Early last May, I started work on the drawing of a cicada. Summer and the end of classes intervened before the project could be finished. The only progress made was a first-draft proportional sketch.
Alert readers of the ‘pile may remember last August’s “Miracle on a Car Tire” post, when a cicada crawled out of the earth into the wheel well of our car… ecdysis ensued.
See: https://thetompostpile.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/the-miracle-on-the-car-tire/
Cicada drawing sketch stage, May 1, 2017
Summer came and went. Fall Came. The sketch was refined to the point of being ready to transfer to “Bristol Board” paper.
The final sketch.
Once transferred to the drawing board, the first layers of color were applied. Test colors were applied to the small piece of card you see in the upper left of the photo below. In the upper right are the source specimens used for the work.
October 16, 2017
Then begins adding layers of color.
Layering-on of color begins.
Layer after layer, just a bit at a time.
October 30, 2017
Laying-on continues…first the thorax, then the abdomen.
The add-on eyes looked OK, but really…..
Two more hours of work on the abdomen, and the end is in sight. (Sorry)
November 8, 2017
The final two hours of work were spent on refining color, adding highlights, and working on the wings.
Finished wing detail.
And then the cicada is done at last.
The final steps are initialing and dating the drawing and applying fixative.
Finished. November 13, 2017 Size of drawing is 9 1/2″ X 3 1/2″.
What will be next?
thetompostpile 
ta da!
Thanks…I almost put the “ta da” part in, but my editor nixed it at the last moment.
Wow Tom…it looks like a photographer!