WatchamaDRAWit

Artist Statement:

The main inspiration for my drawing came from the prompt: "Draw a creature with a gorilla head, cactus body, and mermaid tail." However, the finer details of my drawing were inspired by the different parts of the creature I created. I wanted not only the creature itself to include different parts of what it was made up of, but also the setting around it. I tried drawing a beach because I thought the sand would reflect the desert land where cacti usually live. The ocean, of course, was for the mermaid part of the creature, and finally, I added the grass in the back to hint at the lush environments in which gorillas typically exist.

For materials, I used an 11" x 9" piece of paper, and then various different types of charcoal pencils. The pencil grades I used were 2H, H, and 2B. Other than that, I used nothing else except an eraser, and once or twice my finger to blend the charcoal.

The first revision I made was of what I wanted my creature to look like, or rather, be doing. At first, I thought of making it sort of hover in midair. Then, I decided that I would rather have it in a more distinct position. I wanted the pose of the creature resting forward on its two fists to resemble the way a gorilla does the same thing. Some other adjustments I made to the gorilla part of the body were the deepening of the brow as well as giving it a more distinctive shape, and then the enlargement of the nostrils. I also decided partway through my drawing to add the flowers to the torso, because I thought it was a nice touch and would make it easier to tell that the body was supposed to be a cactus. I added the seashell bras after completing the cactus body in an attempt at light-heartedness. Finally, the last adjustment I made was changing the fin of the mermaid tail. At first, this had looked soft and like a regular fish fin. Later, however, I decided that I wanted to make it look, for lack of a better word, menacing, which lead it to be what it is now.