Blue Ring Octopus Illustration Level 3

I took the kind advice and played up the sketch lines.  I did remove the lines around most of the spots. They distracted from the gradation of colors.  While I am pleased with how this little peacock turned out, I still don't care to swim with one. For that matter, I may avoid Australia all together.  The blue ring octopus is the size of a golf ball, and has a bite that doesn't hurt much, but will kill you.  Even if you figure out that you were bitten by one, there is no anti-venom.  Each little blue ring has enough toxin to kill 26 people.  The most surprising fact is that people keep these little monsters in tanks.  They are also known to escape from high security tanks.  That's evolution for you.  

My new goal for this blog seems to be scaring everyone else too.  You can thank me later.

Blue Ringed Octopus

I started laying in the color over the pencil scan.  I may leave this watercolor style,  It suites the subject. 

Sidetracked

I've been diverted from my ocean illustration.  Sorry to be so long between posts.  Here is some of the work I've prepared for my portfolio over the last week.

Ginny asleep on the floor.  Pencil Sketch colored in photoshop.

In-the-moment sketching at Panera, colored in photoshop

Wrinkle-y dog on a wrinkle-y couch.  Pencil sketch colored in photoshop.

Blue Ringed Octopus

The jelly fish aren't fully baked yet, so I am bumping them for the blue ringed octopus.  It's a bit stylized.  I am OK with that.  This sketch is a little under-done compared to to previous ones.  Since none of the actual sketch is visible in the final illustration,  I'm saving the bulk of my effort for the photoshop phases of the project.  Just wait until you see the colors on this guy!  He's beautiful. And deadly.  His spots aren't the only pattern I detect here.

Gorgeous Soap!

Ok, first off, I'll have a jelly fish sketch I'll post for you tomorrow.  Until then, have a look at the gorgeous soap I ordered from http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSoapBubble.  I'm thinking why try scuba diving, when I can relax in the tub with lovely handmade tropical soaps?  Where there is nothing to sting, bite or terrorize me.

Octopus Illustration–Finished

I decided on natural coloring for the finished illustration. I did try the dark purple/bright orange combo and liked it. However, I will keep it for another style of illustration. It's decidedly more sinister.  This version makes a nice mate to the sea horses.  I am also keen to illustrate the blue ringed octopus.  I still don't want to be submerged with octopi, but I might visit the aquarium soon to see them in person.

Edit: The ad currently displayed below this is for the Intous tablet I use.  How do they know?

Research: What I really want to stop doing.

Looking for the natural coloring of the octopus I found this video.  Is this helping with the diving fear?

Octopus Illustration–In Progress

After opening my octopus drawing in Photoshop, I started building vector layers to add volume.  I also experimented with colors.  They won't stay this bright, but she sure looks pretty in purple and orange.  What do you think?  Bright or natural?

Octopus–Origin Sketch

If this creature doesn't scare you just a little bit, we probably can't be friends.  The octopus has tentacles and suckers and a freakin' beak! It can change colors, spray ink, fit into insanely tight spaces and predict world cup winners.  So I don't feel too bad that I don't ever want to swim with one of these.  I drew this one from the safety of the viewing side of the screen with 6H and HB pencils.  I only had to break for lol cats once during the drawing process.  We'll see if I do as well after I import the drawing into photoshop.