T's Mixed Jelly - Sea Turtle Painting Creation Process
- Jun 18
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 25
What would a food booth run by a jellyfish-loving sea turtle even look like? This painting was actually pretty easy to envision, and in the end, it became one of my favorite illustrations in the Night Market Under The Sea collection. Jellyfish are such floaty, ethereal creatures. Just adding them into the scene instantly brings a sense of randomness and liveliness to the artwork.
Inspiration for a sea turtle's booth
When I was illustrating the booths, I probably didn’t even realize that I had already set certain rules for myself to follow. For example, always show the ingredients (whether they’re still alive or already prepped), and if possible, also show the cooking process.
Based on the rules, I set up Master Haigui’s booth like this. He’s selling salads, so there’s no actual cooking involved. That means there won’t be a stove (or the lava I mentioned before. If you don’t know what that’s about, check out [this post]). His ingredients can be freshly gathered, so I placed the jellyfish and seaweed toward the back of his booth to suggest he can easily restock at any time.
As for food prepping tools, salads don’t really require anything too complicated. If I gave him a knife, it wouldn’t make sense not to include a cutting board, but realistically, he doesn’t need a cutting board either. So I gave Master Haigui a pair of scissors, which is just enough to suit his needs.
Master Haigui’s booth has one other unique feature, which is his food containers. While other booths use containers made from seaweed (similar to paper boxes in our world), Master Haigui opts for vibrant pink seashells instead. It’s his way of standing out, and it also hints at his open-minded personality.
Sea Turtle's Booth Painting Process
Challenges
By the time I was working on this piece, I had already realized I was over-focusing on details. But I still couldn’t help it. Or perhaps more accurately, I just hadn’t figured out how much detail is “just enough”. I’ll keep working on it in the future.
Comments