1

This is how Mistaken Identity began... using a more cartoony style. Usually I have quite a good idea of what colors I want to use from the start, but in this case I played around with several different color schemes. The sensation I was trying to capture was one of melancholy... of being alone, underwater, in the dark. However, after I reached this stage I lost interest and left the idea alone for two years...

2

This new version actually has the same fish, although they are flipped left-to-right. I decided to go with a more realistic style, and have the girl face forward. You can see that I'm trying to figure out how much shadow and how much coolness to put in the face tones. At this stage I played a lot with how realistic to make her facial proportions. I really like how the center prototype goldfish turned out... kind of ghostly.

3

Here, I've mostly been working on the face, trying to capture the right emotion. I've also started detailing the rest of the fish, and made the dress a bit more interesting.

4

I decided that the bottom section wasn't very useful so I cropped the picture. The fish also have striped fins now, and you can see some subtle tweaking with the girl's face compared to the previous version. All the ideas are now fully fleshed out... all that needs to happen is lots of rendering, which can be rather tedious.

5

The is the final version, which I'm quite happy with.

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