Clownfish and Anemone

When I guide tourist on a snorkeling tour in Raja Ampat islands, Tambrauw coast and Manokwari beach of West Papua, I will always look for clownfish. This small fish usually lives in a small colony of anemone. Because a sting from an anemone is harmful to other fish, clownfish that have developed certain resistance on his body makes anemone as its home. Anemone provides protection and the clownfish provide food from the leftovers that it releases. So, the fish is also called anemonefish.

I usually approach anemonefish at depths of 2 to 10 meters below sea surface. With an underwater camera, I take a picture of this beautiful fish. Some anemonefish will hide deeper inside the tentacles of the anemone but other species tend to chase me in order to drive me away from their territory.
Today I made an illustration of this marine animal and uploaded it into my Redbubble account. So, its prints are now available on such products as pillows, clock, sticker, studio pouch, drawstring bag, and a lot more. Please, click this link anemone clownfish to buy some of them.
If you are interested in traveling to West Papua province of Indonesia to enjoy snorkeling over pristine coral reef, you could hire me as your guide. The snorkeling tours can be combined with hiking, birding and wildlife watching tour in the rainforest of Tambrauw mountains or Manokwari. Please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

Also read:

• Baby Turtle Crawling to the Open Sea
• Dolphins jumping out of the waves

Surgeonfish and Coral Reef

Tonight I upload another drawing again into my Redbubble account. It is the picture of Surgeonfish in the coral reef. I only added another species of fish to the previous illustration. The new fish is Convict Surgeonfish. There are some hard corals and water-plants in the new artwork. So, there are now two fish in the picture, i.e.: Striped-Surgeonfish and Convict Surgeonfish.

Surgeonfish in Coral Reef

I frequently see these fish and hundreds of other species when I guide tourists on sightseeing, and snorkeling tours in Raja Ampat, Tambrauw and Manokwari. To take pictures of the marine life, I bring a small action camera. It is a Brica B-Pro5 Alpha edition. The camera is not for professional underwater photographer. But it is good enough to show how an underwater coral reef environment looks like. I will buy a better camera such as Fujifilm XQ2 and its waterproof housing. I hope it will give higher quality photographs which I could study as my reference for creating more artworks.l
If you are interested in taking a snorkeling, birding, and sightseeing tour with me in West Papua, you could contact me (Charles Roring) by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.
If you just want to enjoy my artworks, please, support this blog by buying some products in the form of t-shirt, mugs, spiral notebook, or iPhone/ Samsung cases, please, visit my online artshop in Redbubble under this name: Tropical Art

Also read:

• Swimming with Manta
• Two Dolphins at Sea

Striped Surgeonfish

Last month I guided a Dutch lady for two weeks. We went to Waigeo island Raja Ampat and Sapormangganauw beach of Tambrauw. We visited the nearby beach for snorkeling during the trip. We also did hiking in the forest to watch paradise birds. It was nice to have some fun during the trip. We saw this beautiful Striped Surgeonfish at depths of between 1 to 6 meters. Using my underwater action camera Brica B-Pro5 Alpha Edition, I took pictures of the fish and the marine life as a whole. There are also a lot of other fish such as butterflyfish, black-tip shark, and grouper. Below is the picture of Striped Surgeonfish.

After completing my two weeks trip, I decided to make some drawings based on what I saw. The first one was Frigatebird. I uploaded it in my previous post in this blog. Now I upload the Striped Surgeonfish in the form of a digital illustration. I created it using Autodesk Sketchbook. I also uploaded the same artwork to my digital artshop in redbubble. You could click this link: Tropical Fish Art to buy the following digital illustration in the form of T-Shirt, mugs, throw pillow or drawstring bag. In addition to this fish artwork, there are other drawings as well such as orchid, whaleshark, birds of paradise, butterflies, and human figure.

Striped Surgeonfish is a tropical fish that lives in coral reef environment. I often see it when I guide tourist on a snorkeling, and freediving tour in Raja Ampat, and Tambrauw regency. Its body is decorated with blue and yellow lines. Its tail is blue.

Striped Surgeonfish (Acanthurus lineatus)

Striped Surgeonfish Art

I work as tourist guide in my daily life but I like drawing a lot. While guiding tourist in the forest or at the beach, I see wildlife which later will become inspirarations for my next art projects.
If you are interested in art and wildlife tour and want me as your guide while traveling to West Papua province of Indonesia. Please, contact me (Leo Roring) by whatsapp to: +6281332245180 or email to: leororing@gmail.com

Frigatebird - The Symbol of Freedom

I haven't made any drawings for quite long. After traveling to Raja Ampat islands and coastal area of Tambrauw, I decided to make more drawings again.
This time I draw Frigatebird. This is a sea bird that I often see when I conduct tours around the tropical karst and open sea of West Papua. The bird is very big compared to other land birds. Its plumage is black but has got some white underparts especially on its chest, belly, and some parts of the wings.
Sometimes frigatebird flies alone but most frequently they fly in large group. Frigatebirds could fly to distant ocean without having to perch on a tree or a rocky island for taking a rest. This bird really symbolizes freedom.

Frigatebird Flying Free T-shirt
by tropicalart

The wingspan of this bird could reach more than 1.5 meters. They look like kites. They also do circle flying when they look for fish. Once they spot schooling fish on sea surface, they will dive to catch the fish and then quickly glide up again with the prey on their bills.
To watch frigatebirds, I go to the beach where I could see open sea and then wait for them. They usually appear in the mornings and in late afternoons soaring high in the sky.
I used to take pictures of the frigatebirds when I go to Tambrauw regency. The coastal area of Tambrauw is very beautiful and good for birdwatching, swimming, snorkeling and fishing.
Please, order the above frigatebird drawing in the form of t-shirt if you are interested to wear it as a symbol of freedom, creativity and love of nature. Just click the link provided under the photograph. The artwork is also available in my Redbubble artshop: Frigatebird Flying Free in the Sky
Interested in taking a birding tour in West Papua with me as your guide? Please, contact me by email to: leororing@gmail.com or whatsapp to: +6281332245180

Also read:

• Male Lesser Birds of Paradise
• Lesser Birds of Paradise (watercolor on paper)

Vector Drawing of Red Bird of Paradise

This is the picture of Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra) that lives in tropical rainforest of Raja Ampat particularly in Waigeo, Gam and Batanta islands. There are two species of Birds of Paradise in these islands: Red BOP and Wilson's Bird of Paradise. Their population is shrinking because of continuous hunting, conversion of forest into human settlements, road, and monoculture plantation.

The development of ecotourism in Raja Ampat brings positive impacts to local economy and encourage local people to preserve tropical rainforest and protect paradise birds. Visitors who go there support local homestay owners, boat drivers and guides. With this alternative income generation that is environmentally friendly to rainforest and marine ecosystem, wildlife in Raja Ampat gets better chance to survive in this century.

Vector Illustration of Red Bird of Paradise

To raise awareness about the importance of protecting this paradise bird, I have created a digital drawing of the bird. It is now available in various Redbubble products such as T-Shirt, iPhone and Samsung Galaxy case, pillow, mugs, tote bag, sticker and spiral notebook. To get more info about these products, please, see this link: Red Bird of Paradise Vector Art

Also read:

• A sketch of Red Bird of Paradise
• Male Red Bird of Paradise (digital sketch)

Drawing of Clothed Female Figure

Digital Drawing

Enjoying Sunset

I mention above that I use Autodesk Sketchup and Stylus to make the digital version of this lady. I have to redraw everything from the beginning again. Drawing on the surface of glass screen and drawing on paper look the same but actually are very different. The glass surface of my Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet is very smooth and slippery. I have to familiarize myself with this different environment. When I draw using colored pencils, I pick up various different pencils whose sharpness are different from one to another. Sometimes, I have to take a break to sharpen the colored pencils or wait for the paper to dry before I continue the work.
In digital drawing, I have to use the same stylus that is so little and lighter compared to watercolor pencils. The light from my tablet also is another challenge for me. But the most important thing in digital drawing is the basic skill of the artist and his or her knowledge about the drawing application. I need several months of drawing practices before I become more familiar with the application. Well here is the final result of the drawing

This is a sketch or drawing (in progress) of a clothed female figure in cross-legged sitting position. I haven't finished the work and also haven't decided what to draw at her background. I just want to show the process of how I make or create figure drawing from just a few lines of sketches to the finished artwork executed using watercolour pencils. I hope that it will be ready soon and I will present the completed drawing in the next paragraph of this blog post.

update post 30 June 2017
The process of drawing this lady is quite long not because it is difficult but because I had to go into the jungle to guide a French tourist on a 4-day/ 3-night hiking, camping and birdwatching tour in lowland forest in northwest area of Manokwari. I returned to the city with a lot of ideas to draw but still this sketch was not finished yet.
So, after taking a rest for one day, I decided to complete the drawing. I made two drawings that look of this lady. One that is colored pencil artwork on paper and the other the digital drawing on tablet. For the new media, I used stylus, Samsung Galaxy Tab A with S-pen and Autodesk Sketchbook as my tools.
Watercolor Pencil Works

Enjoying Sunset

For the manual drawing, I just have to continue the above sketch by adding its surrounding environment which are the sandy beach, the sea, and the sky iluminated by sunset light. I made a lot of lines or hatchings with several different colors. I superimposed the yellow ones with several diferent red color to create the effect of fire or sunset light that brightens the sky. After that I apply wash all over the paper to cover all of the drawing surface with various colors that I think suitable to describes the clouds, ripples on the surface of the sea and the ground where the lady was sitting. The result is one the right of this paragraph. This drawing composition is looks similar to the digital one that I recreated below. Drawing with watercolor pencils takes longer time compared to drawing using a stylus and tablet.

Northern Cassowary - colored pencil drawing

I have just finished the colored pencil drawing of this Northern Cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus) which I saw in Klasow valley of Sorong regency. The bird was big and approximately 1.3 meters tall. I often organize and guide visitors on 3 to 5 days birding tour in the valley to watch tropical birds such as Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor), King Bird of Paradise (Cicinnurus regius), Moustached Treeswift, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Large Fig Parrot, Golden Myna, and a lot more.

Northern Cassowary from Klasow valley

If you are interested in taking birding tour in Klasow valley of Sorong regency in West Papua, please, contact me by email to: leororing@gmail.com or send whatsapp message to my number: +6281332245180.
To enhance birding experience of the visitors, I provide 10x42 mm binoculars and 20-60x60 spotting scope. With this birding gear, birdwatchers can see birds that sit in distant trees.
Because I like drawing and painting, I often create sketches of wild animals that I saw in the jungle and put them in this blog. First, I made the sketch using 2B Staedtler pencil and then I used Derwent Watercolour Pencils to make it more natural and attractive.
In addition to this Northen Cassowary, I also made some drawings of Lesser Birds of Paradise, Red Bird of Paradise and Black Capped Lory and Whaleshark.

Red Bird of Paradise from Raja Ampat Islands

Birdwatchers who go to West Papua always want to see birds of paradise. There are 41 species known to science. They are scattered from north Maluku, to New Guinea and northern Australia. There are 37 species that live in New Guinea. One of them is Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra). This bird lives in Waigeo, Batanta, and Gam islands of Raja Ampat regency.

Colored-pencil sketch of Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra)
from the jungle of Waigeo island

As a tourist guide, I have organized birding and hiking tours to forest areas in West Papua province, particularly to Arfak mountains of Manokwari, Klasow valley of Sorong regency and Waigeo island of Raja Ampat. The red bird of paradise can be watched in Waigeo island particularly at the bank of Mamdifu river. Visitors need to stay in tents in the jungle for 1 night in order to watch the paradise birds early in the morning at 06.00 until 09.00. There also other birds that can be watched in the jungle such as Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus), Pink-spotted Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus perlatus), and a lot more.
After the birding tour in Raja Ampat, I usually continue the birding trip to Klasow valley in Sorong regency where visitors can watch Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor), King Bird of Paradise (Cicinnurus regius), Northern Cassowary and many other birds that live in tropical rainforest of West Papua. If you are interested in birding tour, please, contact me Charles Roring by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or send whatsapp message to my number +6281332245180.

Drawing Feet

I return to the basics of figure drawing - practice, practice and more practice. This time parts of human body that attract my attention are feet. They are located at the lowest part of our body but they are quite difficult to draw. I have created several pencil drawing of feet on different positions or poses. The other parts of the body are not included because they are not my focus of attention now.

Drawing Human Feet

I also apply different pressure on the pencil strokes to create shades and hatchings so that the feet look more natural. I still make mistakes in drawing the toes particularly if some of them are slightly twisted. Our toes will not look normal if we use tight shoes every day. So, the shapes of our toes are determined by how frequent or how long we wear shoes.
I also make a small drawing of a lady at the bottom right corner of the sketch to compare the size of her feet and the length of her legs with the length of her arms and whole body.
This female figure is only an example of drawing exercise that I make to improve my understanding and skills in sketching human body. The proportions of legs have to be balanced with the sizes of head, arms, chest and stomach as well as hips.
Well, I will make more drawings of human figures beside drawings of flowers, birds, and other animals for this blog.

Also read:

• Drawing of Clothed Female Figure
• Figure Drawing of Cross-legged Sitting Lady

Figure Drawing Cross-legged Nude Sitting

Female Figure on Cross-legged Sitting Position

Drawing female human figure in sitting position is quite challenging particularly on the proportions of the legs compared to her whole body. I have just completed this sketch today. I only used my 2B Staedtler Mars Lumograph and Winsor & Newton A5 sketchbook. My hands are rather stiff after not practicing for several months. I need to get used to drawing on paper again after using tablet as my drawing media for sometime. The feel of holding a stylus and a pencil is totally different. Also the smoothness of the glass surface of a drawing tablet such as my Samsung Galaxy Tab A is totally different from paper.
Although I now use tablet more for drawing flowers or fish and birds, I still like drawing on paper especially for human figure. It gives me full control of what I will create out of just a piece of pencil or charcoal stick.

Cross-legged Female Figure in Sitting Position

For me, pencil strokes are more natural for drawing human figure than stylus ones. After finishing my sketch, I continued the work by coloring it. I used Derwent Watercolor pencils and applied moderate strokes to create hatching on shaded area of the female figure. The colors that I used were Ivory Black 67, Golden Brown 59, Deep Chrome 9, Bronze 52 and Raw Sienna 58, and Mineral Green 45.
The next drawing is the result of the coloring works.
The artwork is now available in my redbubble store, printed on various products such as cell phone wallet, tote bags, clocks or studio pouch. If you are interested in buying some of these products, just click the above pictures.