Under the Sea

This actually took me a lot longer to draw than I thought it would, but that's because this was my first time using watercolors. I spent about 2 hours making the watercolor background before I scanned it into GIMP and colored the rest of it. A lot more editing went into the background in order to make it look decent (because honestly I made a lot of mistakes while painting xP) but I'm happy with it now. I'm glad I didn't give up on this one



Oh, and if the hair looked weird at first, it's because she's floating in water. Hence the gravity-defying golden locks.
Reviews would be awesome

I very much like this watercolor painting. I look on this website and see all heese great artists like you and grow jealous. I wish I could draw like you, I take art classes, but nothing seems to catch on with me. As for you, I wish I was the girl on your painting, cuz, ya know, how cool would it be if you were down in that beautiful blue sea and taking in all the sights, with an Orka! Jeez! I personally love this poem and the shading and colors you use!

Oh, wow!

Hi there, xXTheBlackSheepXx!

Geez, you're talented! First, the drawing itself is beautiful. I can't help imaging this in a kids' story book<33 And also, the colors you chose are way catchy, makes me want to have a poster of it in my room, I love how you gave the water different tones and how the girl's hair is up... literally. Amazing. Beautiful work!

Keep it up!

~Solly<3

That is freakin beast!!:D WOW! That is some pretty good skills right there!!

Hey!

This looks really nice! I love the colours; it's lovely and bright and vivid. The orca especially looks very cute. ^_^ However, both the girl and the orca look as though they're against a background of the sea, rather than IN the sea. Does that make sense? You know, they don't look blended with the background enough.

Also, the girl looks rather odd. Her face is orange while her legs are very pale... It's like she's had a really bad fake tan. Her neck is rather long and her face looks weird as well. Her eye is very big, she doesn't have much of an ear, and she doesn't have any cheekbones or any kind of facial structure on the side of her face that I can see. Her face is two dimensional, is what I think I mean. You've got lots of nice shading on her legs that show the muscles and all, but there's none of that on her face. Also her jawline looks kinda wonky.

-twit

Hey there! Very lovely colors in this picture; it has a very gentle, sweet feeling to it. The orca looks great.

However, Twit had some very good points.

Face: Her jaw is a little odd-looking, but the main thing that throws me off is her eye; the outer corner of it (the corner pointing toward her ear) is a little too long. If you look at someone in profile, the eye is usually rather small. Also, it looks like she has almost no forehead at all. Since the water is picking her hair up, it should reveal a lot more of her head. The coloration is nice, even though it is a little darker than the rest of her skin. The golden color works very nicely.

Neck: I think this also contributes to her odd appearance. The upper portion stretches from her chin to the back of her jaw; it would look more normal if it didn't touch her chin.

Arm & hand: Her arm is pretty good, but needs little bit of definition so that it doesn't look so straight and stiff. Also, her hand could use some love. It looks sort of...nonexistent.

Legs: These are also pretty good. The only thing I noticed is that it's sort of hard to tell which one is left and which one is right.

Dress: I really like this; the color is vibrant, and it's great to see a pattern on it. The fading at the waist is a nice touch.

Hair: This is probably my favorite feature. The color is beautiful. It actually kinda reminds me of a flame; the way you blended the ends is fantastic.


I agree with Twit that it looks more like they're on an underwater background, but it still looks nice. You've done a nice job of patching up your mistakes.
It's a very cute picture; I like it!

(Also, the fish are a nice touch. )

Hey, Blacky!

This is one of my favorites from you! This is a beautiful piece with great background, being the wavy ocean. I love the blends of blues that you've incorporated. It really brings out that marina feel to it. The scattered bubbles here and there also do make the drawing look really appealing.

Yes, the body colour of the girl isn't consistent on all areas but I guess that's where the shading has come in. I don't really think it makes her body look odd. It just adds more depth to her skin tone. Like having different shades when viewed under different intensities of light. The whale is really cute and the fact that it's in the same proportion as the girl gives it that wonderful cartoon-y feel to it. I can imagine this being a poster of someone's dream. Most probably the girl in the picture itself. She dreams that she is swimming in the seas and having a lot of fun as it is seen here. And coincidentally, her name could also be Marina! xD

lol, I'm straying away from the important stuff. Okay, so this drawing to me is perfect the way it is. Don't change anything but even if you do, don't make any such drastic changes to it. I guess if you wanted to add some more effect to it, you could probably introduce a blur filter here and there to accentuate the effect of the water. Or maybe you could do a sort of liquifying method at various spots to introduce the dampness of the picture.

This is definitely great. Keep drawing always! I know this is a bit old, but I have to say that you're getting better!

Murtuza

Hmmmm, this one took a while to get used to. I was a little skeptical, about the entire thing, it at first seemed childish, but I got over that fairly quick. Now I love it! The whale is absolutely adorable! And the girl... well, I do have a few issues with the girl. Don't get me wrong, she is quite good, and I promise I could never in a million years draw a girl like that, but you, I know you can do better. Now, I'm going to start with the smallest of my issues: her eyes. They are a little too out of proportion to the rest of her face. Now I could overlook this as just the girl being awestruck by the whale in front of her, but I thought I'd mention it. And now comes my scolding. BLACKY WHERE ARE HER ELBOWS???!! I apologize for my outburst, but you must practice your limbs! And also, she has no fingers or toes. I know the fingers and toes are big pains in the butts, but you're better than that. And finally, my last complaint, and probably, my pickiest, those darned fish. They disappoint me. Knowing you, I was expecting some actual types of fish, not dashes of color, although actual dashes of color would have looked good as fish flashing by.... thats not the point. But your stuff is great and if I can cancel one thing out by all of your other brilliance, it would be the fish. Don't take that one too harshly please.
Keep up the awesomeness!
Brook

Hi there, BS!

This is, first and foremost, adorable. It's like The Little Mermaid meets Dora the Explorer in a plushie world. And as far as the image goes, I really want to praise what you've done for making me feel the childishness in the colors and expressions. The whale is totally my favorite, without a doubt. I just want to, like, give him the biggest hug.

Anyway, my advice for this piece is centered around a bit of physics. Underwater physics, that is! They're horrifically difficult to master, and I honestly can't imagine the challenge in doing so, but let's take a look at a reference picture of a female (in a dress) beneath the waves.


from: LalliSig's flickr

So let's note two things:

1. Her hair
2. Her dress

See the haphazard, multi-dimensional feel of her hair? It's not all in one Vegeta flare going north, nor is it in formal down-shape; however, it's unpredictable, and it's always been one of my favorite things about marine photography and portraiture.

The dress is very much the same story. In places, it'll fan out, and in others, it'll fit to the body like it's a size-too-small. But it's up to the artist's vision to figure out the physics behind the hair, behind the dress. And I know you and your talent, and I know you can make it happen.

Obviously this advice is for marine art in general and not this painting, but that's basically what I do with A&P reviews since there isn't much you can say along the lines of "edit this out", especially in this case.

Either way, fantastic job, BS! Hope this helps,

-Lumi

Hello! Oh, I mean, meeehh. I didn't realize your a sheep there!

What an adorable drawing! I love the compact whale and the variation of background blue hues. But I think the best part is the girl with her hair floating. It seems that this was inspired by some literary work based on Little Mermaid. Or maybe its the other way around? Ha!

I think the only awkward thing here is that there are no bubbles surrounding the girl, which in normal cases she should have...

Anyways, keep drawing because your great, I especially adore your coloring. Keep it up!

You're newest friend,
Al

Wow I really like this! The colors are so smooth and I love how they blend in. The hair on the girl looks soooo realistic I just want to reach out and touch it haha. Great work, would like to see more from you PS: the killer whale is adorable