[wip] Bees 3 (Patreon)

[wip] Bees 1 /[wip] Bees 2

I usually upload my work to social media at resolutions under 1000px due to various issues (like art theft). However, this time, the intention I wanted to convey was more important, so I uploaded it larger than usual. I want people to zoom in and see this as much as possible :D

I feel a bit bitter that the negative experiences I've had have made me hesitant about sharing my work with a higher resolution online. Ultimately, my most important priority is to convey the cuteness of animals through my art 😚

Here's my intention with this piece:

(This is the same/similar with my other drawings too. I hope people will feel closer to animals and become more interested in them.)

-> Oh, There are so many bees!

-> The small thing underneath looks like text.... (At this point, I'm hoping people will zoom in on the image.)

-> Ah, this is name of bee. So it's real bees. There are so many beautiful and diverse bees in the world!

-> I like this bee. I'll have to check it out.

So, I hope people will become interested in them and like them more.

I've never used the "Tag yourself" meme before, but I tried it out this time. I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly, but... 😅 It might encourage people to participate, look at the drawing more closely, and connect with the animals.

Even after the painting was completed, I spent another two to four days full-time on layout and editing.

The font is handwritten. Although it is a digital image, I believe handwriting will give it a warmer feel. I also adjusted the spacing while conducting a readability test.

I painted on a total of seven canvases and rearranged them to match the final color.

I did a lot of mobile testing.

It was important to be able to see the text when zoomed in.

I hadn't noticed this before because I'd only uploaded small images,

In case of Bluesky, 2000px vertically is the best for image quality. (If you upload larger images, the image quality will be lower because the platform will scale the image down.)

Twitter(x) supports higher resolutions and allows for larger downloads on PCs, but when testing on mobile, there was no difference in zooming in even when images were updated in at 2000px or higher.

Instagram supports 1080p, the images didn't zoom in, so I had to re-edit them.

I removed the small text (bee's name) and added another text on the main image to encourage swiping.

I first posted this on other social media platforms and checked people's reactions, and many were surprised by blue and green bees.

So I divided the bees by color and uploaded them with blue and green first.

To make the text more readable, I changed some names to two lines and adjusted the spacing. The text is still small, but I think it's legible. I think it would have been better to increase the font size, but that would have resulted in too many images.

The Great Carpenter Bee I drew is a male.

It's a large bee found in Australia, and the male and female look different. The female has beautiful yellow fur and a glossy black body. I wanted a bright yellow bee to stand out in this painting, so I drew a male :D

I wanted people to search for them, so I wanted to choose bees with common names that were easy to remember, but when I found a bee that I was so fascinated by, I had to draw it, like the long-faced xeromelissa rozeni.

Osmia avosetta is another example. I think everyone should see the beautiful petal nests they create! They're like a beautiful quilt. Imagine baby bees being born surrounded by petals. They're literal fairies.

I personally have a soft spot for bees. My name also includes the word "bee." (My name is Dan Bee, after all. And "bee" means "rain" in Korean.)

Wallace's giant bee is the largest bee in the world.

The females have a mouth like a stag beetle.

I often find myself happy looking at animal photos.

For example, sharp-tailed bees (Coelioxys) has a really pointy butt... People have been posting lots of zoomed-in photos of their butts, and it's so much fun.

When someone who loves bees encounters a small wild bee, takes a photo, identifies it, and uploads it online, I discover it and feel inspired.

We share a love for these small animals on this planet... and somehow I feel connected.... And I also hope to express my emotions/message through my drawings so that others can appreciate the beauty of these creatures and the joy I feel.

There have been many times when I've been drawing bees in the wee hours of the morning and suddenly felt a surge of emotion 🥹

The Warrona cuckoo bee has its eyes closed.

I've seen many photos of cuckoo bees crouching and hanging on the tips of branches. It's their resting state when they're not active.

Links from Google search for cuckoo bee sleeping

Come to think of it, I've been drawing bees full-time for a month. I believe this kind of work is entirely possible thanks to Patreon. Thank you all again!

I'll be drawing other animals now, but I'll also be working on icons based on this drawing 😚 It'll be spring when I'm finished. I hope we get to see more bees this spring!