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Intricate Pen Drawings Beautifully Combine Animals with Nature

Using fine-tipped pens, Muthahari Insani (also known as @sweeneypen) creates intricate drawings of animals that are often cloaked in beautiful blooms. Silhouettes of bears, birds, and rabbits are shaped with winding branches, layers of petals, and growing toadstools. It's a fantastical take on the typical portrait, and Insani's additions are a unique and imaginative way to combine two facets of the natural world.

To build form and imply depth in his drawings, Insani makes tiny marks that produce hatch and cross-hatching textures. Depending on how close the lines are to each other, they appear more or less dark. This meticulous pen technique creates a variety of shadows, giving his surreal designs a three-dimensional feel that looks incredibly lush. It's as if the visible vegetation is just a small hint of what lies beneath the surface.

Check out Insani's Instagram for more impressive pen drawings, including a peek at his works in progress.

Muthahari Insani: Behance | Instagram
via [Lustik]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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