I drew this with a brush pen, then used a water brush to blur out the lines into shadows. I used Photoshop to invert the background and tweak the colors.
From Sketch to Final Water Coloring Stages, this is a spread from Tide Day! A lot goes into making a good composition, taking into account the center of the image where the binding is, and how to play with size and negative space. One of my favorite things to do is explore contrasting expressions between characters and highlight their emotions through physical stances and expressions. This was a tough challenge with the lack of limbs and the watery context, but Pearl's stubbornness and attitude shines through!
This sketch is of my favourite junk art yard in Porthleven (where I currently live)- called Wreckers Studio. Not often you get to see a mermaid riding a horse...
There was a royal lineage in Europe that was so inbred that their jaws started getting really distended and weird. Like Jay Leno, but inbred. (I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.) Feel free to look up the Hapsburgs. I'll wait. The second picture is a Fiji mermaid and a merman. I think I want a merman tattoo. SMOLDER.
