Added in the shiny reflections and he is pretty much done. I'd like to touch up certain areas after resting for a bit, but I may as well show him off early.

This is "Regal", a male Australian blue swimmer crab that took nearly 250 hours to paint, spanning over 3 years

#sciart #crustmas 🦀

I didn't think rendering the eyes of mister crabby would change the painting that much, but it changes errythaang 🤩

He can see (and smell!)

#sciart #crustmas 🦀

Leg fluff added, not long now! Still a decent paint session ahead of me tonight & tomorrow, though

#crustmas #sciart 🦀

Decent painting progress on the carapace tonight. So many lumps and bumps.

🦀 #crustmas #sciart

The legs on the right side are now done (minus the orange bristles).

Back to rendering the carapace the next few days and then adding some soft textures/drop shadow to the background.

The end is finally in sight 🦀

Acrylic on panel

#sciart

How he started (March 2022) vs how he's going (November 2025).

Plus about 2.5 years' worth of painting hiatus throughout 😅

#sciart 🦀 #painting #art

My palette looks like chaos but I can assure you every colour is used and mixed!

Still plenty to paint - progress is slow but steady.

#sciart 🦀 #painting

My beautiful blue boy now has both of his claws. Snip snip! 🦀

Acrylic on panel

#sciart #painting

Well, the left claw and legs are pretty much done, except for the orange bristles which come later.

Now I just have to paint the claw and legs on the right side, and the carapace, and texture the background, and...🫠

(Don't paint decapods kids. Actually please do).

Acrylic on wood panel

#sciart

I was asked whether I was going to paint any shiny reflections to Mr blue swimmer crab.

You bet.

#sciart 🦀

Standard look of my acrylic Sta-wet palette by the time I end up finishing a handful of paint sessions.

Also no limited palette here - I'm aiming for high chroma with lots of subtle colour variations, which is tricky with acrylic. So using more colours speeds up mixing time

#sciart #crabpainting

How the blue swimmer crab painting looks currently overlaid on top of the lineart from back in 2022

Have to remind myself to keep chipping away when this painting moves at a glacial pace 🦀

Acrylic on wooden panel

#sciart ##acrylicpainting #crab

Returning back to my blue swimmer crab acrylic painting after a 22 month hiatus 🦀 forgot all about Blue Sky tbh, life got busy. But hello again!

#sciart #painting #crab

Ghost crab live on coasts all over the world but population is rapidly decreasing due to coastal development. Small size, but can run at very high speeds.

Four different styles I have used to paint my beloved European shore crab (Carcinus maenas). Had the joy of doing my Honours and PhD on these contentious little guys

Digital raster
Digital vector
Pen and ink
Watercolour paint

🦀🐡

The textures are coming along and I am loving the colours!

I just have to do it all over again when I paint the right arm (called a cheliped btw) 🙃

🦀🐡🎨

What my paint palette looks like right now. Hard to remember which colours go where!

Using acrylic paint with the Masterson Sta-Wet palette

🦀🐡🎨

Hi all, I'm René - artist, marine ecologist & public servant. I'm still learning how to use this app & only post on social media infrequently.

Here is a male blue swimmer crab (Portunus armatus) I have been painting extremely slowly over 1.5 years. A lot more to do!

🐡🦀🎨