Wavy Cucumber - Manta Ray Artwork Creation Process
- Jun 25
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 25
A manta ray (Ms. Manta) is slowly grilling a hurricane sea cucumber with her one and only tail. Truth be told, she has no idea what it actually tastes like. After all, she only feeds on microorganisms. The reason she chose to make these hurricane sea cucumbers is simply because she thought it would be a good selling point. In the world of business at the Night Market Under The Sea, you need a hook!
This manta ray artwork showcases Ms. Manta’s food booth, with details including live sea cucumbers in a glass tank, as well as pre-sliced, grilling, and the finished hurricane sea cucumber.
Inspiration
When creating this illustration, the concept was the complete opposite of Mr. Squid's and Uncle Octy’s booths. Ms. Manta only has one tail, and frankly, her fins aren’t for multitasking. So she can only grill one hurricane sea cucumber at a time. It’s definitely not efficient.
Like the other food booths, she has a space for storing fresh ingredients. What’s a bit different here is that she uses a glass tank. That’s because sea cucumbers are slow-moving creatures. If you put them in a basket, they might slowly sneak away. In this setting, Ms. Manta found this glass tank, which was tossed away by humans, from a unknown location. To highlight that it’s a piece of ocean waste, I added some cracks to the glass.
As for the name of the booth, since Ms. Manta is selling hurricane sea cucumbers, the sliced and spinning cylinder shape gives a kind of wave-like look. So why not just call it "Wavy Sea Cucumber"? Well, it sounds awkward, and I also worried the name would be too long to fit on the sign.
Manta Ray Art Painting Process
Challenges
The hardest part of this illustration was deciding on the pose. Manta rays usually move with their bodies flattened horizontally, but I felt that wouldn’t be interesting visually at the booth. Plus, in her previous individual illustration, Ms. Manta’s "back" had already been shown. So for her booth illustration, I chose to let her "stand" vertically and show her "belly" instead. Looking at the final result, I think it works. What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts!
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