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SteveArgyle —
Seeker of Secrets
#fantasy #fantasyart #fantasycreature #mermaid #mermaidfantasy #ruins #underwater #mermay #mermay2019
Published: 2019-06-04 11:20:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 74031; Favourites: 3105; Downloads: 418
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Description
How many marvels are lost to us simply because they lie sleeping under the salty veil of the ocean depths? Forgotten civilizations, fantastical undiscovered species, lightly napping eldritch horrors? A simple submarine trek could reveal worlds of ancient art and cultures. A delightful prelude, quickly sundered by the nightmare of awakening elder gods with that clunky sub. Leviathans will rise. Reality will sunder, cities will crash to smouldering rubble, and madness will strangle the minds of the unlucky survivors. The slaves who serve these new masters will ask why we foolhardily embraced curiosity, and "discovery" will be the most savage curse word. Mankind will live out the rest of eternity in misery and terror, and we will be to blame for prodding the icy depths we do not understand.
Or maybe we'd find super cool mermaid cities or something! Maybe they have awesome sushi restaurants and their own Cirque Du Soliel shows! The tourism industry would boom, and a bright future of sharing culture and technology would bring us into a new age of enlightenment!
But definitely only one of those two things.
Worth the risk. Let's build some more submarines already!
Copyright Steve Argyle
Learn more about this work, and see lots of others, on my website at www.steveargyle.com
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Comments: 88
That crab is adorable and so chubby.
The take on the mermaid is very unusual and the undulating eel's body is beautiful and so organic. The markings are subtle and still complicated. I love the lighting as well, how the gem lights up her eyes. She looks benign and curious. But I don't doubt she could grab hold of someone, wrap them in her coils and hold them under, if she was provoked.
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Thank you! I tried to go for a bit of a non conventional mermaid, while still staying true to the basic concept. I'm so glad you like it!
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Love the pose! I can never figure out how to pose my mermaids.
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Thank you! It was a fun challenge, because mermaids don't really have to deal with gravity like we do. (At least not when they're swimming.) So I went with the most free-floating, gravity-less thing I could come up with.
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This is... gorgeous. I love have smooth it looks, the markings, the shading, everything is just... OOF!
Question: How do you get the lighting smooth while mixing in that texture?
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Thank you! I first painted the mermaid without the patterns, then added them in on top. There's a quick process video on my website if you want to see that: www.steveargyle.com/seeker-of-secrets
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Np, Thanks for replying, and jees... the progress video makes this look EVEN better OO
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Whoa...
Someone should put her into a Subnautica mod...
And better mark it as NFSW...
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*reads your commentary*
Oh my gosh I love you.
Also, this is amazing.
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that's the highest art peak ever,there is no better.
Definitely amazing~
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I can't help but be reminded of a Ariel and Sebastian.
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Definitely an influence.
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Knowing humans we'd probably nuke them before they even had the chance to say "hi". xD
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That would be the most likely response, yes.
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Wow, that description took us on a journey. 
Lovely art. That crab is super adorable. 
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You're welcome Steve.
Thought, now I kinda want to see the apocalyptic depthly horror you described. You'll have to paint that for us all now.
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I just imagined a small child stubbing their toe yelling "Discovery!" and the mom going "Timmy! That's a bad word!"
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What if the mermaids ARE the sleeping leviathans and eldritch horrors?
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Oh... Well then that would be bad. Though probably awesomely impressive for the handful of hours we'd remain non-extinct.
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Great scene, it was nice to see the progress video too. Soft brushing but with such a strong sense of detail. Curious to know how long this took to paint!
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Thank you! I did a lot of back and forth and fiddling around with this piece, so it took longer than most. This one was around 30 hours all together.
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That's interesting to know, thanks for the reply!
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