@namu-the-orca / namu-the-orca.tumblr.com
Cetacean colour anomalies existing as a gradient let's goooooo.
No seriously I love it when this is a thing. Still part of the colour anomalies poster(s) series. Currently 102 illustrations down, and quite a few more to go.
Depicted here are Atlantic spotted dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin and Striped dolphin, with various colour-altering afflictions.
Some dolphins (and a porpoise)
Here are some illustrations I made over the past couple of months for different people. The striped and common dolphin were most recent - for a sailing company in Portugal. Most are reworks of older illustrations though to be fair, any resemblance to the originals is rather lost. They kind of go along with the two Australian bottlenose dolphins I posted recently. I really like this style of illustration; a bit loose but still realistic. They’re super fun to make because they’re relatively quick and I don’t get hung up on polishing every last detail. I hope you like them too ♥
All of these illustrations - and many more - can be licensed for use by the way! For a full list of available illustrations, and some more info, check my website or contact me.
SEALIFE illustration pt 2: SMALLER DOLPHINS Last summer, I was commissioned by SEALIFE dolphin watching to create some illustrations for their new educational building. They opted for full realism, which made me very happy since it’s been a while since I could go all out on the nitty gritty details of pretty cetaceans. Over the next few days I’ll upload them all so you can finally see these beautiful boys and girls too.
★ Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) As in many places, bottlenoses are part of the staple diet in Lagos. These are oceanic though, meaning they’re bigger than what most are familiar with from marine parks or coastal areas. They have massive bodies, some 3 or 4 metres long, and small heads with thick, stout beaks. Often their dorsal fins are white with rake marks - apparently that’s easiest to grab onto in a fight. Their markings are as delicate as always though, and I'm happy to say I finally think I got them right.
★ Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) A pretty boy to represent the species. You can tell gender often by markings - males are more boldly adorned - but in this case the post-anal hump is more conclusive: females have a slender tail without the bump. Common dolphins are incredibly varied in appearance around the world, but this is about as average as they get in the Atlantic. It makes them none the less beautiful though.
★ Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) And for the striped dolphin I went with a shy lady. Originally the markings were even fainter, but (understandably) they preferred a striped dolphin which was, well, actually striped. Truth is though that many younger and female animals have weak markings, sometimes showing only part of their diagnostic stripe.
Namu’s sketchbook p8
Again, all in order, here’s the last page and a half of my photo study spree. Gosh, a human!! That striped dolphin is bae. The left hand side of page 2 was drawn free hand and on location in Curacao once more.
We’ve got some live observations of bottlenose dolphin bulls in the local marine park on page 3, and assorted university-time sketches thereafter. This takes us across the second half of 2016 into 2017. Guess who saw Avatar again lol and Trico from The Last Guardian is in there too. Last page is kind of a mess but I do like that (fictional) beaked whale. It’s interesting to see how improvement from the photo studies stuck, even on free hand pieces like the blackfish and porpoise on page 3. Just a different drawing style altogether from 2014.
You can see the original sketches and photo studies done for ‘single father’ on page 5. There’s also a little nod to the mass stranding on Farewell spit of February 2017, when more than 400 pilot whales came ashore.
Here’s two small beginnings of something big; a set of illustrations for the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS). If any marine animal - be it cetacean, pinniped, shark or sea turtle - finds itself stranded, injured or dead on The Maritime Provinces of Canada, MARS is there to assist. Besides hands-on responses to wildlife in trouble, they also do an awesome job of educating local communities.
I’ll be illustrating all 36 species of marine mammal, shark and sea turtle that are encountered in The Maritimes for them. I already had a blast with these two; the striped because it’s one of my favourites, and the white-beaked because it had been seven years since I last painted one! I’ll try to post updates every now and then to keep you in the loop on how work progresses :D
Oh and yes, these two do have bodies to go with their heads :’)
Here’s three little dolphin friends I painted today for my updated gallery menu buttons over on Deviantart! The last menu buttons I made were from like... six years ago??? Not too bad, but the new ones are decidedly more aesthetically pleasing. Also, any excuse to paint some of my fave dolphins is one I’ll take. I got a bit lazy with the white-side though - you may recognise it as a repaint of the white-side on my Delphinidae poster that’s in the works. What can I say, I just really like the looks of that one.
Namu’s sketchbook p2
With the frail beginnings out of the way, let’s start uploading some pages in earnest. Most of these were done around and about 2014.
The first page is a fun one: all live sketches done at the local marine park. They've got lovely bottlenose dolphins there and the most amazing underwater viewing glass, which is great if you want to sit your butt down and draw some dolphins. I’m very fond of the portraits, of the two ladies swimming together. Fatty dolphin in the upper right corner was much fatter and much cuter in real life, unfortunately.
The saddle billed storks (+ grey heron, raven and white-tailed sea-eagle) were also live studies, done at a different zoo. The other pages all came about while on holiday in Ibiza. My favourite might just be the baby sperm whale hanging at the surface, waiting for the adults to return from their deep dive. All the pilot whales are unfortunately a little misshapen lol. The moray eel was based on a little one I met on one of my morning swims! He had a huge fright when he saw me and desperately tried to look Big and Scary.
Cetaceans of Nicaragua Part I
This was another big and rather fun commission I got to work on a while back. A series of 16 illustrations depicting the cetacean life of Nicaragua. Since this commission some more species, such as killer whales and dwarf sperm whales, have been recorded. These illustrations were made on small scale and painted rather quickly, which made for an oddly enjoyable painting process with some surprisingly satisfying results. My favourites amongst this first batch (the smaller dolphins) are the pantropical spotted, short-beaked common, Fraser’s and Guyana dolphin. Check the captions for everyone’s species names!
Part II will come tomorrow, featuring the blackfish and baleen whales. Update: here is part two!
“Sky Blue”
★ Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba)
The striped dolphin’s species name, coeruleoalba, is a combination of the Latin words ‘caeruleus’ meaning sky- or ocean blue, or caerulean, and ‘alba’ meaning white. How they got to be called this is not certain, for although it is often said to refer to their colours, striped dolphins are rather more grey than blue. But perhaps it’s because they are more bluish grey than other delphinids, especially after death. Either way it makes for a beautiful Latin name.
“Comfortably Different”
Personal piece, the first dolphin painting of 2016. Had a blast with this one :)
