Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Siren Song of Mermaids

It has been a while since the blog was active, but that doesn't mean I have not been actively engaged in creating new work. I still make owls and play with the designs. I also enjoy following my muse to other fantastical places and this past year I have been inspired by the ocean.
For this post I want to show you the mermaids I designed.  I started with a tabular flat design  and I plan on improving on that shape and advancing the idea. For the moment I have played with the mermaid character on the tab. Using dichro or silver glasses for the tail.  Now I have to mention here that I am a bit of a zombie fiend and I couldn't help myself... I had to make a zombie mermaid. I feel certain there will be others in the future.
The other major design for the mermaids are based on a round shape. I made about five of those, playing around with glass combinations.

First tab mermaid, with a dichro tail and elaborate background. I decided the finicky background did not do any favours for the mermaid and changed tack. 

Second tab mermaid. I sketched a mermaid character in pencil first. She was chubby and cute. I really do like her from her dramatic stylized hair, googly eyes, round tummy and little hands.

Ruuuuun Zombie!!!!!!!  She's kooky and rotting with hanks of hair and bloody eyeballs.

My first round mermaid. I like some aspects of it, like how the background is shell-like, or whirlpool.

Second round mermaid. I tried to make the mermaid stand out more from the background and used dichro for the tail.
Below are variations of above,  playing with glass combos.