Mr. Squid – A Squid Art Creation Process
- Jun 2
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 25
This art piece features a squid who sells takoyaki in the Night Market Under The Sea. The squid is called Mr. Squid. The main ingredient is octopus tentacles. He makes this food because octopuses are squids’ enemies.
This was the first illustration I created for the Night Market Under The Sea, and it was incredibly encouraging for me. Before creating this piece, it would usually take me more than a day to complete a digital illustration on my iPad, partly because I was depicting large scenes, and partly because I wasn’t very familiar with digital painting. But once I began working on this collection and decided to break down complex scenes into smaller parts, this particular drawing made me realize I could finish a piece in just two hours.
Inspirations - Why Squid?
In my original concept, most of the stalls in the Night Market Under The Sea were run by mermaids, with mermaids also being the main customers. However, since I still don’t have much confidence in drawing humanoid characters, I changed my approach and decided to have various sea creatures as the stall owners instead.
When it comes to night market food, takoyaki (made with octopus tentacles) immediately comes to my mind, followed by grilled squid. I feel like these two food are must-haves. So who exactly would make takoyaki and grilled squid? That was when I had an idea: squids and octopuses are quite similar, so what if they were lifelong rivals? That would explain why they’d want to turn each other into food. And just like that, I happily decided that my first two characters would be a squid and an octopus. After finishing their individual illustrations, I’d also add another one where they’re fighting each other.
Squid Art Painting Process
Challenges
Squid, being a creature without much skeletal structure, is actually quite easy to draw. If I had to point out a challenge, it’s that I forgot its “mouth” is located underneath its head .You can’t see it unless its tentacles are lifted.
After drawing a pair of cute big eyes, it was easy to instinctively add a smile. Luckily, I noticed this mistake before posting it on social media and was able to fix it right away.
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