The Nestorians, monks in an early Christian church with roots in ancient Damascus, were the first known westerners to visit China. They arrived in the heart of the Sixth Century -- the T’ang Dynasty, a golden age of Chinese culture -- and among the many wonders the humble monks discovered was a shimmering fabric unlike anything else on earth.
Silk production, a mysterious process that was already 2,000 years old when the Nestorians arrived, was the empire’s most jealously guarded secret. Merchants believed that the heavenly cloth was woven from the fluffy seed pods of a rare plant. But secrets have a way of escaping into the light of day, and eventually the pair of Nestorian monks discovered the truth: silk thread actually came from the cocoons of enormous and beautiful moths.
Two monks smuggled silkworm eggs across the border, and within a few years silk was being made in Japan and India. The secret -- and the silkworms -- spread all the way to Europe.
Commercial silk comes mainly from Bombyx mori, the fluffy snow-white Mulberry Silkworm moth. But the moth we will use as today’s subject, Polyphemus (Antherea polyphemus) is especially nice to draw -- and besides its enormous size and gorgeous surface patterns, Polyphemus produces a strong and shiny silk the same golden brown shade as its wings.
The technique of Pencil Overdrawing is perfect for the velvety details of a silkworm moth’s wing. Watch the video all the way through and print the three pdf pages before you begin to draw.
Here is the video link. The password is pine.
This is definitely a “go slow and take your time” technique. Have fun.
Printable pdf pages:
Want to bypass the preliminary sketch and go right into the watercolor step? Here’s a line drawing you can trace or transfer:
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