"ROCKin!" Lobster

Drawing a Tropical Rock Lobster In Colored Pencil and Ink

Prints, posters, stationery cards, and signed fine art reproductions  

are available for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Tropical Rock Lobster. 11x17"  Colored Pencil and ink on paper

When I first laid eyes one on one these crazy looking lobsters, I though someone painted on it. The colors and patterns that adore it's shell are almost un-natural looking. They are so ornate that they are sometimes called "Ornate Rock Lobsters", which fits them perfectly. Even it's scientific name "Panulirus ornatus" has ornate in it. It is also known by a number of other common names, including tropical rock lobster, ornate rock lobster, ornate spiny lobster and ornate tropical rock lobster. They live in the indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to Japan. There are around 60 different species of spiny lobster throughout the world, and fossils have been found of them dating back to 110 million years ago. One amazing fact that has been recently discovered is that spiny lobsters can navigate by detecting the Earth's magnetic field. Pretty cool!

I grew up seeing the much plainer looking Spiny lobster that I encountered while scuba diving throughout Florida and the Caribbean Islands. They are much more monochromatic and lack the vibrate colors of this species.

56 pound Tropical Rock Lobster which was caught by a Chinese Fisherman

Recently a gigantic Rock Lobster was caught by a very lucky fisherman off the coast of China that weighted in at an astonishing 56 pounds! It ended up being sold at auction for $95,000 and was nick-named "The God of Lobsters". 

Before starting in on this drawing I decided to do some research and ask other artists what supplies they prefer to drawing with when it comes to working in colored pencils. I haven't been happy with the pencils or paper I've been using. And what I found out really changed my colored pencil experience. I've been using soft colored pencils to draw my details, which wasn't working out very well. They were hard to sharpen into a fine point, and they would break under the pressure of my hand. 

 Prismacolor's Verithin hard lead colored pencils

So someone suggested trying the hard lead Prismacolor Verithin line of colored pencils which are amazing. You can sharpen the tips to almost needle points for extreme detail work and they can take a lot of pressure without breaking. The colors are vibrant and blend very easily. 

 They come in a variety of sets

They are thiner and harder than standard soft colored pencils

Also when it came to the paper I was working on I wasn't satisfied with how it was excepting the colored pencils. The moleskin paper worked nicely with black ink, but it didn't except the wax of the pencils very well. I was told to give Bristol Vellum a try and was astonished of how nice it is. It's very thick and smooth and the color comes out extremely bright on it. Give it a try if you haven't.

Strathmore Bristol Vellum 

Here are some photos taken during my drawing process

Here's the finished drawing

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Catching a Crab

Drawing a Blue Crab In Colored Pencil and Ink

Prints, posters, stationery cards, and signed fine art reproductions  

are available for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Blue Crab. 11x17"  Colored Pencil and ink on paper

These little amazing crustaceans are extremely close to my heart. I grew up in Maryland, and all Marylander's know about Blue Crabs. They are a favorite seafood delight to enjoy eating during the summer, and most summers during my childhood my family would have a crab feast. We would make a trip down to the seafood wharf in Washington DC where local fisherman would sell crabs by the bushel. We would haggle between the fisherman to get the best price and head home with a overflowing bushel of crabs ready for the boiling pot. Old Bay seasoning, brown paper table cloths, mallets and claw crackers were all part of an afternoon of hours sitting around picking crabs with friends and family. This is a tradition that I truly miss now living further north in New Jersey were blue crabs are hard to find. If you do find them they now cost a small fortune and are small, not like the jumbo crabs of times past.

My brother Peter as chef during a crab feast

I also spent many hours fishing for crabs with my brother Tony on the coast of Maryland. When ever we had a chance we would head out to the bay with our crab traps, nets, and chicken legs for bait and spend hours trying to get as many crabs as we could. Inevitably getting pitched by a crab as we took them out of the traps. And this crab knows how to pitch! Once they get you they don't let go! They were hard to a catch and on a good day we would get a dozen or so to enjoy as our prize. Crabs are part of my childhood, and they will always be something that I can't wait to enjoy whenever I get the chance. So if you run into someone from Maryland or Virginia ask them about blue crabs. I'm sure you will see their face light up.

Here's some blue crab facts. Their scientific name is "Callinectes sapidus" means "savory beautiful swimmer". A perfect name if you have ever seen one swim. Their life span is 1 to 3 years, and females only mate once in their lifetime. Their range is from Nova Scotia to Argentina. 

Today Blue Crabs populations remain in a serious slump. The number of female crabs has dropped to a dangerously low level. Severe Winter weather along with environmental issues have become the main cause. Overfishing is being control, and lets hope that they can recover and become abundant once again for all to enjoy.

Here are some photos taken during my drawing process

Here's the finished drawing

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Lobster Tales

Drawing a Spiny Lobster

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Spiny Lobster. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

I'll never forget the first time I went scuba diving into the Atlantic Ocean on a mission to catch a lobster. Not a warm water spiny lobster like the one is this drawing, but a Maine lobster with BIG Scary Claws! (that drawing is still to come) That was the prize worth more than gold to the hardcore divers that my brother Tony and I would venture 2 hours out into the ocean in search of. Leaving before sunrise and on a small dive boat crammed full of divers and their equipment "Lobster tales" was all the divers could talk about. 8 pound, 10 pound monsters they had caught on previous dives. I was only 17 and had no idea what to expect on my first open water dive into the cold, dark murky waters of the Mid-Atlantic ocean off the coast of Maryland. When the captain finally anchored on the shipwreck, which was a 500 foot cargo ship called the Washingtonian which rested in 100 feet of water and sank in 10 minutes after it collided with another ship, I couldn't wait to get in the water.

SS Washingtonian before it sunk. My first shipwreck dive

This wasn't glamor scuba diving in in the least. No clear, calm, warm waters, this was "mud diving" as they called it. Deep, dark, cold and strong currents that you would have to hang onto the wreck not to get swept away in. And all while surrounded by mangled, sharp, rusty metal of a shipwreck covered in fishing line that was invisible to see and would catch you like a spiderweb in a second. To me is was as if I was an astronaut going into sumerged haunted world. The two coolest things ever. Being able to venture into a creepy alien world where all you could sometimes see was what your flashlight illuminated a few feet in front of you. It was too cool to be true!

The entry from my dive log book from 1984

Here's what I wrote in the entry from my dive Log book. "As Tony and I dropped down the anchor line the vis dropped from 40 feet to 10. The wreck was full of life. The ship was broken up and pipes were everywhere. I looked over to Tony and to my surprise he had his weight belt in his hand. I helped him with it back on and we started across the wreck. The ship was a 500 foot freighter, so I knew we wouldn't see it all. Suddenly we say another diver appear through the silt. He was caring a 13 1/2 pound lobster and heading for the anchor line to go back up to the boat! Then we started to look but found nothing. Lots of fish but no bugs. The ship was covered with fishing line and we had to get tangled in it. Tony cut us free. We surfaced only to see the others prizes and us empty handed. It was a blast! The ocean was no quarry.

Me off the coast of Maryland 1984

Now about my Spiny Lobster. Also know as Rock Lobsters, Spiny Lobster are found in almost all the warm seas of the world. They live in crevices of rocks and coral reefs and only occasionally venture out of their holes in search of food. They produce a rasping sound that repels predators by rubbing the base of their antennae against a smooth part of their exoskeleton to create frictional vibrations. Fossils of Spiny Lobsters have been found that date back 110 million years. 

Diving off the Florida Keys

Picture of me Wreck diving in Micronesa

Airplane wreck in Micronesia

My brother and dive buddy Tony

Me and Tony from my log book 1984

Here are some photos taken during my drawing process

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Nautilus Pen & Ink Wash

11x17" on paper

I decided to do a large version of an earlier sketch I did. So Here's the latest pen & ink drawing in my "sea creatures" series of a Nautilus. From Greek meaning Sailor. Having survived relatively unchanged for millions of years, nautiluses are often considered "living fossils." It's 11x17", mixed ink on paper.

Detail