Whales of the Mediterranean sea - POSTER

_{Species depicted: See deviation
Time taken: 70+ hours
References used: [link] A LOTTT
Tools of the trade: Photoshop CS5}

Interesting note: you probably can't read it, but in the upper right corner, near the female Risso's dolphin, there is a little piece of text. It says that the female Risso's of the poster was painted after Mary G., a wonderful dolphins living in an Italian marine park. At the time, she was the only Risso's dolphin in captivity in Europe. However, this year she got health issues and she died on the 31st of May So this is for you, Mary. R.I.P.



Now, that was one heck of a ride! Figuratively speaking, then. I started this painting quite some time ago (honestly can't remember when) and have been working on and off on it for weeks, if not months. The estimated time of 70+ hours might very well be much longer as I hardly ever record how long I'm painting. The original painting PSD file is a true monster. The dimensions aren't all that great (6000 px wide) but the layers, oh the layers... For every illustration about six to ten layers. The main problem however, are the references. I use a sh*tload of them; I had about 200 reference layers when I started out. After the first real sketch has been made, about HALD of all my refs were deleted and the remaining ones were merged into a few layers to make it go easier on my computer. I've counted all the layers for your enjoyment:

303 layers for the paintings
151 layers for the texts, maps and lay-out

So FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR layers for the whole poster Now why oh why would my computer take such a long time to load the photoshop file?

But, getting onto more serious matters, this piece really was one to my heart. I loved painting the huge variety of whales, dolphins and one porpoise that live in that little sea captured by land. I did a fair amount of research for the distribution maps, reading scientific articles about rare sightings and websites of professionals showing where and how often species were seen in an area. If there are any mistakes; blame me - I'm only human after all. However, I hope you really enjoy it after I have been working on it for such a huge amount of time. One less huge project on my list

Oh and this is, as many have asked and (kinda) requested, available as a print! That also explains the watermarks; sorry for those You can hang this monster on your wall for your own enjoyment, or perhaps print it in a smaller size to take with you or hang in your boat if you're lucky enough to have one and be in the Mediterranean sea. I've disabled smaller sizes because that would probably leave the smaller texts to be unreadable. So ladies and gentlemen, it's time to grab your wallets! >:3

Oh and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask! I don't bite (usually)

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_{COPYRIGHT NOTICE
All submissions in this gallery, be it photos, paintings or drawings, are copyrighted to me, Namu-the-orca. No one has the right to alter, distribute, copy or use my art without my written permission unless stated otherwise. My submissions are NOT stock}