"Reading is fun"

[josema]

Hello kiddies.

 

I've been a little busy of late cranckin' out covers for children's textbooks. This is my latest piece. The theme is "underwater fun". And I think that the greatest challenge was not making it look like "Finding Nemo". Not that it would be so easy to do anyway, but I think ya'll know what I'm talking about.

 

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this one, so I wanted to share. Please, let me know what you think.

[frankH]

Nice character, is the mouth area made with a:m, or do you use photoshop?

[hypnomike]

Nice image!

 

My favourite bits are the sea surface above and the sparkling bubble effect.

 

Great work!

[starwarsguy]

are you the one who did the math cover? it looks to be the same style. i love these underwater guys

[Flog]

wow!!! That is all, carry on

[josema]

Nice character, is the mouth area made with a:m, or do you use photoshop?

Frank, thanks for your comments, and yes I used photoshop for the mouth and teeth, and the whole face to be honest. Given that it's a "still image" I can pretty much use anything. I'll post the A:M image before the Photoshop overhaul so you can compare.

 

Kyle: yes, I am the guy that did the math covers. As a matter of fact, this is the continuation of that same project and it was done for 5th grade. I'm very pleased you like them.

[josema]

...I thought I also share the original "color layout" for this character. As you can see, the original concept went through some serious changes. For the better I hope. In case you're wondering, I used Painter for the layout.

[Gene]

Great work.

 

I think it really works for a book cover!

 

Regards,

 

Eugene

[ddustin]

Very nice.

 

There are some incredibly tallented people here.

 

David

[Rodney]

Glad you brought this one back David.

This is an excellent example of how 3D and 2D can work together to achieve awesome results.

 

Nice work Josema!

[John Keates]

Nice image! Lots of character and movement.

 

It reminds me of the most difficult commission I ever did. A guy wanted his bycicle helmet airbrushed. His son had chosen what he wanted on there - octopuses that were anatomically like real octopusses but with a cartoony quality to them.

 

Before taking on the commision I had neglected two things:

 

1. It is very hard to airbrush onto a curved surface and I had never done this before.

 

2. Octopuss's mouths are hidden amidst their tenticles.

 

Anyway, I think you did an admirable job of it - much better than mine.

 

PS: Octopusses... octopie... octopy.......... whatever!

[josema]

I think I know what ya mean, John. When the client told me they wanted an octopus I was very optimistic at first. But my optimism soon turned into panic when I started looking at references of the ugly critters. So after much frustration, I decided to get away from realism and do my own thing. Yep, they let me get away with it.

 

Anyway thanks for sharing.