Here’s a series of art experiments I did just for fun, and possibly a moderate amount of insight into my own technique and limitations: the above image on the right is my Carabidae, Pincers Poised & Gleaming illustration, and on the left are both possible results of reflecting the image vertically for a perfectly symmetrical bug. I wanted to see how each reflection compared to the actual final image, and if I had a preference of either side when mirroring them. (Personally, I think I prefer the righthand side.) 

The header image for this post is what it looks like when I layer one mirrored, symmetrical version of the beetle over the other – I wanted to see how closely they aligned. As you can see, I have some practice to do, though a large part of me loves the current result for suggesting an insect’s scuttle.