Friday, September 09, 2005

illustration friday: depth


ONESICKINDIVIDUAL "FUN FACT" : Extremely deep water scares the holy shit out of me. You know those nature documentaries on the Discovery Channel about whales where they have footage of, well, whales? If you think about it, whales are pretty freaking huge. And when you see this footage of these freaking huge whales they look tiny surrounded by a deep, dark blue background. Now that's not just post-production CG work here, all that emptiness is water. And when you realize how small these whales look engulfed in this water you start to realize how much freaking water that has to be. To make a long story short, all that water freaks me out! It's just a lot to take in, you know? Now, I'm not saying that I spend most of my time in the urine-filled kiddy pool. I enjoy jumping into the 8 foot deep end like everyone else. But if you were to tell me that you'll be dropping me off in the middle of the ocean just for the fun of it, I'd smack you across the face with my left foot. I'm just not a fan of really deep water.

With that said and done, this piece was inspired by all those horror/monster/in the deep blue sea movie posters I used to see as a kid. Thought I'd take this opportunity to play around with all the new nifty features they added to Illustrator CS2. I freaking love that program. Almost as much as I freaking hate really deep water. And spiders.

www.ONESICKINDIVIDUAL.com

all images © 2005 Erwin Haya, unless otherwise noted.

15 comments:

Leeza Hernandez Illustrator said...

I can;t figure out which I enjoyed most, the story or the illo - great work on both counts and certainly made me smile.

There's definitely an eerieness about the abyss of the ocean, but ther'es also something deeply calming about it too ... well, that's if you are not treading water watching the dark shadows float about 20 leagues beneath you!

I like spiders though.

So anyway, I enjoyed your illo - v.cool.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you about the deep water stuff. I'm not a fan of thinking about things that overwhelm me.

For instance, the other night I was watching NOVA with my husband, and they have had this series about the birth of our world and the possibilities of others like it in the universe. Anyway, they kept showing these images that would start with the Earth and then pan and zoom out to fully encompass the Milky Way... and that totally scares me enough to shake a bit. It makes me feel very small and insignificant - or, rather it points out that we all are in the grand scheme of things... so small compared to that big nothingness of a universe we are in.

So... love the image... colors are wonderful and the girl treading water is terrific.

Anonymous said...

Heee you are collecting other sick individuals. Great looking image - nice graphic qualities :)

Anonymous said...

Great illustration. I sense to feeling of unease (if not fear) of deep water.

carla said...

Geez...this illustration totally brings back the one time I went swimming out in the middle of the ocean off a sailboat we were delivering from Tortola to Maine...this is exactly what I imagined was coming up from that vast nowhere to get me! The feeling is almost beyond description, but you captured it here in this illo. Great illustration...love the facial expression, the treatment of the water around her body, and that long tentacle. I am anxiously awaiting the CS2 bundle I ordered. It's gonna be fun!

Anonymous said...

Great illustration, Erwin.

Met you at Comic-Con, and loved your stuff then too. Nice to see you at IlloFri!

Rowantree said...

Nice work and story !

Mose Onetwenty said...

Great illo and story.

coffee81 said...

i really don't have the nerve to swim in the middle of the sea or even lake. I'm afraid of the creatures underneath!~

do visit my blog and comment on my illo! :)

Unknown said...

Cool drawings!! Interesting stories!!

chacha said...

awesome work!!! i love the size you picked for this one. adds to the depth of the water shes taking her chances in. nice job.

PaintMonster said...

wow great illos!
I like it!

dabydeen said...

Cool artwork man ... if I had some money, I'd exchange it for your wares.

Julie Oakley said...

Lovely illustration - I really like the palette you've used for this. By the way the one thing i hate about CS2 is I can't get it or any of the CS2 suite to print to my reliable old HP laserjet printer, so I'm forced to use CS1

Aravis said...

I love this! I instantly thought of all of those old movies when I saw it. *G*