Artist Imagines Insects As Pop Cultural Characters

Illustrator Richard Wilkinson is fascinated with insects. In one of his projects, the UK-based artist imagined bugs as horror movie villains and children’s cartoon characters.

In his work, Wilkinson includes faces of villains like Jason Voorhees, Pennywise the Clown, the Creatures from the Black Lagoon, and the demon Valak. He also incorporates faces of iconic Looney Tunes characters into the bodies of beetles and bugs.

The artist categorizes his bugs into four different categories: Timorpersonae, Insanusmelodiae, Machinamera, and Drohnmortae. According to him, the Insanusmelodiae family, which includes the Looney Tunes characters, are loud insects with odd vocalizations.

“Their distinctive characteristics include loud and often odd vocalizations and the very distinctive fast and erratic movements,” Wilkinson shared on his personal website. “A recognizable and perhaps most peculiar aspect of the Insanusmelodiae’s behavior is their clumsiness. They often meet their end under a falling stone or twig, or after falling from a long drop. Their wings, also vestigial, can produce enough uplift to keep them in the air for a moment or two before they fall.”

For each insect, the illustrator also came up with a Latin name that describes its character. Scroll down and take a look at some of his unique artwork.