This is Ozzie the Octopus. I created this digital work from a scan of an original watercolor painting I did. Last month I created a series of 6 octopus watercolor paintings with pen and ink details. I was longing to pick up some traditional tools and get my hands dirty so to speak. It was quite fun to take these pieces into the computer and add some digital paint strokes via the Wacom tablet along with a fun half tone pattern that created the dots in certain areas. More and more commercial illustrators today go back and forth from the sketch pad to the mouse. Working in this way you really do get the best of both worlds.
The original unaltered painting is shown below. It is a little messy and unpolished. Really more of a sketch as I try to get a feel for watercolors. The original is quite small, just a little larger than a business card. The digital Ozzie is set to print at 8 x 10. I think once I get some watercolor paper back on the printer I will go ahead and print the digital series.
Last spring I worked on a series of insects. Since I spend my days working on beautiful furry animals I find it quite energizing to branch out occasionally and focus on some of nature's less cuddly creatures.
