Beneath the Waves: The Consort

The only male character in my entry for this Artstation challenge. Angler fish are sexually dimorphic, and the males are much smaller and weaker than the females. When they want to mate, males will approach a female, and bite into her flank, where she releases an enzyme that begins to digest the male. I decided to take this concept and translate it into a sort of concubine character. I really had fun with the texture/opacity of his body, as male angler fish have this wonderful transparency and jelly-like look. I feel like it makes him look fragile, and therefore valuable/appealing/a sign of great power or wealth.

I based these creatures on deep sea angler fish, in both physiology and social structure. Using the geographical location of the Mariana Trench, I imagined this deep sea society would have outfitted themselves based on clothes and patterns lost in shipwrecks off the coast of Edo period Japan.