MerMay | Day 10 | Umibozu

Umibozu

Illustration done with HB/4H/3B pencils, black Prismacolor pencil, and black ink on 4.5 x 6.5 white cardstock.

---

I don't remember the order in which I did these, but given the pattern I've noticed during this retrospective, if the previous picture was good, the following picture is not. Fortunately, this picture is not bad bad. I wouldn't call it amazing, but I also wouldn't call it atrocious. She is decent.

Let's start with the good. The variety of visual effects, what with the ombre waves, the sky, and the black umibozu, play with contrast a lot. And it's a strong look. It's particularly strong where the ink of the monster and pencils of the water meet. While it could have been more intense, the ominous feeling is present. I also like the subtle halo effect around the fisherman that draws our eye to them.

So, what wrong? Plenty. The fisherman is clear enough, I suppose, but he looks somewhat indistinct. That monster could have been bigger. It also could have been more obvious that it was looking at the man. But really, overall, the pic is a bit lacking. I can't place precisely what. It's somewhat flat, certainly. Value contrast is at play here, but the use of depth is not. Not sure what I could do to enhance the depth here, but it needs a fair amount of that to be sure. Should I redo this digitally, I'll have access to color and value instead of just value and more value. With color, I'd be able to separate certain parts of the image without muddying it up with texture.

I had no clue what an umibozu was before this. Whilst trying to find subject matter for MerMay, I looked up a list of Japanese monsters I could turn into merpersons. Eventually, I found the umibozu, a black sea monster that destroys ships when its name is mentioned. At least that's what I remember; I could be totally incorrect.

It's okay. It's better than okay, but I'm not thoroughly pleased with it. It is what it is.

Thanks for reading.

#mermaid #mermay #cartoon #umibozu #ink