Tuesday, January 06, 2009

WIP Reef - Sea Whip and Clown Triggerfish


Since I got my new large easel, I've actually managed to do some work on my coral reef drawing. Today I have two new species, the sea whip coral and the clown triggerfish, plus a mass of random greenish hard coral base.

sea whip drawingSea whips (family Ellisellidae) are a soft coral that grow in long, spindly branches. In the order Gorgonacea, they are closely related to sea fans and are often brightly colored. To get the bright orange color, I used Spanish orange, poppy red and Tuscan red.

The green base under the sea whip was achieved with cool grey 20%, 50% and 90%, olive green and dark green, blended with the blending pencil. It's starting to make the red soft coral stand out a little.

clown triggerfish drawingThe clown triggerfish, Balistoides conspicillum, is one of several species of triggerfish. It is identified by its black body, white spots on its belly, yellow mouth, yellow with black spots on its back, and a white stripe on the tail. The coloring helps it blend in to its environment. They can grow up to 20 inches long. Their diet consists of sea urchins, crustaceans and mollusks. I used several shades of cool grey, black and white for the main part of the body, yellow ochre and deco yellow for the yellow parts, and a combination of light cerulean blue, cool grey 20% and 50%, and white for the fins.

Next up I think will be a few brain coral.

References:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-seawhip.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balistoides_conspicillum

5 comments:

Lene Daugaard said...

this looks like it's going to be a beautiful illustration :)

Heather Ward said...

Thank you, Lene. I hope it will be.

ButlerWifey said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ButlerWifey said...

Every time you post pictures of this, I am truly amazed. I am so excited to see the final piece, I just know it is going to be absolutely breathtaking.

Heather Ward said...

Thanks!