Octopus Ink

Silhouettes are stylish right now. I've seen them used a lot in ads targeted at the young adult crowd. Think ipod, for example. Silhouettes of branching trees, birds, and wild flowers are popular graphic design elements. I have to admit, I like the clean, opaque, matter-of-factness of silhouettes too, and for a while, admired graphic artists for having the eye to distill a detailed image down to its outline.

That was before I did much computer art. Now I know that silhouettes are probably the easiest images to make. Perhaps it's obvious - all it is, is a tracing of an outline of a shape from a photo, and then filling it in with a single color. On a computer, it's extremely easy, and can be done while listening to podcasts or mentally untangling the revelations from the most recent Lost episode.

Here I tried to show off the diversity of sharks, solely by their shape. They have elegant profiles, especially the thresher shark, with its elongate tail. It took a little while to balance the colors. And yes I made the most notorious shark pink on purpose.