Malibu Breeze Mermaid

Something I’ve been working on personally, a high fructose flavored mermaid pinup. At first I wanted to do  the color scheme old school tattoo Sailor Jerry style. Dark reds, teals, black, tans….but as I was doing the color comps it just wasn’t working for me. For some reason it wanted to scream some crazy ass sugary color. It sounds nuts but something from way back inspired me, these toys called “See Wees”. They were little Mermaid bath toys that came in an array of colors and a kick ass pink (no innuendo here) clam shell you can store them in.  I have to admit, I think I still have them somewhere and really should dig em’ out and display them with the rest of my toys and collectibles.

  Anyhow, tried scanning this piece in and realized the color correction process is going to be the death of me, there’s no way I’m going to be able to color correct the hot pinks and greens as shown in the original. So I photographed it real quick as a solution, not the best lighting but it will do for now. In person the colors are so much more vibrant (like those day-glo Spencer gift posters in backlight ) and detailed.  It’s part of a personal experiment I’m working on…been wanting to do one piece of art, the same piece- in the several different styles I illustrate. Next version will be a digitally painted one, should go pretty smooth considering I have all the color choices picked out.