I have not used my Copic Multiliners and Sketch markers nearly as much as I planned to on the Art Journal Caravan at Scrapbook Graphics. It is just that illustration is not an easy thing for me. It is something I want to be better at. But, it takes time and time is our most precious resource. Anyway, I was inspired by “Nevermore”’s Zentangle/Zendoodles. I’d never heard of it. Evidently, the company decided to make a buck by publishing “styles” of doodles and sort of a dice game to get you moving when you get stumped. I looked for a free source of inspiration and found a great blog.

I’m tickled pink that it was just what I needed to keep me moving quickly through the creation of this illustration! I used a “how to” book on drawing Manga as reference for the Mermaid’s upper body. I winged it on the tail. For the seaweed I used some Dover swirls as reference. And the rest of the doodles are either mine or borrowed from a page on the blog.

I think that most people use the Zendoodle process for more abstract art? I don’t know, but I hope I get inspired again because that was a lot of fun!

I started by drawing the fish outlines and the wavy lines behind them. Then I did the seaweed at the bottom. It was an afterthought to add the Manga Mermaid. I’d been wanting to do some illustrations of little girls. Once I had the Mermaid positioned I drew and colored the reef life around her. Then I colored the Mermaid and the fish.

You can’t really see all the Stickles glitter on the mermaid and the little fishies in this scan. Nor can you probably tell I used Liquid Pearls for her necklace and in the dots on the crests of the waves. The net or hammock was kind of an accident because I started doing hashed shadows around her and decided to make it a net. I figured she is startled because a diver just woke her up from a nap!

I left room at the top in case I ever want to add a sentiment and make this into a card for someone.

2 Responses to “Wish I Was at a Beach for Spring Break!”