Dragonfly Postage Stamps

As a natural history illustrator, sometimes you’re commissioned to do the most wonderful jobs.  This was the case with Jersey Post’s series of stamps; damsels & dragons.  Lots of dragonfly and damselfly illustrations.

Past stamp issues completed for Jersey Post

I’ve worked with Jersey Post before.  I completed a series of botanical illustrations of roses for them back in 2010 (copyright Jersey Post 2010).

They commissioned me again in 2011.  This time it was a series of illustrations for their 2011 Forests issue (copyright Jersey Post 2011).

Dragonfly and damselfly stamp issue

However, this new series, which came out yesterday, was definitely one of my favourite jobs to date.  Stamps, which require detail and colour, combined with entomological subject matter and a decent rate of pay?  Heaven.

After accepting the commission I was sworn to secrecy.   Stamps are a competitive world, and illustrators regularly sign confidentiality agreements.  This stops other countries’ postal departments from stealing one other’s ideas.

The brief came next.  I had a list of species to include, and each stamp value had one species assigned to it.   The accessories (first day covers and envelopes) were open to interpretation.  This meant I had a great deal of freedom in the compositions, and could choose whichever dragonflies from the list that I wanted to illustrate.

Dragonfly stamps: Gathering reference and advice

I was aided every step of the way by the erudite, accessible and endlessly patient Professor Mill of the British Dragonfly Society.

The first step was to source reference.  With dragonflies, this isn’t as easy as with some other insects (like butterflies or beetles).   The colours of  Odonata are chemical-based rather than physical.  So once a dragonfly dies, its colour fades within minutes. (Butterfly colour comes from thousands of tiny scales which remain the same shade for decades or centuries after death).   Museum specimens are great for dragonfly wing reference, but no good for colour.

I was helped by the best book on Dragonflies and Damselflies out there, Britain’s Dragonflies by Dave Smallshire & Andy Swash.  I consulted lots of photographs taken by extremely talented entomological photographers.  All very generously gave me permission to use their photos as reference.  Steve Routledge and Tim Caroen spring to mind.

Once I’d assembled my ref., I drew up the pencil roughs.  This is tricky as you need to make the animal bold but also leave room for the price, the queen’s head, and for the name of the insect in English and in latin.  It involves lots of layering of acetate sheets to ensure a word won’t overlap a wing, and that the queen’s nose isn’t touching a dragonfly leg.

Before applying any colour, I sent these off to Professor Mill.   He asked for the changes required to make the animals biologically accurate.  As a scientific illustrator, I always strive for accuracy, but it this case it was paramount.  The BDS were putting their name to the stamps.  Details like anal clasper shape, colour of the wing vein, position of the wing spot, and exact shape and colour on each abdominal segment were vital to illustrate correctly.

Damsel & Dragonfly stamps: Colour roughs

Next, the colour roughs.  These need to be worked up for submission to Jersey Post, but not be as fully worked as the finals.  The trick was to make them good enough to be “ok’d” by both Jersey Post and the BDS.   I could then use the same artwork and take it to the final stage.  Sometimes changes are too large, and you need to start afresh, but that’s part of the job.  The main challenge here were the instances where I’d got the colour of some part of the animal slightly wrong, and it needed tweaking.  If the colour needed to become muddier or darker this was fine, but where it had to be brighter or lighter it was a challenge.  (For more on this, check out my blog on fixing mistakes Natural History Illustration: Fixing errors).

Dragonfly and Damsels: Working up the final illustrations

Working into the finals is more a matter of intensifying colours and adding detail than anything else.  It takes time, but is the easiest part of the job.  As always, I use Winsor and Newton series 7 brushes and watercolour paints, and Doctor Martin inks for the vibrant colours of the dragonfly and damselfly bodies.

Below are the final artworks for the damsels and dragons stamp series.  I’ve supplied these without the queen’s head and text and price.  (There are copyright implications relating to reproducing the illustrations in the same format as the finished stamp.)  However, I include the Beautiful demoiselle to show how they look in their final layout.   The accessory artworks are allowed to be reproduced as is.  In all cases, copyright lies with Jersey Post.

It’s important to note here that it is almost unheard of for me to sell my copyright.  There are enormous issues currently surrounding companies demanding copyright unnecessarily.  Postage stamps are almost the only exception I make to this rule, and this is because stamps are, in effect, currency.  Thus a request for copyright in this case makes sense.

Dragonfly and Damsels: Supplementary artwork for the stamp issue

The supplementary artwork required is things like covers for the mint stamps, and first day cover illustrations to go on envelopes carrying the stamps.  Selvedge (the edge of the stamps) also needs to be illustrated.

I am really proud of this body of work, and very much look forward to working with Jersey Post (and any other stamp design company if they’re interested!) on further issues in the future.