This is a concept piece from an unfinished graphic novel project, currently affectionately referred to as Wilhelm, that came into my brain in the early 2000s. I had started drawing it out with pen and ink, but I couldn't quite get it to look the way I wanted at the time, my vision of it wasn't as clear. I always intended to return to it, and I finally did. This was another adventure in improving my work flow and learning more skills. I made quite a few custom brushes to add textures (the wrinkly skin texture on the tentacles is actually created with some brushes I made from photos of my knees...guess I need to moisturize occasionally), which I would use more or less like a stamp. I'd then transform the "stamp" and warp it to fit the given shape. After I had built many layers up across an object, I'd paint on top of the texture, using it as a road map of sorts to inform my brush strokes. It's a tedious process, but a powerful one when used well. I tend to go overboard on details at times, overusing the zoom function of Photoshop. I plan on posting some close ups of this image in particular, because there's so much in there that can't be seen.