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Chapter V · Visual Communication

Scientific Illustration

I drew every species taught in Paxton Gate’s pinning classes: accurate enough to teach from, good enough to wear. Some went onto shirts, stickers and temporary tattoos.

Visual craft
Scientific accuracy

Blue morpho — digital ink & color

Press any drawing to see it large.

Moths & butterflies

Hawk moth, family Sphingidae — Sphingidae — hawk moth

Death's-head hawk moth, Acherontia styx — Acherontia styx — death’s-head hawk moth

Madagascan sunset moth — Chrysiridia rhipheus — Madagascan sunset moth

Sheep moth, wings spread, in orange, yellow and black — Sheep moth

Sheep moth in natural colors — Sheep moth, natural color

Purple-spotted swallowtail, wings spread, top view — Graphium weiskei — purple-spotted swallowtail

Purple-spotted swallowtail with wings closed — …and with wings closed

Emerald swallowtail butterfly, wings spread — Emerald swallowtail

Emerald swallowtail, underside — …underside

Emerald swallowtail with wings closed — …wings closed

Common rose butterfly, wings spread — Common rose

Harmodius mimic — Harmodius mimic, wings spread

Harmodius mimic butterfly at rest, side view — …and at rest — dorsal and lateral views for class

Mountain blue butterfly at rest, side view — Mountain blue, at rest

Beetles

Red stag beetle, male — Prosopocoilus astacoides — red stag beetle ♂

Red stag beetle, female — …♀

Five-horned rhinoceros beetle, male — Eupatorus gracilicornis — five-horned beetle ♂

Five-horned rhinoceros beetle, female — …♀

Tonkin's longhorn beetle, male — Diastocera wallichii tonkinensis — Tonkin’s longhorn beetle ♂

Tonkin's longhorn beetle head in color, with the rest of the body still in line work — …head close-up, color over line work

Long-jawed stag beetle — Long-jawed beetle

Long-jawed beetle, female — …♀

Stag beetle drawn in grays — Dorcus stag beetle, in gray

Stag beetle with wings open — Stag beetle, wings open

And the others

Flower mantis

Stick insect with pink wings spread — Stick insect

Giant flower beetle illustration with wings spread under the words Paxton Gate San Francisco, as a shirt graphic — Rhomborhina gigantea — giant flower beetle, as a shirt graphic.

Licensed and on sale

Good enough to wear