How to draw a grasshopper’s wing

In this tutorial l show you step by step how l drew the wings of a grasshopper on a piece of my actual artwork. The Purple Winged Grasshopper can be seen in my gallery. I show you how l work the tiny veins on the wing using colored pencils and how to achieve an iridescent effect.
​I list all the colors that l use, although you can use whatever colors you have. I list them mainly to show how many colors and layers go into achieving this effect.

Step 1

It is difficult perhaps to see exactly what l have done in step 1. The wing has many veins that need to be picked out. I actually begin the piece by drawing these in. I use Holbein Cream and Faber Castell Polychromos in White and Ivory. I drew all these marks in with a very heavy pressure, embossing them into the paper. The heavy pressure also means that they will resist colors placed on top and so remain light and stand out as l work other layers on top. It would be very hard to draw in the light veins last on top of color, also they look more realistic drawn in first.

Step 2

All l have done in step 2 is lightly cover the whole surface area of the wing using Caran D’ache Pablo’s in Light Green and Malachite Light Green. I do this purely so that all the veins l embossed are easy for me to see. It is a bit like doing a bark rubbing, all the patterns now stand out and l can work around them.

Step 3

ln photo 3 l begin to pick out the veins and map in the colors where l want them to go on the wing. I am using a very light hand for this, l am really just creating a visual reference for myself. I pick out the edges of the main veins with Polychromos in Cinnamon and Light Malachite Green and work some Holbein Naples Yellow, Apricot and Salmon Pink on the inside edge next to the body.
l begin shading the main body of the wing using all Holbein colors in Lettuce Green, Opal Green, Horizon Blue, Fresh Green and Celadon.

Step 4

ln step 4 l start really scrutinizing my reference photo to pick out as many colors as l possibly can. I start to use a few darker colors to begin adding shape and shadow. I use Holbein Surf Green and Pablo’s Lime and Opaline Green to pick out the upper edge of the wing and some of the veins.
l begin adding shade to the lower edge using Holbein Lilac and Small Blue and Pablo’s Periwinkle.
​l pick out some of the main veins using Pablo’s Aubergine and add a little Holbein Mauve to the shadows and edges to start the slightly iridescent effect.

Step 5

ln step 5 l start to bring in many colors these really bring life and interest to the wing. They may be in small patches or even just dots. You can see the veins clearly standing out now. I pick out the main veins again using Pablo’s Venetian Red and Aubergine, adding tiny flecks of these colors into the greens in the body of the wing.
l use Holbein Fresh Green, Lilac, Jade Green, Mauve, Small Blue, Viridian and Willow Green and Pablo’s Opaline Green and Mauve. I take some Polychromos Purple Violet to darken and sharpen the edges.

Step 6

ln this final step l decide to forget my reference photo a bit as the wing in the photo is as pale as in step 5 and l want it to look a bit more exciting. So l do my own thing adding layers of Holbeins in Leaf Green, Apple Green, Cactus Green, Celadonand Iris.
​I sharpen the under edges with Polychromos in Purple Violet and the wing is complete.