Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Blue Sea Slug Illustration

Several fans have requested this creature- the Glaucus Atlanticus, a nudibranch.  They feed on the portuguese man-o-war and in doing so borrow both their blue tint and toxicity.  They look like flowers, so I drew an arrangement of three.  The amount of blue varies by individual but it's always striking.  

This is a shallow water illustration, so I suggested sand with the tan.  A soft drop shadow also helps them to "float".

The last step is the color. I used the pen tool to draw vector shapes to constrain the blue layers.  Each has a dark blue, light blue and white layer.  The most challenging part was the white stroke in each petal.  I am still getting used to the pressure control my wacom tablet offers.  I am happy with the end result.  If I sketched all day I could not magine such an incredible creature.

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