UPDATE!: Sea Tea Time

UPDATE: Feb. 11, 2016
Image color touch-up and added a poem . . . officially FINAL!

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(originally reposted on Dec. 8th, 2015)
Was: Illustration Friday: Wet (aka Sea Tea Time)
Recently revisited this image over the weekend and added more detailing and color. I still feel the tone is too dark, especially with the water. It looks fine on screen, but when printing, everything seems toned down and the colors don't pop the way they do on a computer screen. Arrrggghhh!
Will probably play around with this image again in the future.

Cha-Cha-Changes: The latest and last revision to this image (for now.)

Update Text: Keeping the elements I liked from below, I made changes that I felt were not working in the image below:
• Stronger texture highlights were added.
• I felt the sun didn't fit with the style, so I redrew a more textured pencil sun instead.
• The coloring of the sky and water were too similar; adding textured shadows to the water and toning down the blue sky helped create a stronger contrast between the two.

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This is an old image I did last year* which I'm posting now for Illustration Friday. Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.
This week's word: WET

The digitally colored image made in Photoshop

*Below is the pencil sketch I drew during the 2015's SCBWI Winter Conference in NYC in February. I had no reason for drawing this image, just random inspiration. I've already purchased my tickets for this year's conference in February and decided to also show my portfolio this year, looking forward to it.

The original pencil sketch that was drawn on the back of a sheet during the SCBWI Conference

Illustration Friday: Together

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: Together

Thinking Process: I had no idea what to do with this week's word. I was very stumped. But then I thought of the word and one of my favorite childhood songs came to mind, the Beatles' song "All Together Now". 

That made me think of the album the song appeared on, Yellow Submarine, and how influential the cartoon was when I was a child. The cartoon not only had fantastic music, but was the first true mind-blowing creative visuals I ever seen in a cartoon.
And let's face it, it had everything a child could ask for: The Beatles, really creepy bad guys, a Sea of Monsters and a hole in Ringo's pocket.

So thinking of the cartoon and the song, I thought of the two opposing characters being together: Blue Meanie and Jeremy Hillary Boob (aka Nowhere Man).

Addendum: Just added a video of making this image on YouTube, watch below or you can go to the YouTube page and a larger better quality version of the video. Click here: TOGETHER VIDEO

#INKtober 2015 No.10: Half-Lit Lantern Fish

This No. 10 image for INKtober is inspired by one of the creepiest looking fish in the world: the deep sea Lantern Fish.

I've always imagined that a lantern fish would probably lose its mind having a bright light shining in front of its face, deep within the dark ocean depths.

INKtober #10 submission with digital shading

INKtober #10 submission with just the Ink

Original pencil sketch, notice the fish looked too long, so the height was adjusted when inking