conventions and killer robots

Firecracker flower (Dichelostemma ida-maia) and frenemies.

I posted the companion piece to this guy over at the Illustration Smackdown on From the Stacks. I know many botanical artists who do wonderful jaw-dropping work. Once I thought I might try to join them. However, I am not very good at following lists of conventions - and the American Society of Botanical Artists have a bunch. For the ASBA, scientific illustration is a smaller piece of botanical art. In my mind, it is the other way around

Not only do I have a predilection for drawing animals, but I kept getting hung up on botanical traditions, like the isolated specimens on a pure white background with no extras. I can’t help it. I find it kind of boring. Mentally, I draw wild beasts into these delicate works, ripping the foliage apart or inserting killer robots with blasters setting fire to the petals. This time I went beyond mentally drawing, and I must say I am glad I did. :)

Illustration Obsession

What, you may be asking yourself, are those odd shaped sheep in that reproduced image (an engraving from ~1787), brought to us courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library's Flickr stream?* They do look like sheep, don't they? Or some sort of odd ungulate-sized mice lazing about on rocks? Maybe a blocky rat, or muskrat? ...But, NO! They are bats. BATS!?!?! Printed the same size as the jaguar three plates earlier. What was Buffon thinking? I don't know, but I had to do my own illustrations of these little guys to demonstrate how much scientific illustration has improved in 200+ years...

The three bats presented in the above Buffon image done here in pastel, from top to bottom:

• Greater Bulldog bat, Nolctilio nigrita
• Ternat or Greater Yellow House bat, Pteropus vulgaris
• Senegal bat, Vespertilio nigrita

*Buffon's Natural history, containing a theory of the earth, a general history of man, of the brute creation, and of vegetables, minerals, &c. &c. From the French, with notes by the translator.  London:1797-1807.