| This is the first pencil sketch of the octopus's outline. I really wanted to make the tentacles the anchor of the drawing, focusing on swirling them to the max. So here we have some super-swirly-octopus-tentacles in pencil.
Say that ten times fast.
|
 |
| After I had the outline finished, I went in and further swirled out the tentacles in the sections without the suckers. Here you can see how much higher the contrast is between the pencil and black ink. I always think of the black pens as the foundation upon which I am going to build many heavy layers of color, so I try and make them as strong and solid as possible. They hold the whole thing together really. I'll also go back and erase the pencil after the black is done to eliminate any stray marks or ghost tracks, to borrow a term from the recording studio... which was also a huge influence for this piece...Abbey Road to be precise |
 |
| This is the finished octopus body with color. I went with the tried and true purple and blue... to give the piece a deep ocean vibe. I also wanted the background (still in my head at this point) to have a lot of subtle differences within the same color scheme, but we'll get to that in a minute... |
 |
| It is amazing to me how an octopus can camouflage itself into its environment like a chameleon That was my plan for this particular octopus's environment, or "garden" if you will. I drew in a ton more swirls and circles in the areas between the tentacles Most of the swirls come right up the the edge of the octopus without overlapping. In a couple of places I drew the background behind the tentacles, so when you look closely, you can see the different layers. Of course there are also some other sea-inspired characters and assorted-psychedelic-wanderings thrown into the mix... |
 |
| From the very beginning of this drawing, my plan was to immerse the octopus into the background making it kind of hard to see, as if it was hiding from the viewer...
The first thing I did to disguise the octopus, was to find other swirls that looked like the tentacles and color them the same light blue.
|
 |
| I then brought in more of the same blues and purples from the octopus's body. I also used some greens to add to the ocean-seaweed-kelpish color scheme. |
 |
| This last part took a long time to come together. I was stuck on what colors to use where, and as each section was filled in, it became harder and harder to chose. In the end, was stoked on the colors I went with. I wanted it to be a really soothing image, but with a lot going on. For me, my eyes can wonder around and around this piece forever without getting tired.
While working on this I completely lost track of time... many times... It was definitely an intense project and I would guesstimate this drawing took somewhere around 50-60 hours...but worth every minute!
You can also check out this super-fast animated GIF file below, to see what it would look like if it took no time at all.
Thanks for viewing...
|
To view this piece larger and find more information
about ordering prints, please visit my gallery.
|
