[ drawing ] Sea horse (Patreon)

2026 is the Year of the Red Horse.

I've often drawn the zodiac animals in the New Year.

I drew a blue snake last year : [wip] The Year of the Blue Snake

I thought maybe this would be my chance to finally draw a horse, but 😂 the pony didn't win this poll (Of course, I could draw it regardless of the vote results).

Then, the sea horse suddenly came to mind.

I've drawn pipe fish a few times in the past, but the last one was in 2020. It's good time to draw them again. I feel so good thinking about the Year of the Sea Horse.

Related post

[ wip ] Pipefish (2020)

Pygmy seahorses study

Pygmy seahorses study and pattern layout

[wip] Ocean terrarium2

[wip] Sea dragon (2018)

[wip] Pygmy seahorses (2018)

[wip] Pygmy seahorse (2021)

I probably drew more pipefish, but this is what I remember!

I'm sure I'll do better if I draw this time!😚

First, I checked the species list. So far, 40 to 50 species of seahorses have been discovered.

Which seahorse to draw is briefly selected through research.

First, sufficient data is crucial. If the references are unclear or inaccurate, I exclude them. I then gather the information I find here and scrape the final reference.

I scraped the photos and wrote brief notes next to them.

I mainly included external information for identification purposes, such as size, color, and the characteristics of the species.

This time, I plan to draw them with different sizes, so I put the small seahorse file on the left and the large seahorse file on the right.

I've roughly laid out the seahorses to see how many I can draw.

I think I can draw about 15 to 25. I might be able to draw more if I overlap them.

Seahorses have quite complex silhouettes and patterns, so I thought if I drew this many, the drawing could get incredibly complicated. So, I'm planning to keep the design as simple as possible. It would be really hard to strike that balance, but I'll keep it in mind as much as possible. Or I might just choose a smaller number of seahorses 😂

Because most seahorses use camouflage, their colors can vary depending on where they live within the same seahorse, their colors and patterns can vary. So I thought it would be a bit difficult to express it well in my style. Still, my art goal is to convey the cutie and diversity of seahorses, so I'll do my best within my style 💪

If you draw it, you'll see it's a much longer and more angular fish than you might expect.

Some people in the past mistook seahorses for crustaceans 😂

Pygmy seahorses have a more rounded appearance.

I studied the angular but round feeling of the sea horse..

I felt like the fins (Especially the pectoral fins) were either transparent or similarly colored, making them difficult to see unless at a certain angle.

Since the seahorse's characteristics are so clear, maybe I can skip this part.

Thank you!