Ants Without Antennae

by kalirush

Summary:

Fanart for "The Awa"

Notes:

"The Awa" really struck a personal note with me. My father is a myrmecologist (a student of ants) and I remember drawing him pictures of ants as a young child and being corrected- no, the legs come out of the thorax, not the abdomen. An ant's abdomen is striated. An ant has six legs. And above all, ants have antennae- and not just any antennae; geniculate antennae. "Geniculate" means bowed, or bent, and the geniculate antennae are how the ant navigates the world. Ants smell in stereo the way we see. In "The Awa", Jenna Moran clearly knew the importance of antennae to ants.

I initially meant to do the trail in a wash of white and silver ink- washing the street clean. I chose to do it in color instead, because an ant's trail invokes a sense that we (and the awa) cannot quite experience. The description that Jane gives of the trail must be the least part of what the trail actually contains.

I drew the ant in this picture from memory, with no reference, because my father taught me to draw ants. It is not exact, but it is quite good. It is meant to be solenopsis invicta, for what that's worth.

Click through for a zoomable version.