Mermaid with Giant Moray

[Kevin Longueil]

Anyone ever feel like they had forgotten how to draw? That's how i've been feeling - after many thumbnails i finally have something i feel is worth working on - the fish are all cut and pastes from my last piece just to see how it would look and try to figure out the composition - one thing i decided i would do is not have the main character facing right..... which is what i always seem to do - anyways...i am posting it here so that i commit myself to finishing it by 3rd Thursday

[amberwingart]

I have a feeling your worst days are my best days, Kevin. This looks awesome!

[Kevin Longueil]

@amberwingart Thank you for the compliment !.... i have serious doubts about the rest of your post

[Chip Valecek]

@Kevin-Longueil where does the rest of the eel's body go? I see it goes behind her but then I do not see it come back around. The other thing is her fin/legs seem to be large compared to her body/head. Keep going at it and don't give up on it. I will look great as all your others do.

[Kevin Longueil]

@Chip-Valecek Thank you for the feedback Chip! My thumbnails are pretty rough (maybe rough sketch is a better term for it) I think you are right though - it is not clear, especially with all the fish i threw in there, where the rest of the moray is - also here tail may be a bit large - i am trying to stay with the same anatomy i had for the firs mermaid piece though - i had pretty large and powerful lower halves on them but i think this is probably too large here - i did a quick splash of color to make the mermaid and moray location more obvious - Thank you again

[Rich Green]

@Kevin-Longueil - Hi Kevin, Right now I am not sure the flow of the body of the Moray is working - staring at its head - notice how it goes to the left across the Mermaid's lap and then it's body curves down. But when it shows back up behind the Mermaid it is going up and the left. which doesn't quite seem natural or as flowing to me as it should be.

Perhaps if you did something like this - that intertwined them a bit more and also allowed its body to flow in a more natural pathway?

Here is goes down around her on the left and spirals around her backside and shows and curls around the rock formation she is sitting on with its tail then off to the left side of the page.

[smceccarelli]

Really beautiful start on this piece, great sketch. I agree with @Rich-Green that the position of the moray body looks a little odd. Maybe you could try out a composition where the tail of the mermaid and the moray are intertwined in some way? I think the relationship between the mermaid and the moray is very important to the piece, so I would try to reflect that in the pose and expression. Maybe she should be caressing the moray instead of the fish, I am not sure. Her body seems unnaturally long and her arms very muscular, but I guess these are details to be fixed later.
Are you familiar with the Russian artist Victor Nizovtsev? If not, you should check him out

[Kevin Longueil]

@Rich-Green @smceccarelli Thank you both for the feedback! I think this does look better ( actually it looks awesome) - but the story seems to change a bit though - i think with this change there is more of an intimacy to the relationship and the Moray looks more powerful and possibly threatening with the coiling of his body - i think the intertwining suggests a "couple" too which i do want to avoid - definitely want to keep it more like she is petting her cat and caressing a curious blue bird feel to it - i truly value both of your opinions though - i will change the tail but still keep them a book's width apart i'll try a rough sketch where they are not touching beyond the sitting in her lap and see if i can incorporate your critiques - thank you both again!

[Kevin Longueil]

@smceccarelli I just checked out Victor Nizovtsev - his work is otlichno!

[smceccarelli]

@Kevin-Longueil Just learned a russian word!! So I would say абсолютно!

[Kevin Longueil]

@smceccarelli I learned one today too ..but i'm sure i cannot pronounce it - otlichno is really the only Russian word i know - one of my all time favorite students was a nurse from Russia - he did really great work and i would always tell him it was excellent - so he taught me the word in Russian and took great joy in instructing me on the proper way of saying it - you have to do some acrobatics with the tongue in the middle of the word - but i eventually got his approval..... anyways - thank you again for your feedback and the heads up on Victor Nizovtsev

[bluesky71]

Kevin.my daughter and I looked at your drawing and said at the same time "That's insane!" That is all,makes me want to go hard,or go home.

[bluesky71]

Don't loose your initial drawing energy....

[Suzy Heitz]

@Kevin-Longueil I just did too, and agree! (But I'm not going to attempt the Russian word or pronunciation.) HA!