Jen C Mars

@jencmars

Illustrator: Fantasy & Nature - Wildlife Photography Enthusiast - TTRPG Player - I like birds and bugs Portfolio: Shop:

486 Siguiendo5327 Seguidores2813 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y jencmars.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 17

I like their big silly heads Cratomus megacephala

Close up photo from behind of a tiny black wasp with a very large, dumbbell shaped head standing on a bit of dead, rotting wood. The wasp has little spikes above its compound eyes and the wings are slightly iridescent.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 16

Happy World Snake Day! #WorldSnakeDay

Watercolor and pencil portrait of a Kirtland's snake. It's a small cute snake with a dark grey-ish back and creamy belly tinted with red, and an adorable golden eye. These snakes are small, harmless and endangered as well as very cute

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 15

Drawing birds

Photo of a sketchbook page featuring pencil drawings of the white ibis - a wading bird with a distinctive long, curved beak - in many poses. The adults have a pink face with white feathers and blue eyes that give them a perpetually startled (and if I'm being honest, somewhat goofy) appearance. I love them.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 14

This book is full of monsters that I quite like and got to draw

Photo of a drawing in progress in blue pencil of an evil looking jack-o-lantern monster with big spider legs and lots of long vine tendrils. It's hard to see but the top of the jack-o-lantern is open and humanoid legs are sticking up out of it, implying it's in the process of consuming someone.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 13

Sketching stuff

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 13

Sharpshooter trying to blend in

Photo of a pointy-headed green leafhopper standing vertically on the stem of a green plant against a green background. The leafhopper is from the genus Draeculacephala, and has a bright spring-green head, eyes, and wings and pinkish face, legs and body. It has no facial expression or true pupils, but the shape of its eye makes it look a bit nervous as it appears to give the camera a little sideways look

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 11

If fluffy round moths is your thing, you might want your own fluffy round moth friend jencmars.bigcartel.com/product/rosy...

Photo of a hand holding a large rosy maple moth sticker and a blue spotted salamander sticker

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 11

Look at this gorgeous fluffy girl

Photo of a promethea silkmoth on a tree wings spread open. It is a large moth with a fluffy red-brown body and enormous bark-patterned wings with conspicuous eye spots

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 10

I made some stickers because I have that power and so you can also have a nautilus friend jencmars.bigcartel.com/product/cham...

Photo of my hand holding a snazzy nautilus sticker perfectly sized for a water bottle or laptop cover

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 9

Study of the chambered nautilus, Nautilus pompilius 🐙 Mixed media, primarily pencil and acrylic ink

Photo of an illustration of a chambered nautilus in pale green water, completed, placed on a wood grain desk with pen, pencil, and bottles of ink visible along side it

A cleaned up scanned version of the same illustration, showing a nautilus in pale green water

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 7

Portrait of a moth

Close-up photo of a moth's head and first pair of legs. The moth is light brown and white and has a kind of pointy face and is extremely fluffy. One oversized eye is visible, with a very large dark pseudo-pupil that appears to be giving you the side eye

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 6

Trying out some new watercolor paint today

Photo of a drawing of a nautilus stapled to a board surrounded by paints, pencils and assorted painting accessories. A hand holding a paintbrush rests on the left side of the drawing.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 6

That was my guess at an ID of the one I found, it was less than half an inch long, but I'm not at all confident in the ID

Photo of a grasshopper that is actually submerged underwater and is blending in with muck and pebbles

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 5

Very happy to be back to paper and pencil

Photo of a pencil drawing in progress of a chambered nautilus. The drawing is taped to a board with various drawing implements alongside it. A hand holding a pencil is in the foreground

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jul 1

Dragon wings

Close-up photo of the wings of a calico pennant dragonfly, showing the beautiful pale yellow veins that look like stained glass. Only the middle of the dragonfly is showing, including part of it's fuzzy yellow and black-brown thorax and abdomen. The background is out of focus and dark green.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 29

Ordering Korean. Will I try the MYSTERY BUCKET??? Includes ladle

Screenshot of an item on an online ordering menu called Mystery bucket. The description only says, includes ladle

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 27

Long haired cat (Ctenucha virginica)

Close-up photo of a caterpillar on a blade of grass. The caterpillar has a cherry red head with a black face and thick, luxurious hairs that make it look like a weird bristle brush

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 25

Aggro ant One of a group of Formica aserva farming aphids on a conifer that decided I was too close. These ants are sometimes social parasites, but the ones I saw were working alone.

Close-up photo of an ant standing on the needles of an evergreen tree, lunging towards the camera with her formidable mandibles open wide and one leg seeming to reach toward you. The ant has a dark red head and thorax and a dark brown-red abdomen, and her legs and antennae are quite long.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 24

Munch munch munch

Close-up photo of a sawfly larva, I think a yellow-headed spruce sawfly, eating an evergreen needle. The larva is yellow-green with dark stripes and an orange-red head, and it is sitting lengthwise atop the needle it's eating, in a cluster of other needles all pointing in the same direction against a dark background.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 23

It's apparently Pollinator Week so here is a sparkly bicolored striped sweat bee doing good work These colorful bees live in communal dirt burrows in our small Chicago yard and make good use of the many native and non-native flowers growing around our neighborhood #BringBackThePollinators

Photo of a bi-colored sweat bee standing on a the top of a cone-flower. The bee has a metallic emerald green head and thorax, yellow and black striped abdomen, and fuzzy legs covered in pollen. The eyes are a pale green with gray patterned spots. A nice looking bee.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 22

A dragonfly bearing good tidings

Close-up photo of a calico pennant dragonfly facing the camera directly. It has large compound eyes that are red on top and green on the bottom, short thin antennae, and a yellow face. The wings are out of focus against a dark green background, and it stands on the tip of a dead branch with its forelegs held together like hands making an offering.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 8

Some species shoot blood out of their eyes as a defense mechanism!

Photo of a horned lizard with its face splashed in streaks of blood like some kind of lizard barbarian ready to crush its enemies, see them driven before it, and to hear the lamentations of their mates

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 8

Saw a small black something flying through the air and the 7 y/o gasped audibly, “IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?!?! THE FIRST FIREFLY OF THE SUMMER!!!”

Photo of a small black firefly on a leaf

Jen C Mars@jencmars· Jun 3

Btw we got your vaquita porpoise print in a frame and on kid’s wall!

Photo of a framed art print of vaquita porpoises that says save the vaquita. The wall underneath has crayon scribbles

Jen C Mars@jencmars· May 24

Pretty sure Ron Elving's mustache was alive and well when DHS was "originally conceived"

Screenshot of the article in question featuring a photo of the author, Ron Elving, who looks to be in his 70's? I'm not good with ages, but he is definitely sporting hair and mustache from the seventies

Jen C Mars@jencmars· May 22

I overwintered a single swallowtail chrysalis after finding a chonky caterpillar making a run for it in the alleyway. Here is the result 8 months later

Photo of a black swallowtail butterfly resting on my finger before it climbs onto some flowers to power up

Jen C Mars@jencmars· May 21

Ferocious predator of the water

Close-up photo of a bluet standing on the tip of a spiky green leaf facing the camera directly. The bluet has a dumbbell shaped head with enormous orange and cream striped eyes. It's face is black, cream and metallic orange with electric blue "eyebrows". There are three simple eyes arranged in a triangle in the center of its face. It's a strange but also aesthetically pleasing face.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· May 20

Here are some nice bees I've met #WorldBeeDay

Photo of a very round bumblebee that has fallen asleep sitting atop some pale unopened flower buds. The bee is very fluffy and covered in big fat grains of pale pollen. It's adorable.

A close-up photo of a sleeping longhorn bee. The bee has a dark body covered in thick, silvery hair. It has clasped its mandibles around a long stem and curled its front two legs around it and is dangling like a little bee-bell.

Close-up photo of a leafcutter bee hanging onto the edge of a flower petal. The bee has a dark body covered in thick silvery hairs, especially around the face. One of its large compound eyes is visible, and it's a pretty pale green color with black spots. The large eyes and shape of the head give it almost anime-like proportions, a very cute bee.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· May 19

Spittlebug nymphs create little bubble-blankets to hide under which is adorable, but the adults are also very round and cute

Close-up photo of an alder spittlebug (Clastoptera obtusa) standing on a fuzzy leaf stem looking straight at the camera. The bug is cream-colored with stripes and patterns in a dark red. It has a round muppet-looking face with two wideset googly eyes.

Jen C Mars@jencmars· May 18

Another angle and zoomed out and you can see what great leaf mimics these insects are. They also come in a pink variant!