Studio day. I’ve been working through a series of cicada studies in Procreate, building them the way I usually do: ink first, then shading in restrained layers to test form and volume.
While checking the values, I temporarily hid the ink layer to see how the tones were carrying the structure on their own. What appeared underneath was a surprise. Without the linework, the image shifted into something softer and more ornamental, with an Arts and Crafts–era feeling—flattened, rhythmic, and more concerned with pattern than precision.
The inked version at right is undeniably more anatomically accurate, but the un-inked version at left feels more resolved stylistically. It has a quiet cohesion that the more literal rendering lacks.
That discovery has prompted a small course correction. I’ll be producing the final version without the ink layer, allowing the shading and shape to do the work on their own. It’s a reminder I keep relearning: sometimes the most interesting result shows up when you momentarily remove the thing you thought was holding the image together.