Name: Samantha Mharie
Email: sam.mharie3@gmail.com
Website: N/A
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samanthamharieart/
Instagram: samanthamharieart
DeviantArt: http://sam-mharie3.deviantart.com/gallery/
Theme: Fantasy
Champion: Marina (Mermaid and Water Goddess)
I've seen a lot of drawings of mermaids these past 2 years and I have never draw a mermaid before, it seems to be the new fantasy digital illustration trend. I've decided that I am going to draw a mermaid in this contest.
Inspiration- Mermaids
Inspiration- Fish Tail
I've done some research on fish to see what type of fish tail I would like to draw for Marina's mermaid tail. I like the idea of Betta fish because their tails reminds me of underwater fashion photography; the dress flowing underwater. It's elegant, beautiful and it has that dramatic feeling.
Concept Sheet
'Front' is my final choice for body position. I also did a bit of an experiment on drawing the scales digitally and there's a few sketches of body positions, which I did originally sketch it with pencil on paper but decided it look good drawing digitally to add on concept sheet.
Process
Note: My process shown will not be a step by step process, because I had experience in the past of a few people trying to copy my work/ copy my technique So therefore I don't feel comfortable on showing step by step process, but I will try my very best to show as much as I can.
If you have any question about my process, feel free to ask and I'll answer in text. *
I USE A VARIETY OF BRUSHES WHICH I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING FOR YEARS, SO MOST OF THE BRUSHES I USE ARE NOT DEFAULTS ON PHOTOSHOP.
I previously posted my process with individual screenshots, but I thought it would be better if I put it all in one, so it would be easier to look through the process without having to scroll down all the time.
As you can see I used a variety of brushes some which is quite obvious when looking at it closely; the eyebrows, eyelashes, face gloss (which is not done yet), lips (brush called artistic strokes/brush)
Drawing the hand and the ear was quite difficult, but it ended up alright at the end, will probably edit it later on.
It actually took me awhile to create the mermaid scales, didn't do much of a process because I tried like more than 10 times to create the scales. I drew the outline first and then coloured it in. I tested it out with a variety of grey colours at first and then coloured. I knew I wanted the mermaid tail to be brown/red colour.
I thought of a red/golden fish, I personally think that they stand out the most because of their colour, especially underwater. I did at first thought of a common blue colour tail, however there would be too much blue in the artwork.
The tail's inspiration was 'Betta' fish also known as Siamese Fighting fish. I like how the tail flows underwater, which reminds me of underwater fashion photography (as I mentioned before, it looks like a dress flowing underwater)
I digitally painted the tail with different brushes, and it ended up looking like a flower, sort of.
I created a water dolphin using water brushes that is shown on the photo. I decided to use this technique and style, mainly because I am experienced in using the water brushes and I have done one similar in my portfolio, so I thought it would be cool if I link my artwork for this to my portfolio since this artwork is not only for the contest but also for my personal portfolio.
I don't normally draw the whole character from top to toe, I personally like drawing characters in close ups.
Here's the colour palette of Marina's skin, hair and tail.
This is my final artwork.
