Wednesday, July 16, 2008

WIP Reef - Hard Coral

coral reef drawing in progressAfter some time away for other projects, I'm back onto the reef. Completing this corner really got me excited because it's starting to come together. It looks like nearly a third of the drawing is done.

hard coral drawingThis coral got the best of me. I found at least four photos linking it to the Great Barrier Reef or the Indo-Pacific area, but no where could I find out what it is called. But I wanted it in my drawing, so I put it there. It appears to be a pink soft coral with yellow polyps that grows in clusters like grapes. I used peach and blush pink for the highlight areas, carmine red and poppy red for the midtones, and poppy and tuscan reds for the shadows. I went over it all with the blender. The yellow polyps are spanish orange and yellowed orange.

The surrounding area is a mixture of hard corals creating the support structure for the outcropping. Hard corals are the "reef-builders" that the soft corals attach to. I wanted this area to be dark so the bright damselfish and bannerfish would stand out. I used a lot of black and tuscan red, and also three shades of warm grey, poppy red, mulberry, slate grey, white, blush pink and olive. I blended with the blender (I do that a lot, don't I?).

Now, which part comes next...?

4 comments:

Glendon Mellow said...

I really like how you've rendered the yellow guy on the left. You've nailed that swimming upward posture.

The is going to be p-r-e-t-t-y...!

Heather Ward said...

Thanks, Glendon. I'm getting excited about it!

ButlerWifey said...

This is amazing. It really looks like a photograph. I am excited to see the finished product.

Heather Ward said...

Thanks, ButlerWifey! I'd say I can't wait until it's done, but I'm trying to take my time.