Attacking Vampiroteuthis Vampire Squid Kraken

Client: New York Times Bestselling Author Steve Alten as an illustration commissioned for his book "MEG IV: Hell's Aquarium" in late 2008.

This "Attacking Vampiroteuthis Vampire Squid Kraken" was commissioned by Steve for the chapter in his book where the prehistoric marine monster attacks an engineered and built US Naval Deep Submersible Habitat.

This illustrated drawing was rendered by hand as ink on paper and completed using only black ball point pens from around the office, Bic pens, Pilot pens, assorted rapidograph pens, assorted markers, and black India inks applied by quills. I drew and shaded the image mentally in negative-reverse on my white poster board. When completed, I scanned the image into Photoshop, reversed it negative to positive and then subtly tinted the bioluminescent chromatophores being employed by this Valusian Sea / Panthalassan sea monster hailing from the far back in time primordial Silurian and Devonian eras.

From https://www.stevealten.com/books/meg-hells-aquarium/ :
Meg: Hell’s Aquarium:
The Philippine Sea Plate: The most unexplored realm on the planet. Surrounded by subduction zones and no less than six abyssal trenches –– including the seven-mile-deep, 1550 mile long Mariana Trench –– the sea is also home to an incredible anomaly. Hidden beneath its ancient crust lies the remains of the Panthalassa, an ocean that dates back 220 million years. Vast and isolated, the Panthalassa is a purgatory of existence, inhabited by nightmarish species of sea creatures long believed extinct! Tanaka Institute, Monterey, CA.: Four years have passed since Angel, the 76 foot, 100,000 pound Megalodon returned from the Mariana Trench to birth its liter of pups — five females — far too numerous and aggressive to keep in one pen. As accidents mount one solution presents itself: A Dubai royal prince is building the largest aquarium in the world and seeks to purchase two of the “runts.” The deal hinges on hiring Jonas Taylor’s twenty-one year old son, David, to be their trainer. Jonas reluctantly agrees, and David is off to Dubai for the summer of his life– –not realizing he is being set-up to lead an expedition that will hunt down and capture the most dangerous creatures ever to inhabit the planet!

From Amazon: MEG: Hell's Aquarium: Hell's Aquarium (MEG, 4) Mass Market Paperback – Illustrated, April 27, 2010