Ribbon Seals Finished Illustration

As the poles melt, we are finding out more than we've ever known about ice seals.  Ribbon seals are only one variety of ice seal. They are usually so remote that studying them in the wild has proved difficult.  With global warming, they are swimming further inland and further south and have even been seen on the northwest coast of the US.  

I've drawn this little family on an iceberg, surrounded by sea and sky.  I like to imagine it's quiet and peaceful when the weather is fair.

The pup could be confused with a harp seal pup, but when as the little pediped gets bigger, distinctive ribbons of white wrap around his rich black brown coat.

Fur Seal Pup Finished Illustration

I colorized the ice lines separately from the seal lines on this drawing. I like how the snow shapes hint at perspective.  It's very hard for me to refrain from detailing every hair on this little sweatheart.  I especially love his ears and just want to dote on him.  Someone please send me a baby seal.

Fur Seal Pup Color In Progress

Four layers into coloring in Photoshop, this little one is starting to look cute.  I'm very pleased that the blue gradient I use for underwater backgrounds also works for shallows, ice and sky.

Lionfish Illustration

I really liked the shallow water feel in the balloon fish and blue sea slug illustrations, so I used a similar gradient for my background.  The detail on this fish took a few hours to draw, so I expected to spend as many hours adding color to it.  Here is the in progress:

The final illustration follows, the result of 10 hours of color work in photoshop.  So pretty, but his expression is definitely the don't mess with me variety.

Great White Shark- Captured.

Captured on paper anyway. Here's an in progress of the color layers.

I moved him to the top left of the composition to add a little drama. With shading, he reminds me of a large boulder.  One that floats and rips off limbs. I think a large portion of my fear is based on how fast sharks swim and how few obstructions there are in the open water. They can reach you before you can even see them.

Penguin Illustration

After scanning in the penguin drawing, I was able to paint in one sitting.  He took about 5 hours of photoshop time to illustrate.

My favorite part of the work was detailing the edges of the black and white bands.  The feathers that make up the edges have a very attractive texture.

Cuttlefish Baby Illustration Finished

While I'd love to stipple every delicate dot on this baby cuttlefish, I'm going to have to call this done.  I'm content with the hypnotic eye and delicate flounce.  Float off little fishling.

Deep Sea Angler Fish Illustration

All done!  You are looking at  20 layers of photoshop "paint". If I ever switched to oil paint it'd take months for these to dry. I have to say that after finishing this one, I'm not as frightened of rays or eels.  At the zoo today I stopped in to compliment the green moray on his nice thick coating of slime.  The white spotted river rays wanted to bite me, but I just tapped the other side of the glass that thwarted their attempts.  Is this progress?  Maybe. Just don't expect me to swim with the angler fish!

Sea Dragon Illustration - Finished

I imagine that finding one of these in the ocean is like finding a walking stick bug in the woods.  It's pretty rare, pretty hard to see, and pretty gosh golly darn wierd. As I was compiling research photos, I had someone ask me if it was photoshopped.  When I said no, they then asked if it picked up leaves and stuck them on to blend in.  No. This is how they grow. Even though we have photoshop,  the ocean will out-weird us every time.

Starfish Illustration

I had the time to color my starfish in one session, so I didn't post an in progress version.  I can offer you an alternate crop though:

 Which crop do you prefer?

Nautilous Illustration

I struggled to establish a twilight feel but in the end decided to keep this piece vibrant to fit with the series.  Soft murky shadows really made the nautilus creepier. (If you can believe that.)  So this illustration is done and he waves goodbye to us with up to ninety tentacles. Adieu nautilus, adieu!

Nautilus In Progress

As A.K. pointed out in the last post's comments, Nautili are most active at twilight.  So I've surrounded this one with an inky sea.  I still have to layer in the color on the shell and tentacles, but so far I am pleased by this little beastie. In particular I like the nautilus' eye.  It looks so bizzare because it is actually open to the sea around it.  Like a pinhole camera, there is no lens only a hole for the light to flow in and photoreceptors inside the hole to catch the light.  The two small tentacles on either side of the eye are uses for smell, which the nautilus uses to make up for poor eyesight during the hunt for food.

Let's Not Go Swimming.

Just a bit of polishing up, I didn't want to overdo this one.  He looks almost friendly.  

However, I think I'll watch from here.  Thankyouverymuch.