Aquarium Zine: Octopus, Jellyfish, and Frustration!

Octopus watercolor practice

Aquarium of the Pacific

The third page shares my observation of the octopus. I was very lucky to see a sleeping octopus dreaming (changing colors) and snoring right in front of me.

On January 29, 2023, the Aquarium of the Pacific got back to me via a Facebook message and identified the octopus photo I took as the Giant Pacific Octopus. And the little thing coming from its siphon is her poop. 🤣

The original layout for this page was meant to introduce the Sarcastic Fringehead and exclude the Giant Pacific Octopus. However, I felt it would take away the attention from the fun observation I had at the aquarium, so I decided to redraw the whole page.

Original page design

New page layout

Coloring-

I didn't quite like how I approached the first two pages, so this time I decided to try a different approach: coloring directly. I still find it challenging because if I mess it up, I'll have to resketch and repaint the page all over again. But when I work this way, my brain enters its own zone, and I start to feel isolated from reality. I really enjoy that feeling. 🥰 (01/27/2023)

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏ 01/30/2023 ﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Returning to my painting and assessing the current progress, I was initially supposed to work on page 5, the jellyfish section, but I found myself stuck on page 4, the big kelp tank. The biggest failure I noticed was that I skipped the watercolor practice step. Instead of closely studying the Giant Seabass from a different angle, I directly painted on the watercolor paper based on a very rough sketch.

Subsequent steps turned out to be disasters. The giant seabass looked flat, and I wasn't satisfied with it. I painted a second layer for the background, but disliked the watermark effect on it. I washed it out and tried repainting it with more depth, but it still didn't work.

With the looming deadline of my upcoming trip, I grew increasingly tired and frustrated with this page. I suddenly became mad at myself, regretting how arrogant I was to think I could tackle it without proper preparation beforehand. It feels like I've spent so much time with very little progress. 😠

At that point, I decided to let go and paint whatever my instinct led me to. I am prepared to redo the entire painting. And... uh... surprisingly, I find this page somewhat acceptable! 😆

While I consider it acceptable, it's not exactly the level of skill I am aiming for. For now, I will move on to the next page. I hope that upon completing all 11 pages of paintings, I will have a better artistic sense, improved skills, and fresh eyes to look back at these artworks.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏ 02/02/2023 ﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Jellyfish watercolor practice

I think this is a white spotted jellyfish... 🤔

I used Winsor & Newton's Art Masking Fluid this time so I could achieve a beautiful wash on the background. However, I'm not too fond of it because it changed the paper texture after I peeled it off. Another thing is that I didn't paint dark enough before removing the mask, so I had to repaint it without masking. It made me wonder why I even bothered with it in the first place. 😂

But it's all part of the learning experience. 🤭

My energy is starting to feel low now. I'm not entirely sure how many fully colored pages I can finish before I catch my flight, but I still want to try, at least to redraw the first page. 😅

Uh... yeah. 😔