Up Next!

I am going to do it!  One of the cool kids on regretsy pointed me to The Oatmeal's take on the Angler.  

Now I have no choice.  Check back tonight for the drawing!

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.

Sea Dragon In Progress

Stabbing at color.

Sea Dragon Drawing

Drawing this fish was just like drawing a plant.  The sea dragon comes in leafy and weedy varieties.  I've drawn the leafy sea dragon.  The weedy sea dragon is has fewer "leaves" and looks more like it's close relation the sea horse.

Vote New Illustration Subject

I'm holding a new vote on the regretsy forums tonight. I'm going to leave this here in case anyone with a sense of decency would also like to vote.

A deep sea angler fish / Real nightmare stuff

A beautiful anemone or maybe several / Can you tell what I would rather draw?

A leafy sea dragon / Strange and intriguing

Wee Sparklie Distraction

So my birthday is coming up. I'm going to be 36.  We all know that 36 is the vintage costume jewelry birthday.  And because I love you readers, I'm sharing my favorite source in case any of you are also turning 36 this year.   Wee Sparklies restores vintage pieces with unused vintage stones.  She also sells gorgeous vintage stones and supplies.  If you visit and make sure to note the 20% off Coupon Code on the front page of her shop.  Don't buy the clip above unless you want to land my husband in some hot water.  

And if you see him, let him know that 40 is the tropical snorkeling vacation year.  Provided this illustration therapy thing works.

Dragon Moray Eel - Finished Illustration

It took me almost a week to get up the nerve to finish this.  There are many types of moray eels. Quite a  a few of them are gorgeously patterned.  They all have two sets of jaws. The ones you see and another smaller set at the beginning of their throat.  So while they can't really do much more damage than removing a digit or two, those digits really don't stand a chance.  If I'm going to be fair, I really should only be as scared of eels as I am of turtles, because they are both capable of doing the same type of damage.  However turtles do not hide in holes on the ocean floor and lunge out to surprise their prey. Thus I must conclude that eels are much much scarier.  Much.