From a mental to a manatee

I  take part in a mentoring scheme for my professional body. I refer to myself as a mental rather than a mentor, and my mentees get used to being called manatees. Recently, one of my current mentees nominated me for an award, and somehow, I won it! She joked that she wanted 10% of the prize, which I swiftly agreed to (while declaring that she should have asked for more, but a deal's a deal... ;) ). As a thank-you for the effort she had to put in to somehow making me sound good, I thought I'd make her a wee gift, to go along with her cheque....so this is the development of a manatee :)

 First came the drawing, sketched from one I found online. Theses sort of filigree filled drawing need clear and simple outlines, so I quite often look for line drawing versions of the shape I need, so I can see how things look when broken down into simple parts. Then I sketch my own take on them.

Then I duplicated the sketch onto a watercolour postcard, and inked the outline over the pencil.

I started to do the filigree infill, but it became clear that the body outline could end up a bit lost.

So I started to thicken the outline, while making sure the filigree stayed a wee bit clear of it, and kept filling.

I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the snout, so I left it alone for a while to think about it, and kept filling.

And filling...until finally...

 A completed manatee!

All ornate and fun!

I sent the manatee off to my mentee this week, and she received it today, so now I can post this without it giving away the surprise! Thanks for nominating me, Miss M!