in dark areas, but not for your linework.
Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects
and Arachnids
Wasp Demo
Demo Video

A great place to start is with a wasp - they've got a solid separation between the three major body
masses (head, thorax, abdomen) and all kinds of spindly legs. They've also got natural contour
lines that really lend themselves to establishing the illusion of 3D form without straying much
from the reference itself.

The demo video includes full audio and discussion of the concepts demonstrated in the drawing.

Reference
Here's the rather unsettling reference we'll be working from. Not the usual yellow jacket I'm used
to, this one is known as the "Executioner Wasp". What a lovely name.

Step by step
To start with, we're going to lay down the three major masses:

 Head (or more accurately, the cranium which constitutes only part of the head)
 Thorax, to which the wings and legs connect
 Abdomen
I did notice some additional masses present on the creature's body. It's important to understand
that while we start from those three primary masses, we are not bound only to them. We just
want to generally get them down first.

When you do add additional forms, you mustn't add them like stickers onto a flat image. You
need to leverage your awareness of how these forms intersect and interact with one another - take
your additional form and actually wrap it around the masses already present in the construction.

Also worth mentioning, I put down some contour lines to vaguely match the segmentation of the
wasp's abdomen. I drew these to flow over the surface of my simpler mass rather than trying to
tailor them to the specific segmentation visible in the reference, mainly because I wanted to use
them to add extra solidity that the reference more or less gives me for free (rather than having to
invent my own contour lines).
Next, I'm starting to point my attention to the legs. Before we get to them however, I noticed that
there were some intermediary forms that connect them to the thorax, so I decided to drop them in
as some solid volumes.

I didn't construct these in the same way I tackle legs (which you'll see next), because they
seemed to exude more solidity than gesture. Whenever I'm applying a technique, I try to think
about what that technique is best suited for, and whether or not that matches what I need right at
that moment.
Now when tackling legs - be it those of an insect or those of an animal, I see a lot of different
strategies being employed (most of which I've tried myself over the years). I've found that the
most reliable approach is to construct legs out of a series of sausage segments.

By sausages, I mean the kinds of organic forms we introduced in lesson 2, though not quite as
fat. They're essentially two spheres connected by a tube that maintains a consistent width through
its length. This means no arbitrary swelling or pinching, as this will undermine its solidity.

The great thing about sausages is that they can strike a balance between the need for our forms to
maintain the illusion of solidity, while also being quite gestural and flowing in their nature. We
can reinforce the illusion of form with a single contour curve right at their joints where they
intersect, and leave the rest free and clear.
So, let's apply this to our wasp to achieve what appears to be something of a flying spaghetti
monster. For each leg, I am focusing only on that one leg. When there are so many things
floating around, it can be very easy to be distracted from your task. Stay focused only on the
marks you're making at that moment and don't let yourself get overwhelmed.
Here I'm starting to organize my mess with a little extra line weight and a few simple cast
shadows. I'm not doing this to replicate anything I see in my reference - just to subtly clarify
what's going on in my drawing.

When you use line weight, it can be rather tempting to start going crazy with really thick lines,
but I wouldn't advise it. Take it slow, and err on the side of subtlety. Don't use different pens,
unless you need to fill in large cast shadow areas (in which case you can use a brush pen once
you've established the outline of that shadow shape). In general, you should be doing all the
linework - construction and line weight both - with a single pen.

I've also added a few additional forms - a relatively flat wing and some of the structure in the
area it connects to the thorax, as well as the large eye.
For the most part, the rest is just a matter of detail. Pushing the segmentation along the abdomen
to bulge out past the silhouette, pushing line weights and cast shadows a little more to help
continue organizing the drawing, and so on. This stage is the least important - your time should
be spent primarily on the underlying construction, as that is what will help develop your spatial
awareness and your understanding of how the forms you're using all relate to one another.
Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects
and Arachnids
Louse Demo

Demo Video

This one's a rather interesting example, as the head louse is not something one often thinks about
when it comes to insects. Having a somewhat translucent body, it can be a little tricky to break
down, but it really comes down to all the same forms as everything else.

The demo video includes full audio and discussion of the concepts demonstrated in the drawing.
Reference

Here's our reference image. As you can see, its body is somewhat translucent, so you need a
careful eye to distinguish all of its major components. Still, look closely enough, and it'll start to
become a little clearer.
Step by step

Like many of our other insects, the louse is composed of a head (cranium), a thorax and an
abdomen. You'll notice that I have not yet included the large skirt-like mass that covers its
abdomen. If you look closely at the reference, you'll see that it's somewhat distinguished from
the darker mass that is visible through it. As such, I decided to separate the two, and build out
this narrower abdomen first.
Here, I'm blocking in the skirt form. I'm also leveraging a few contour lines - both around the
skirt as well as a center line passing down the length of the whole body (from head, to thorax, to
abdomen) to help establish how these masses align to one another.

This can be tricky at first, and requires you to really think about how your line runs over the
surface of these forms, so don't rush through it. Give yourself the time to think carefully about
how those surfaces turn through space.

Additionally, you'll notice some of the extra forms I've added to the head. At first glance, you
may feel that the eyes - or at least the beady black things I assume are eyes - attach directly to the
cranial mass, but if you look more closely you'll see that there's something of a supporting mass
between them. I've drawn this in as a separate ball, even though it's quite subtle.
Here the only changes are the circles I've drawn on either side of the thorax. This lays down the
footprint of where the legs will connect.
Now when tackling legs - be it those of an insect or those of an animal, I see a lot of different
strategies being employed (most of which I've tried myself over the years). I've found that the
most reliable approach is to construct legs out of a series of sausage segments.

By sausages, I mean the kinds of organic forms we introduced in lesson 2, though not quite as
fat. They're essentially two spheres connected by a tube that maintains a consistent width through
its length. This means no arbitrary swelling or pinching, as this will undermine its solidity.

The great thing about sausages is that they can strike a balance between the need for our forms to
maintain the illusion of solidity, while also being quite gestural and flowing in their nature. We
can reinforce the illusion of form with a single contour curve right at their joints where they
intersect, and leave the rest free and clear.
So, lets go ahead and apply that methodology to its legs. Simple sausage forms, interconnecting
with one another. No odd swelling or pinching, just basic sausages so we can maintain their
solidity.
I did decide to apply the "stretched spheres" approach to the antennae however, as upon
examining the reference, I felt they weren't quite as flexible, or at least didn't look flexible
enough to merit the full sausages. So as always, identify the task ahead of you and pick the best
technique for that particular problem, rather than seeing every problem as a nail, just because
you've got a hammer in your hand.
Now, one of the most satisfying aspects of this particular subject (at least in my opinion) is the
ribbing along its skirt. It's got that nice ballooning effect that pushes past the silhouette.

Notice though how it comes down in three rows, so I've actively drawn lines to split up those
rows first before drawing the ribbing itself.

Ultimately the ribbing is just made up of glorified contour lines, wrapping around the form and
tucking in or ballooning out where I want to modify the appearance of that surface.
As you may have noticed, I left the claws out from the initial leg construction, as they were more
complex. Ultimately it is preferable to work on the entire drawing all at once, rather than
focusing in on any one area until it's done. This allows us to keep building up complexity for the
whole drawing in an even manner.

The claws are, however, really just following the same principle as the legs, in that they're
mostly sausage-like forms intersecting with one another.
Just an extra touch of line weight here to help clarify certain overlapping forms, but nothing too
different from the previous step. I'm not too preoccupied with texture on this one, as my focus
has primarily been identifying and capturing the semi-translucent forms, all of which were quite
intriguing in how they were layered on top of one another.
Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects
and Arachnids
Video Demos
The demos listed here have no written counterpart.

Scorpion Demo

Scorpions, due to the sheer complexity of their segmentation and the different kinds of
components involved in their construction, are often considered to be quite difficult. Here's how
I'd go about tackling one.
Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects
and Arachnids
Black Widow Demo
This demo is a little older, having been published in August 2016. As such, while I have decided
that there is still something of value here, any techniques or approaches outlined in
demonstrations not flagged with this message should be considered to take precedence over what
is covered here. This is a natural part of Drawabox being an evolving, growing resource.

Demo video

We're going to start this off with a particularly disturbing creature - the notorious black widow
spider.

This recording has no accompanying audio commentary.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get reference with a pose I liked that had the iconic red hour glass
on it. Oh well.

This photograph was taken by Bo Jonsson.

So you want to start out by fleshing out your three major forms - head, thorax and abdomen.
Even in the case of spiders, with their cephalothorax (fused head/thorax), I'll usually still block
them out as separate masses very close together, but in this particular situation the reference
doesn't really show me much of the head. So, we've got the thorax and abdomen.
Next I want to try and find out roughly where and how the legs connect to the body. It can be
helpful to look up other images of your subject matter, especially ones that show how the
underside of its body is arranged.

It also helps to block in those joints (as circles) for the opposite side of the body as well, at least
for the legs that are going to be visible. Of course, being on the opposite side of the body, we are
likely going to take steps later to flatten them out and make them less dominant, but for now we
want to make sure we can largely understand how the whole object exists in three dimensions.
At first glance this may seem like a huge jump, but it's absolutely not. Each leg is segmented,
and so while carefully observing my reference image, I built each segment out one at a time. I
find the most success from drawing the same segment for all of the legs before moving onto the
next, rather than building out each leg one at a time. This helps keep the arrangement balanced,
rather than finding later on that you've accidentally run out of space to include the last leg in any
reasonable way.

You will make mistakes in your arrangement of things, but at least this way you can compensate
and shift things around together, evenly spreading out the impact of your blunder over all of the
legs rather than having it focused on one.
The most important thing I've done here is just adding line weight (and blacking out a few small
sections to help clarify my leg-forms and reduce a lot of the clutter going on). At this stage in the
drawing, you're going to have a lot of overlapping lines vying for your viewer's attention. You
want to set these out in a sort of hierarchy of importance, so your viewer ultimately knows what
to look at first. As we covered in the last lesson, your first tool for achieving this is simple line
weight to clarify what exists in front of what. Second is filling in areas with solid black to help
another area of white to really pop into view.

You'll also notice that for the back legs, I added some very simple, straight hatching. Straight
hatching on a rounded object is usually a no-no, because it'll flatten your form out completely. In
this case, that's what I want. It's a design choice to help push those legs back in terms of
importance. I want the viewer's eye to glaze over those details in favor of the legs closer to them.
My last step is limited to just a few minor touches - adding a cast shadow (just a quick outline of
the shape with no fill whatsoever) and little details to suggest what kind of ground this creature is
resting upon. It's not that important, but it does help in terms of presentation to ground the object
and offer hints regarding the world beyond this very focused snapshot.
Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects
and Arachnids
House Fly Demo
This demo is a little older, having been published in August 2016. As such, while I have decided
that there is still something of value here, any techniques or approaches outlined in
demonstrations not flagged with this message should be considered to take precedence over what
is covered here. This is a natural part of Drawabox being an evolving, growing resource.

Demo video

This time let's tackle a pretty common insect that has a clear head/thorax/abdomen configuration.

This recording has no accompanying audio commentary.

Here's the reference image I'm using for this demo. As always, try and find something with a
good, high resolution. When things get blurry, it can become quite difficult to discern important
information.
Step by step

Start off by fleshing out your major forms - head, thorax, and abdomen.
With your major forms laid out, you next want to add in some legs. In the reference image, we
can't see where the legs attach to the body, so with some additional research and a bit of critical
thinking, you'll find that they connect underneath the thorax like every other insect and arachnid
we've dealt with today. Remember that insects have three pairs of legs, and pay special attention
to how they spread out from the body. The front pair always faces forwards, but the other pairs
tend to point more towards the back.
Here I've added some contour curves to help reinforce my more ball-like forms, and I've started
breaking down the more complex elements of the head.
When drawing wings, don't just tack them on thoughtlessly. Consider how they attach to the
body. The more accurately and thoughtfully you deal with these problems of connectivity, the
more believable and solid your drawing will appear at the end.

Think of every object in existence as series of problems, whose design was tailored (be it
through craftsmanship, evolution or whatever else) to solve these problems. In this case, how do
we attach these wings to this little bastard so he can fly around and buzz in everyone's faces
while they're trying to work.
Now that the construction is done, all that's left is to sort through the mess, bring the important
shapes and lines to the forefront and push the others back. As always, use line weight to clarify
which forms and shapes are in front, and which ones are behind.
Same as all of the other demos - add a quick cast shadow that roughly matches the object and
throw in some appropriate ground details. In this case, I was actually thinking about little bits of
human hair and skin, but it looks a lot more like grass and dirt. That's definitely something to
keep in mind - if that reads as grass, it tells the viewer that this fly is massive and that they
should run away immediately. Or that they should try to saddle it and use it as a steed... Either
way, this is not what I was after.
Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects
and Arachnids
Informal Demos
The demos here have been drawn in the course of a student's homework critique, but contain
information that can be useful to all working through this material.

Layered segmentation

A lot of these insects feature various kinds of segmentation, especially on their abdomens. Pay
close attention to how they overlap, and how they break the silhouette of the form in order to
convey them as strongly and effectively as you can.
 Cricket's abdominal segmentation

I often find that students have a tendency to flatten out crickets' abdomens, even when they do a
great job with segmentation on other insects. Something about their bodies really lends
themselves to it. Always think about how those layered segments of chitin conform around the
underlying bodypart.
 Spider construction

Simple overview of how I would have approached this spider. I don't believe I had the reference
for this one, so I constructed it based on what the student's drawing conveyed.
 Ladybug construction

Same as the above - using the student's drawing, I broke it down into its major forms and
explained how I would have approached the construction.
 The turning of form

One thing we get into more and more as we talk about construction and form is the idea of forms
having clear distinctions between their various faces. The top, the side, the front, etc. Even when
a form has a seemingly smooth transition here, think about where you would distinguish these
planes, and where the surfaces turn.
Identifying texture

While many students will drop in some hatching lines and call it done, I want to encourage you
to look a lot closer at your reference image and identify the wealth of visual elements and
information that are being conveyed there. Look closely, and you'll find that it's not quite as
simple as you may have thought