Flying Colors Artistry

Emily Kruckeberg is a self-taught, colored pencil artist, based in New Orleans, LA. She has a B.S. degree in Zoology with a focus on wildlife biology and conservation and currently works full time as an entomologist at the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans. Emily specializes in photorealistic animal portraits, particularly birds and arthropods. Her artistic inspiration comes from her line of work. She strives to focus on the natural beauty and the details present in her subjects. This gives her drawings the appearance of a scientific illustration. The sharp lines and range of colors that colored pencils provide, allow her to capture her subject’s extreme likeness through fine details from individual feathers to butterfly scales. Her work has been showcased in several places. In 2024, Kratos, was accepted into a juried art show presented by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation. Her piece, Darapsa versicolor, received an honorable mention award in Art and Color 365’s 2024 drawing competition and was published in the magazine’s 2024 summer edition.