The making of a goldfish

I almost always begin with mechanical pencil and a grid.

Just trying to nail down shapes and placement plus a few important details

The eyes are my favorite, I like to do them first. 

Coloring in short strokes to make it feel like scales.  I'm using eight shades of red, orange, and yellow.

I debated just stopping here.  I like how the left isn't at all finished.  But on we go!

My source image is black and white.  I'm just playing with color and idealism.

Did lots of hatching in the blue.  Greens and shades of light blue.  Subtle in the end once I got all the light blue background filled in. 

I always tape my paper to the table with blue painter's tape.  It keeps it flat and still and creates a nice white border.  

Who wouldn't want to kiss that mug?

Pull tape very slowly at a right angle to avoid stripping layers of paper.

Et voila!