Great White Shark Watercolor Painting Illustration
By Charlie

Swimming With Sharks

Written by Charlie O'Shields

For our prompt of “Shark” today, the first thing I realized was that I’ve never painted a shark before in my life. So, I had to do a bit of research to study how they looked. And, as usual, I got lost in watching videos of sharks swimming around, and even people swimming with them. This is not something that I’d ever do, but it was equal parts interesting and terrifying to watch. Indeed, along with a fear of heights, I think I also have a fear of depths so I’ve never be interested in scuba diving. I prefer to snorkel at the surface when I’m not simply keeping my feet on the ground. As a kid, my primary introduction to sharks was the movie “Jaws,” which featured a man-eating great white shark that kept randomly attacking beachgoers. But, when it comes to sketching a shark, I wanted to make one that just looked happy to be swimming around.

For this sketch, I actually scribbled a few sharks before I could get the hang of drawing them. After all of this time, I figured I’d almost sketched every prompt possible, but this one was a first. Once I finally had a sketch I liked, I just attacked it while splashing watercolor about and it was super fun! One of the first sharks I scribbled was a baby shark, because while I was looking through videos of sharks, the kid’s video with the song “baby shark” came up. I tried to turn it off immediately, but it was too late and now the song is still ringing in my head. It’s insanely catchy, and perfectly ridiculous, which really is a wonderful combination. Though I didn’t want that song in my head all day, it still made me smile. And so, I’ve been smiling all day. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day really. I’ll have to make a note to watch more silly kid videos in the future.

Another full week seems to have sailed by and it’s already time for another weekend. I’m not complaining at all, of course, as I adore Friday nights, which is the official start of the weekend, and comes with pizza. Our dog Phineas went to the vet this morning for routine bloodwork and has to take a calming medication each time so he’s been snoring on the couch all afternoon. I’ve been envious of him the entire time and so ready to cuddle up and join him for a bit of relaxing. It’s been a crazy busy time lately, so it’s a much needed rest. Though actually, I feel rather invigorated today after taking a little extra time to sketch and step outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes the best thing you can do in art is to take a few risks. In daily living, they should probably be measured risks, but in art they can be big ones as well. It’s the one time in life when it’s perfectly okay to find yourself swimming with sharks.

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About the Doodlewash

Da Vinci Paint Co.: Opus (Vivid Pink), Cobalt Turquoise, Terra Cotta, Ultramarine (Green Shade), and Indigo. Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with black ink  in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Send me a note with a link to this post, and I’ll add it to my shop!
 Great White Shark Watercolor Painting Illustration Sketchbook Detail

 

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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28 thoughts on “Swimming With Sharks”

  1. Fantastic shark Charlie! Yeah for taking art risks! I am in the midst of doing that myself and have been for the last three months. Unsettling and exhilarating at the same time. The good thing it is a way to consume your mind. Enjoy your pizza!

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  2. Oh you knew, I’d have to go and listen to Baby Shark didn’t you? And now it’s playing in my head, over and over. I may have to listen to Yellow Submarine or Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (the Beatles will have to pay for recording those songs) just to get rid of Baby Shark. And that won’t be much of an improvement. I’ll probably be dreaming of hammerhead sharks swimming around a yellow submarine all night long! It will be like a horror show where I’m afraid to go to sleep!

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  4. Jaws has long been my favorite movie. The comparing of scars is my favorite scene. I like to watch it when I’m sick.

    Today we got our new dishwasher! Yay! And our new lawnmower! Yay!

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  5. Na na, na na. Tee hee, can’t think of that movie without hearing that! I saw it in the theater. Yikes! I have never seen another scarey movie in the theater. I don’t watch scarey movies at all now. Your shark doesn’t look scarey at all. Thank you! 😉

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  9. I love your beautiful baby shark, Charlie 😘. People shouldn’t watch horror movies about shark, it’s pushed sharks in dangerous warnings. My buddy told me that sharks in Indonesia looked like being shy when met him suddenly 😉

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  10. Love the shark although I’m not really into them. I saved it in my Pinterest account. I noticed you don’t sign your paintings. Any reason why? I enjoy your blog so much! Very inspiring!!

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    1. Thanks so much, Betty! 😃💕 These are pages out of my sketchbook and I use the art as illustrations for my books! I sign the ones that people request to be made into prints and those are available in my shop! 😉

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  12. Nice shark, I almost feel like swimming into the painting and putting my neck in his mouth. But that would not be wise. You captured him well, and I really like how you created a vignette around the painting.

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