more on that mermaid

So maybe that last post I was lying a bit, after some critique I decided I should probably work on this mermaid thing more, if not for some piece of mind, I could just leave it in my folders and try again later but I would really like to see how far I can finish this before I go crazy. Also I thought I should post some artistic references that I've been using on this thing.

art clockwise from top left:  hannahmermaid.com, James Gurney, Jason Chan x2,
ref images: rose (can't find it again D: ) & crystal  (zgsjw.com.cn) 

So I am a huge fan of James Gurney and Jason Chan and their respective approaches to painting (traditional and digital respectively). I have been heavily referencing Gurney's Color and Light, a book I highly, highly recommend, as well as his other book Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist which actually has that top right mermaid painting in it, another incredibly useful resource. I was looking at these images for really just basic ideas of how these different people approached the subject of a mermaid, as well as how to handle hair underwater, and how they bring their paintings to a finish, as I have a difficult time doing that.

So, on reflection, what my painting needs, is more of everything, haha, I worked on it a bit here, thinking maybe to add some more colors (they will be light sources eventually) I'm also going to change how that cave wall hits the picture frame on the right, it was also mentioned I should really figure out where the focal point is, I'm considering turning the mermaid's head so you can see her face, as the human face tends to draw our eye the most. Or just put more light on her, or something.

At this point I really have the itch to scrap it and start again, so I may just do that, we'll see.



BONUSSSSS

an assignment for my animal biology class, depict the skeleton and anatomy of a fantasy animal, I went with a unicorn, naturally. 

I tell people I was going for 'insane scientist' with the writing....but, my handwriting is really that awful. :D