Bug museum - a journal

Konstrukto · July 17, 2023, 8:58am

I’m currently working on a project, a story about bugs which will be part of a labyrinth of tales ( https://www.labyrintvanvught.nl/ ).
The basic idea is to make it a short comic-like idea, combining various approaches and techniques.
I thought it would be cool to share my progress and broad ideas here in a topic.
The larger project is expected to go up in a bit less than two years and will feature work from a number of artists from my region, as well as artistic interpretations of collected stories.
Seeing as it is a regional project, the story will be in Dutch but I will provide translation to make it understandable for everyone here on the forum.

The individual panels will be transfered to the fabric the labyrinth is made of.
Where possible and applicable the digital images will contain fabric textures to contrast the canvas.
When exhibited the panels will be accompanied by fly strips with bugs stuck to them

Themes

Living musea
The local watertower
Bugs and flies
The sea threatening to overcome us ( a biblical link as well as one applicable to the Netherlands)
The narrative of a saviour
The decline in connection through the use of social media (flies hold phones)
Enshittification

Story

The story I’m working on is about a bug in a city solemnly looking back at what once used to be the bug museum under the buggertower, the idea of which is based on a local watertower in my hometown.

There once used to be a leader bug with a vision of a place where bugs can freely create.
Initially it’s just a dirty and cluttered storeroom but he is bringing it to life, as a cultural and creative sanctuary.
The bug museum blossomed and thrived and many a bug was transformed to a firebug.
The flies however meanwhile took great exception, not seeing the use of it while also feeling mocked by the bugs.
The leader bug was betrayed and carried away to be stomped.
And that was the end of the bug museum, a city of flies arose, yet the buggertower remained.
A single bug solemnly glanced at it, hoping for a leader bug to yet again appear.

Storyboard

Konstrukto · July 17, 2023, 9:00am

The first two panels are works I created earlier and have now fit into this narrative.

Panel 1: A solemn bug stares at a watertower reminiscing

“With melancholy I reminisce about the days in the bug museum, under the buggertower”

Panel 2: A solemn bug stands in the bug museum surrounded by ghosts, the sea looms threatening in the background

Panel 3: The storeroom it used to be, before Ruach found and transformed it

Konstrukto · July 17, 2023, 9:00am

Panel 4 - The leader bug stands in the newly opened bug museum

Made with @RamonM sketch brushes, Auraned ink pens and Odzuki brushes

Konstrukto · July 17, 2023, 9:01am

Panel 5, Ruach carries the burden while indifferent flies stare at their phones

I started this panel on paper, initially in pencil, after which I inked it using a fountain pen and micron pens.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the process because I worked on it from my lazy chair during the holidays, much in need of r&r.
Colors and rendering done in Krita.

The final result

Konstrukto · July 17, 2023, 9:01am

Stained glass windows, these will be printed in low fiber cloth so the light can shine through

Firebugs on fly strips, symbolizing how the flies trap the firebugs in the end

Konstrukto · July 17, 2023, 9:01am

The final pieces, the entire project includes the above fly strips and stained glass windows

sooz · July 17, 2023, 3:02pm

What a fascinating project. Thank you for this WIP thread. I look forward to your future updates.

Konstrukto · April 3, 2024, 6:34pm

This project is now concluded on the creative side, see the above posts for all the artwork

Edit: nothing is ever concluded…

Konstrukto · April 3, 2024, 6:46pm

The story (as translated from Dutch)

Of flies and firebugs

I think back with nostalgia to the days in the Wantser Museum, under the Wantser Tower.

When I picture it now, I see shadows of what once was, of this sanctuary, of this refuge.
Steam had fogged the windows, a layer of dust had collected on the windowsill, like flies on an overripe peach.
The room was full, full of boxes, chests and crates, making it fuller but also seemingly smaller.
Even the flies had forgotten its function, as well as all their junk.
Gloomy clouds were gathering.
The room was a time capsule.
Then there he was, Ruach, the supreme firebug, breathing life into the room.
After all, Ruach had an assignment, and it read:

“Therefore thus said the ONE:

if you turn back, I will make you return
and may you stand before me,
and if you bring out something worthwhile and not something inferior, you will be as my mouth; they will return to you, and you will not return to them!
I will give you to this community
like a wall fortified with serpent bronze: they will make war against you
but cannot stand up to you; for I am with you to deliver you and to save you, declares the ONE; I will rescue you from the hand of evildoers, I will ransom you from the hand of tyrants!”

And so what was lost was found, the windows were demisted, the dust was blown away, and the room was cleared.
And it was good in the eyes of Ruach.
The room expanded greatly because it was tidy.
And many became so enthusiastic that they too became bugs of fire.
A dusty warehouse became a home for the arts, and the sea was calm.
The atmosphere there was clear for a long time, and so were the work tables.
Although Ruach had a labyrinth in his desk drawer.
However, as animated as many flies had become, most flies remained rather unmoved.
Rather than broaden the horizon, they stared endlessly at their fly screens.
Without realizing it their heads bowed down.
Inevitably, decay set in and the floor of the Wantser Museum became littered with fly droppings.
The firebugs were crowded out, and even in the labyrinth the crates were stacked up to the ceiling of the desk drawer.
The sky above the sea clouded over with thunderclouds, and towering waves crashed against the walls of the Wantser Museum.
Buzz of angry buzzing, malicious and flat advertisements.
The murmur and patter of feet on the sticky tiles.
They turned against Ruach, and he was executed and trampled.
But then he got up and went away from us, someday he will return, I believe.

Anyway.
Even outside the Wantser tower the peaceful tranquility ended, and an angry metropolis of flies arose.

I think back with nostalgia…

Konstrukto · January 18, 2025, 10:37pm

Never say that anything is finished…

I came to the conclusion that the story needed more images, and the bugs kept creeping into my mind

And so, there will be at least three more

Here is the first one, which will be the final image
In the story Ruach is said to return at some point, this is him standing in a landscape with the new Jerusalem, a better world, behind him
The watertower towers over the city

Konstrukto · January 21, 2025, 7:59am

In the story a labyrinth in a desk drawer is mentioned, which symbolizes a confused mind

Here’s the visualization of that idea:

Konstrukto · January 31, 2025, 1:10pm

The final piece, of the bug museum in action

Konstrukto · January 27, 2026, 7:49pm

It now turns out that the story wasn’t told in its entirety yet.
So I have decided to give it another spin, and turn it into a graphic novel.
For now, I’m keeping the story itself under tabs, but will share some of the artwork I made for the continuation.
Lately, it has been a lot of gouache work but digital work is in the pipeline, in fact, the piece I’m currently working on is digital in krita.
I have veered away from digital a bit recently, but still feel very much connected to the krita community.