I received my first 2 Golden Guide book projects at the same time: Junior Golden Guide: Butterflies, and Moths, and Junior Golden Guide: Bees, Wasps, and Ants. Turnaround time for each was 6 months and I was so excited. This company was at the very top on my list of freelance great whales. I was also stoked to be able to use my stereomicroscope which I'd purchased for just such an occasion— and yes!— I made the drawings and paintings from actual specimens I'd observed. Back then my eyesight was about near-perfect.
After the books were published in 1992, my art director, the wonderful Remo Cosentino, entered one of the spreads (The Cicada Killer from Bees Wasps, and Ants— see below) into the Society of Illustrators Show in which it won a Special Mention award. The painting then caught the attention of an agent, Harriet Kasak, who then contacted me to ask if I wanted to work with her and I agreed. And that is how my illustration career got off the ground. If you’d like to see more of the paintings in either of these book, I’ve uploaded them all to a shop page here: https://kestfineart.com/butterflies-and-moths and here https://kestfineart.com/bees-wasps-ants .
Life cycle of a Monarch butterfly: chrysalis, pupa, emergent, and adult. Notice the pencil rendering of the twig, a stylistic choice I’ve used over the years in vaious publications.
The Cicada Killer Wasp and its prey. The pencil rendering of the underground chamber can still be seen under layers of Liquin, a synthetic resin I use for painting which dries to a plastic and archival consistency.