Sea creatures...

[Simon Beck]

I have no idea why I decided to draw these beautifully-coloured animals, apart from wanting to apply my self-imposed rules of illustration (no outlines, gradients or patterns) to natural forms, something I first did several years ago with my "9 Frogs" and "Friend and Foe":



Anyway, here are the Picasso Triggerfish or "Humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua'a" as it is called in Hawaiian, the Giant Clam, the Royal Starfish and the Chambered Nautilus:


In each case, the colours were taken directly from photos of the animal. The fish was actually traced from a photo; the others were drawn using photos as a guide. The clam and the starfish used star forms from Xara's Shape tool, and I also used the Contour tool, limiting the number of steps to between 2 and 4. The spots on the Nautilus' head-shield were generated using the venerable Spray app and its shell was created using the Spiral app. I also used Spray for the green spots on the clam. The starfish's spines are simply a custom line style.

MAybe I'll have to do a book...