Organism Project (Dragonfly - Part1)

This week I read a book called Steal Like An Artist, which is a bunch of advice from Austin Kleon on how to be creative.  One word of advice, besides telling you that stealing from other artists is a great thing to do, was to give yourself some guidelines if you're feeling stuck in a creative block.  So I did what I was told and here they are:

• Every week, pick one organism.
• Draw that organism in three different ways.

Very short guidelines.  This week's organism = a dragonfly.  I just started yesterday, so I've only drawn one picture, but there will be more to come.  Two to be exact.  Here is today's drawing:

Dragonfly1 - 4B graphite pencil

so many tiny boxes...

Also, here are some SWEET dragonfly pictures that were taken at the the lab I work in (part of the reason why I chose this organism).  I think we should move past fruit flies and on to dragonflies.

Dragonfly eye

Dragonfly leg

Dragonfly wing

They have SPIKES on their veins!

Lastly, I just wanted to post my favorite "scientific" drawing of all time, The Rhinoceros by Albrecht Durer.  The first living rhino to come to Europe since the Roman Empire was sent to Lisbon for the King of Portugal in 1515 (which later died in a shipwreck on its way to Italy).  While in Lisbon, an artist made a quick sketch and written description of the animal and sent them to Nuremberg, Germany, where Durer happened upon it.  Without even seeing the rhinoceros in person, Durer made two drawings and a woodcut of the Indian rhino with amazing detail.  His drawing captured the public and remained the formally "accurate" representation of the rhino until the late 18th century, and it even appeared in German textbooks until the 1930s. A more realistic drawing of the rhino actually existed, however, made by Hans Burgkmair during the same year as Durer's rendition.  But the people of Europe wanted to believe that rhinos had chainmail all over their legs and a unicorn horn on their back, so Durer's rhino stuck around.  It wasn't until the mid/late 1700's, when Jean-Baptist Oudry and my man George Stubbs made more accurate paintings of rhinos, that Durer's image of the rhinoceros was finally recognized as a false, imaginative representation.

The Rhinoceros, Albrecht Durer, 1515, woodcut

The Rhinoceros, Hans Burgkmair, 1515, woodcut

Clara the Rhinoceros in Paris in 1749, Jean-Baptist Oudry, 1749, oil on canvas

Rhinoceros, George Stubbs, 1790, oil on canvas

And of course, Dali made a sculpture of it.

Rhinoceronte vestido con puntillas, Salvador Dali, 1956 in Puerto Jose Banus, Marbella