Concept: The beauty of the Sea

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It's all about the Ping Pong ball

2025 wasn’t the most productive year painting wise. Although I spend quite some hobby time, I did often dangle on gaming minis or started new stuff and concepts which were put back in the cabinet a few days later.

My source of motivation to finish: Challenges

But in winter, I discovered Plainries Kitbash challenge. He had a booth at SMC 2025 and gave away kitbash packages for a challenge - Use the items in there to kitbash something. Although I couldn’t visit SMC in person this year, Richard was so kind to let me take part. I just had to get the box content on my own:

  • A Pingpong ball
  • A water aerator
Kitbash challenge material - pingpong ball and water aerator

That's a challenge for me! Freedom of thought but an interesting limitation. It took me over a month of thought juggling and scribbling before the final idea was formed. Searching for and shaping ideas, takes often longer than the actual execution.

The most beautiful abandoned sketch

As so often I did start with a digital sketch. And this first one is way more elaborate than I usually do. That's why I have to proudly present that abandoned idea here: A steampunk fish in the ocean with a huge vacuum cleaner.

Digital painting of a hge steampunk fish with vacuum cleaner nose

I also started sketches with styrofoam and decided to use the little astronaut from Roman Lappat's challenge “Beyond imagination 2” as passenger. That way I could make a single entry with sufficient time for both challenges.

Started styrofoam sketch of steampunk fish with ping pong ball

But when presenting the sketches in the painting group , my painting friend Mo said that it missed originality especially as plainries is selling a similar kit. A great thing to have paint fellows cause he was totally right. Still I liked the idea of someone cleaning the ocean - but what could that be having the pingpong ball as a main ingredient?

  • A puffer fish? 
  • Sea Urchin? 
  • Water bubble?
  • A Steampunk Jelly fish! 

Second run and second challenge

Half of a pong pong ball could mimic that - attached with a snail shell as wagon?

Steampunk Jellyfish drawing in black and white cleaning the ocean and carrying a snail house wagon

The steampunk idea was somehow hooked in my had and it took a while to realize that an elegent, felxible and wobbly jellyfish might just not be the right thing to create a steambased metal version from.

After freeing the mind of that steampunk idea also the astronaut makes more sense as the one that actually cleans the oean from gatbage. And that tiny little astronaut could make a perfect diver ( with slight modifications ).

After further thinking, the idea of a wagon from a snail shell was dropped. It would be tricky to bring it on wheels and also it would be hard stuff in there. It's just a small opening in a snail shell whereas a bigger opening means bigger snail and everything would be too big.

Suddenly I got the idea that put everything together: Let the Astronaut - ähm diver, (I should get used to that) - build his own wagon out of garbage! Maybe a sardine tin as Basis and caps or buttons as wheels.

See that sketch already becoming a real thing? Not really, but or a concept and estimating sizes it helps alot (-:

Sketch with materials: Astronaut in front of a paint bottle with wheels and PingPong ball as jelly fish

And now it's just about creativity, craftmanship and creating a lot of garbage to show "The beauty of the sea".

Cuttingmat with alot of materials, glues, sticks, wires to start with

An amazing video game advice that takles exactly that with a lot of humor: Another Crabs treasure!

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