Every once in a while I go through my older book illustrations, and it is sometimes amazing how poorly some have aged (due to my lack of skills back when, poor subject choices, or what have you) while others remain work I am proud of, or even an illustration that sparks the words artists often mutter, “Did I do that?” (A phrase sometimes said in amazement, and at other times with a tone of horror due to the lackluster appearance.)

Here’s an old one I’m proud of. The basic render for the illustration was done in Vue (fish, terrain, light house, plane, temple, street lights, and some of the lighting) and then finished and polished in Photo-Paint 8.

Still pretty green in my skills, I can remember spending days working on things that now I do in hours, and even more trying to keep the gradient from banding due to the low number of colors in it. I guess skills not only improve, the work becomes faster over time, with some essential tricks picked up along the way.

All that said, this illustration still captures my imagination (and hopefully that of other viewers as well).

Lost Under the Sea-002

In creating this fantasy illustration, I tried to create a foggy, dreamlike quality with an underwater lighthouse and streetlights (or above water fish, depending on your mindset). It’s an picture I eventually used in my Witches and Fish book, now available in both print and Kindle formats at Amazon.com.

Publishers interested in purchasing the rights to this illustration (or anyone with suggestions, or whatever, please contact me).