WIP for Mermay (feedback welcomed)!

[Laurasketches]

"Catfish!!" this is lovely work! What is the story? Also, maybe play with what cats do (tangle yarn, lap the tea/cream, etc)... or ask...what would catfish do that would make them endearing/annoying, but tolerated/beloved by granny? The line work is beautiful and the characters are so charming!

[StudioLooong]

@Laurasketches thanks! I don't really have a ton of story developed around her, I was thinking of this as more of an introduction image. Like, if this was a story book it would be the illustration on the first page accompanied by something like "Granny is crazy about her catfish."

I like the idea of having one of the cats somehow interacting with the tea. I think i'll try to introduce a teacup and have the cat on granny lap interacting with it. For the cat on top of the chair, I was going for the kind of grumpy, apathetic, loaf of a cat and I want the one under the table to look like he is about to start doing something mischievous with the string. I want them all to have their own personalities.

[theprairiefox]

@StudioLooong I love the level of details you have added to the picture. They really provide a lot of storytelling and fill the image out.

I would have only 1 piece of feedback, the arms and shoulders of the granny look uncanny... I am not sure what the issue is but they look like a young person's, not an old person's. I don't know how to fix but I thought I would throw it out there.

The picture is tons of fun though, just wonderful.

[StudioLooong]

@theprairiefox I'll have to add some granny wrinkles and liver spots

[Laurasketches]

@StudioLooong I think your idea about giving the "cat-fish" personalities IS the beginning of a story... you could probably get milage out of additional images showing the "cat-fish" being cat-fish....I mean, who doesn't like watching cats....AND mermaids? Golden.

[StudioLooong]

I changed the cat on granny's lap again and blocked in some colors, i'm not sure i'm in love with them yet, we'll see how I feel about it tomorrow.

[marine]

@StudioLooong Your piece is so funny, love it!
I think the cat drinking Granny's tea adds fun to the story.
Maybe the green cat would play with the yarn, ready to make the bowl of yarn fall? Maybe it's not with its paw but with its tail, so you could show a different angle of the cat as they all face the viewer right now? Just some ideas

[StudioLooong]

still working on color

[ArtofAleksey]

Ugh i love this picture it’s so good. I love your style too.

[MichaelaH]

@StudioLooong So great shafows and values and work, love it, great style. Maybe you could do the cat on her lap a bit lighter in color..I almost don't see her smiling. Love the cat pictures behind...so cutee

[StudioLooong]

@MichaelaH you’re right, it does start to get lost there, thanks! I’ll lighten it up.

[Elena Marengoni]

@StudioLooong I love this image! The characters are really charming and the whole scene is just...unexpected! And the style is great!! What I love the most is that granny seems to be unaware of what's going on around her, yet she's very relaxed and is smiling (could it be because she doesn't see too well??). Maybe you could bring this to the forefront even more by thickening the glasses? Or by making it clear that the catfish on the bottom left is playing some trick on her...or even the one sitting above her could be doing some mischievous act...he looks like someone who would casually drop something valuable to her just for fun

[StudioLooong]

Having fun drawing some more cat-fish to accompany my cat lady mermaid

[StudioLooong]

Here's another rough idea I had to expand on my mer-granny and the catfish. I think I might try to add some color to my little spot illustrations I did yesterday and then work on bringing this idea to a final illustration.

[shinjifujioka]

Your cat-fish designs are awesome!

[StudioLooong]

@shinjifujioka thanks so much!

[StudioLooong]

[xin li]

Wow. so cute. when I saw your rough sketch, for some reason it reminded me of the book "There's a Tiger in the Garden". I thought of it might be fun to introduce a grand-daughter character in your mermaid granny world.

[StudioLooong]

@xin-li thank you! I wasn't familiar with that book but I looked it up and the illustrations are beautiful! Adding in a kid mermaid could be fun

[StudioLooong]

I'm working on one last mermaid piece before I start drawing things with legs again for a bit Here's my progress so far, I have the line work pretty much worked out and this is a rough value study.