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...

[Big Frank]

Lovely illustrations, very well executed

[gray]

Very cool images, Simon.

[gwpriester]

Heh heh, good to have you back Simon! I love them all but the Chambered Nautilus is my favorite.

[Simon Beck]

Thanks, everyone!

Simplicity is the key to my illustrations - I try to break things down into simple, sharp-edged blocks of colour, even when it seems counter-intuitive, as in this page from "Narwhal Plays the Nyckelharpa":



In this case the sunburst finish of the bass guitar was in danger of losing its original appearance. It took several adjustments to the number of contour steps and the attribute profile to get a set of discrete steps that still represented a recognisable sunburst - too many and it would have compromised my stylistic guidelines; too few and it would have looked unnatural. Let's face it - the end viewer couldn't give two hoots about self-imposed stylistic rules, but they may still notice if the result is inconsistent with the rest of the illustrator's work!

[csehz]

That is super Simon, I like very much your style

[Joce]

J'aime beaucoup vos dessins .

I love your drawings.

[Rik]

When was this posted?
Where was I?
How did I miss this?

Great drawing, Simon.
I like 'em.