Scuttlebutt Ink ~ Find our magical boys on Tapas!
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scuttlebuttink.bsky.social
Scuttlebutt Ink ~ Find our magical boys on Tapas!
@scuttlebuttink.bsky.social
An artist team creating comics and whimsical products for you. Creators of the 🏳️‍🌈 magical boy webcomic Mahou Shounen FIGHT! available to read on tapas.io. Visit ScuttlebuttInk.com
OMG YOU DID IT!! Thank you so much!! :D Snakeheads are so great, it was really difficult to decide which variety to go with. I'd really love to do a peacock snakehead, channa pulchra as well.
October 30, 2025 at 9:35 PM
This pin probably took the most effort of any design I've done.

When I'm doing a fish with visible scales, I take a photo and create a vector of one scale and make a brush in CSP. I use that to lay down the scales one at a time over my drawing.

This is my concept sketch for this pin. That face.
October 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
...focusing on fish kept in the hobby N. America, most of which come from S. America and Africa.

Aquaria is a huge industry in Asia and the South Pacific and the Asian arowana is an extremely popular fish, admired as a symbol for prosperity. These are some of the most expensive fish in the world.
October 25, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I think Asian arowanas are absolutely AMAZING but I've put this pin further up the unlocking chain because they're kept in the hobby in Asia -- as in, they are illegal in the United States. Since I'm mostly shipping to the US and shipping rates overseas are SUPER high I've been...
October 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
The next goal is a big jump -- We have to raise another $348 to make the super red Asian arowana. And I am frothing at the mouth to have this pin made, you guys.

First of all, look at this fish. It's so perfect it barely looks real.
October 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
They come in various hues of tan/brown/white but I was super inspired by the starkly black and white ones. It would be really fun to do a variant someday in brown! Drawing this sucker was an experience. I definitely wondered halfway through why I had done this to myself.
October 24, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Okay but please look at these examples of the pearl stingray.

I came across this species when I was researching potamotrygon henlei, the big tooth river ray. It's my understanding that henlei is more common in the fishkeeping hobby but when I saw jabuti I just was dying to render this pattern.
October 24, 2025 at 3:53 PM