[ wip ] Happy Piranha (Patreon)

• [ wallpaper ] Happy Piranha

Many people are afraid of piranhas. They, like sharks, are fish whose fears have been over-inflated by the media. Piranhas are important scavengers in the ecosystem. Actually they are pretty timid personalities. It is very rare for a piranha to attack and kill a person first.

I watched a TV show on Netflix a while ago, and there was a scene where the main character releases piranhas into a swimming pool for revenge.  I saw that and thought I should draw a piranha. Maybe it will help to improve their reputation even a little bit 😁 

When they appear in horror movies, they are often designed to emphasize fear. Longer, sharper teeth, dull and darker body color, and eyes are accentuated. And the skin where the skeleton stands out. But in reality, they are very beautiful fish.They have shiny scale with beauful shape, so also quite popular as an ornamental fish. (Piranhas are members of the Characin family, with the famous tetra known)

As always, I try to focus on the beauty and diversity of animals.

Rough

In their faces, I think the thick lower lip/jaws is their attractive point.

Sketch

In the sketching stage, I applied a little the size of the actual fish. The largest fish, Piraya piranha, was placed right in the center.

Between 40 and 60 species of piranhas are known in the world. New species are still being discovered. Two main types are famous, Pygocentrus has a round head and Serrasalmus has a pointed head.

The red-bellied piranha is probably the most famous piranha. Ternetzi is similar to them, but yellow in color.

Interestingly, the baby Pygocentrus is difficult to tell apart from the Serrasalmus. I found out while looking for materials to draw baby fish, and they say that they live in groups with other groups when they are babies, like cuckoos.

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It's amazing how smart they've evolved.

Pike piranha has a longer body compared to other piranhas.

As the name suggests, this fish has red eyes.  I like to draw red eyes, so if it was another fish, I would have painted them in red. However, when I drew the piranha, I wanted to avoid a scary image, so I drew a red color that was barely visible.

Many meat-eating fish have teeth as sharp as piranhas. The salmon I drew a while ago also has big, pointy teeth. If you look at the piranha in a peaceful state, the teeth don't look so prominent.  Nevertheless, the piranha's sharp teeth are probably their most famous feature. So I drew small, sharp teeth on half of the piranhas.

Thank you!