Mermaid of the Deep Sea
A personal project - I am experimenting with Procreate - that took me further than I had expected. I saw a shot of a probably new species of squid on social media, and was fascinated by the semi-transparent, glassy texture of it, the seeming vulnerability of the internal organs visually exposed. My sketch was to my liking, I was having a great time, and I thought I would finish in no more than two hours.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/23605b55-38cf-4633-a3ff-28ff7000f633_rw_1200.jpg?h=c4b6198312518d1e41b62d3678cecb9a)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/b1c90244-47c8-491a-9161-ede9c17eb583_rw_1200.jpg?h=e86f8185cf6c1a3b795585883740ea37)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/57a91fd4-6cc3-4bb0-b6c4-2fbc96ee01fa_rw_1200.jpg?h=436492cb36a8697aef81172196209513)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/88a5c1e7-8769-4c9d-95bf-d20056bd004f_rw_1200.jpg?h=fe250be8d2909069fa1fd5f9022980b3)
Cue Behance, where I saw some further awesome Mermay projects. The characters seemed to live in shallow, sunlit water, surrounded by colorful friends. What about the ocean's trenches, the deep sea, I wondered. What would a merperson from those places look like?
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/be8b0a0f-6b29-4aaf-80de-e6d48eac01f8_rw_1200.jpg?h=839abc3c47c22dd4cd72a3422bbf71f5)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/ef79da2c-31ae-438d-8bce-f2ef8f44a0fc_rw_1200.jpg?h=f91e6b1c4693b86292dae4e9a25cc806)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/2038a029-335e-4f87-9355-38c172bc2a2c_rw_1200.jpg?h=9a7911592ef5bd1c2d137b4a77d1899c)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/1d3c4cda-8b4f-4def-a820-7559f83aef38_rw_1200.jpg?h=79a8f0cc7451d2b6cdebcf1ded6de2e3)
I imagined her to be an otherworldly goddess, full of secrets, despite her brain being laid bare to the eye of any observer.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/a39e7aff-b5f4-41d2-8718-d7513d12bb12_rw_1920.png?h=2f70b428934e54ac3e000ec4d088b458)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/2b9bc248-a940-4e1d-a67c-e19ccdcb2d1b/33acd49d-e486-4b0b-b079-86e225f331cb_rw_1920.jpg?h=3814439d6ad65de49a9f46f4bca1506e)