Origami Insects 2 is a great book. For those of you who have ordered it(like myself), please tell me how good you think the models and quality in the and of the book are.
I do not have a copy, but everything that I've read has only highest compliments for it. And I like the detail of the models. BUt, I personally don't yet have the skills to fold Lang's complex models (but I really like his older intermediate models), so I never made it thru Insects 1.
However, I'd be interested in opinions (especially from intermediate folders) about the difficulty of folding Insects 2 vs. Insects 1.
I would consider myself a complex folder, but regardless I think Origami Insects II tends to be more difficult than Origami Insects and Their Kin. I like the models in Insects II much more than in the previous book. The Samurai Helmet Beetle, the Tarantula, the Pill Bug, the Hercules Beetle, and so on-there are so many great models in that book. I have not folded all of them, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the ones I have.
I'd cosider myself a complex/super complex folder, but I enjoy all ranges. I've enjoyed watching the progression of Robert Lang's designs from Complete Book of Origami to Origami Design Secrets. I'd say Insects 2's models are better in quality, and "easier" to fold. The models in Insects 1 are rather rough to fold, and the outcomes are a bit stumpy and thick compared to his newer works. They're still good in their own right, but hes improved alot since those designs. Take his newer ladybug, mantis, scorpion, samurai helmet beetle, and dragonfly models for example.
The pieces in Insects and their kin are more technically interesting and difficult than those in Insects II. The ones in insects II are really more dependent on the thinness of your paper. For the most part, they all follow this process: Fold a base with a bunch of big wide flaps at awkward reference points that don't mesh well. Then pleat-sink them until they're thin enough to be insect legs. Then shape. There are some exceptions, like the butterfly, but this is how it mainly goes.
I so agree with Jared.... Insects II is all about folding the base (that seem all Treemakered or circle packed) and then thinning and thinning....
I am a bigger fan of the models in Insects and Their Kin despite the more realistic look of the Insects II designs... I still think Lang's Stag Beetle for Kin really rocks.... it all comes together so well and you could apply his thinning and sinking on most designs of Kin if you wish...