Sea Life Illustrations

Materials: Materials: paper, pencil, watercolor
Dimensions: 18” x 12”

The assignment was to draw sea creatures. I found a piece of large scrap paper with a drawing of a bunch of little fish, which inspired me to capture a collection of different ocean life.

I referenced jellyfish fish from a photograph of ocean life. In the original photograph only had pink jellyfish with red orange undertones, but I decided to do variations in purple blue, and green. Many people have complemented the squid, and are surprised to hear that it was not referenced from a book photograph when I drew this. It was re-imaged after seeing a Japanese poster that my dad had. What I loved the most about the poster was the vibrancy of colors and even thought it was using one specific red color, it stood out very well.

The stingray was referenced from another photo, and I like the textural detail. I used tiny brush to create the dots and details and it adds a playful texture within the brown. The whale behind the jellyfish was intended to appear farther away. With light watered down colors I made it show up less vibrant to give an illusion that it was far away.

I learned how to work with texture and contrast and dealing with watercolor. Trying not to turn this piece into one bland watercolor but to make individual pieces stand out on its own or to present as a collective was a challenge.