Can I fit all the work-in-progress material of the 2025 calendar into one post? Well I'm about to give it a try and see if my blog can handle it. :D
So, the theme of the 2025 calendar was seals. Thus, you're about to find progress pictures of 12 seal illustrations below. The process of creating all of them was the usual one; First I make a pencil sketch, which I then trace on watercolor paper with watercolor pencils (with the help of my dear light pad). Then it's just watercoloring (with rare occasions of masking fluid or salt on the paper for desired effects), until at the very end I add my usual "beauty spots" (and small details such as whiskers) with white gouache.
Picture is worth a thousand words, so let's look at them next:
January 2025; here I used sea salt for the frosty effect in the background.
February 2025; here I used masking fluid to create the effect of falling snow.
March 2025
April 2025; here I used masking fluid again to create the pattern on the fur of the mama seal.
May 2025
June 2025; this illustration took longest to finish. But then again, it's been very popular in the events where I've been selling my art proucts so definitely worth the effort. :)
July 2025
August 2025; this is my own personal favorite in this calendar. :)
September 2025
October 2025; I never expected this illustration to be as popular as it became! I just did not see it coming.
The same happened with the illustration of December in 2018 calendar (a fox watching northern lights). I was in a hurry to finish the illustrations so I hastily painted the last one, thinking that nobody would be particularly interested in that illustration... It is one of my most popular illustrations to this day.
November 2025; you might or might not have seen my big and very detailed seal illustration with close to 50 seals in it. I was actually considering putting that illustration into this calendar, but the amount of details it has compared to the rest of the illustrations was too much; it would've broken the balance. So instead, I made this illustration that has a similar vibe as the big one, but still fits among the rest of the illustrations in this calendar.
December 2025; here I used salt again to create the frosty effect in the background. I'm very pleased about the way it turned out! :)