The Process
Now we are in another phase of exploration. We defined that the ocean would be the main element of this drawing. Now to the composition.
I decided to make it so the 5G was "hidden" in plain sight. I took inspiration from the Google logos where they always find a way to spell out Google in the most various shapes and colors to celebrate a specific date or theme.
As such- I decided that the humpback whale would be diving down deeper into the ocean and the curvature of their body would spell out the G. It was challenging to get the pose to look fluid and also natural but at the same time allow some of the liberties of art to bend the body as much as it needed to form the G.
Then came drawing the girl. At first I decided to draw in a more children illustration style. I wanted the girl to be wearing VR googles, showing that despite the intimate contact she's having with the humpback whale, she's still somewhere else and the whale is free in the wild.
I redrew the girl again because I decided to go with a more realistic style of proportions. I made her pose more "floaty" so she would really feel weightless. This pose also feels more dynamic and really allows people to see her VR set properly.
The back ground first started in blue tones with a slight gradient and textures to make it more lively, but I thought it didn't really pop out truly. I wanted it to be more dramatic, as if the girl was looking up at some other environment even. I also really wanted the diference between the surface and the bottom of the ocean to be noticiable.
After that, I painted both the girl and the humpback whale. I used more smooth tones on the girl since the skin would be smooth and the light would softly illuminate it. In regards to the whale I used a lot of textures to really make it look natural since their beautiful skin is really full of patterns and colors.
Finally the 5 of the 5G I hid in the texture of the foam and bubbles of the ocean and movement. I didn't want either the 5 or the G to be too obvious but I wanted the eye to naturally understand they were there but not upset the composition.
And that's how I came to the final piece I'll post next. The over all process was incredibly fun to work on. I always find it fun to review the whole process after I've finished the piece because it's almost like a little domino effect. One decision led to another, one inspiration led to another, and one idea resulted in a full artwork.
I used Procreate on an Ipad to work on this piece from concept to finished artwork.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my process as much as I had explaining it!