Moth Pictures

February 12, 2005 7:31 AM

I am looking for images/art/photos of moths suitable for stencilling and/or tattooing. Google is the first place I looked, and while there's a lot of material out there, I'm hoping the human element can help me narrow my search. [+]

This is for a friend, who I'm hoping to help out. She really likes the insect imagery at Smoking Lily, but they don't have to be limited to that aesthetic. Also, while moths are the preferred insect, I'm sure nice images of dragonflies/bees/butterflies would be appreciated.

As I said, Google is full of answers -- but the people on this site have a great eye for design, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what people put forward.

posted by Jairus to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

A lot of the stuff at Smoking Lily seems to be oriented towards a vintagey kind of look-- your friend might want to check out her local used book store to try and find old field guides or encyclopedias that might have illustrations with a similar aesthetic.
When I worked at a used bookstore a few years ago, I picked up a set of 1950s children's encyclopedias that my boss was throwing out and I'm still finding great stuff in them.
posted by ITheCosmos at 7:57 AM on February 12, 2005

Have you thought of searching for photoshop brushes? Here's a quick example of what can be found, I think some of these were found over at deviant.
posted by squeak at 8:07 AM on February 12, 2005

There are a lot of good old biology illustrations online. The one I came across first which looks pretty well spot on is the "Historical vs Recent Moth Illustrations" pages at UMass. This page of plates in particular as well as this one have some excellent images. The Moths of Borneo [large page] are less classic in illustrations but completely mind-bogglingly beautiful. Be sure not to miss MothUSA if you actually want to find a moth that's local to where your friend is.
posted by jessamyn at 8:09 AM on February 12, 2005

Often times, I find Dover Publications books of clip art to be a great resource for ideas and inspiration for various graphic design stuff. They've got a great line of royalty-free clip art books, as well as coloring books.

Here's one on Exotic Butterflies and Moths.
posted by icontemplate at 8:21 AM on February 12, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions so far -- She really likes the Comet and Luna Moths, it turns out, so I'm going to try to focus on finding images of the long-tailed variety.
posted by Jairus at 9:10 AM on February 12, 2005

Art Source Image Collections A very useful collection of 11 different websites that store images.

Morguefile Don't let the creepy name fool you - this site has more than 15,000 high resolution images available for download.
posted by mlis at 10:34 AM on February 12, 2005

In general, I've had a lot more luck using the local academic library since they have a huge collection of art books, including collage/decoupage sourcebooks full of clipart of victorian etchings of bugs, animals, strange machinery, etc..

In the catalogue, keyword search "clipart," "clip art," "decoupage," and "collage" or ask a librarian..
posted by soviet sleepover at 6:25 PM on February 12, 2005