So, being that this is my first post, I thought I would do something easy to get the lay of the land so to speak. I thought for my first post, I would explain how and why I painted one of my favorite watercolors. I suppose I should start at the beginning on how I got started on it and why I painted it.
It started when a friend of mine was looking to enter a contest. He lives in Belize and there was a local lobster shack that was having a logo contest. Enter your logo and if you win, you get free lobster for a year. So, being the amazing buddy that I am, I got to work right off. We talked on chat about different ideas and well this is what came of it. 
This clearly is a rough sketch. Through the sketch, though, came the digital. 
The problem, though, became time. I just simply didn't have enough time to complete it. By the time I got back to my friend on the next phase, the contest was over. But, inspiration came from the next conversation. See, as he was relaying how I failed him, we got to talking about the area he was in and how the lion fish were just tearing into the local fish and decimating the reefs.
I always knew lion fish were aggressive, I had seen movies, but I never realized how bad they were for the reefs. This is the link to the Wiki about it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterois. Anyway, I thought what a great way to bring awareness to this invasive species and bring some beauty into the world at the same time.
So like always, I got to researching. I went onto the search engines, and started looking at anatomy. I like to get a good idea of the bone structure and how an animal moves before I start to sketch. I don't like to copy a picture, we have copy machines for that. I like to sense of the personality and emotions of my subject before the medium. So like if the subject is aggressive then you would want an aggressive pose. I decided to do one with the full display on show. Once I had done that, I started with the watercolor sketch. 
Now, I should have probably planned it better. I should have used more pencil and sketched it out better, skipping the watercolor sketch. But, since I am still learning, mistakes will happen.
I had tried to fill in the background with pink so I would have a uniform platform to work with but it wasn't going the direction I wanted. Plus when I started putting detail into the fin rays some of the black strayed and I needed to cover it.
So, after realizing that I had kind of messed up my painting, I decided to use black as the background to cover over my mistakes in the watercolor sketch and to give contrast to the foreground.
Next, I added detail onto the fins finished up the head and completed the background.
By now, most of the painting is done, I just need to draw the eye into the middle, and I did that by filling in the remaining outside areas and balancing the left and right sides.
aaaaaaannnd done.
I think the piece turned out really well. It catches the eyes of those who visit me and I get to tell them about how the lion fish is killing the reefs. I never did get to finish that logo, although he talked me into parting with another piece. That is a story for another time though.
Thank you for reading my rant. Suggestions are always welcome, and being that this is my first post, I am sure I have much to improve upon.
I really enjoy these kinds of posts... I love watching the artistic process unfold... You're very talented! I wish I had your skills :) I'll follow you and look forward to more posts! Cheers from Salt Lake City
It is always scary to put yourself out to the world. Keep working on your art, the only failure is quitting. Thank you for your encouragement, and keep with your passions .
Amazing art, love it.
Thank you
Welcome to Steem @artbyneilputnam I have upvoted and sent you a tip
welcome @Artbyneilputnam to Steemit! Glad to see you. I hope you enjoy your time here, its a great community :) Nice post, i will follow your account, please follow me at @mekong
Thank you ill check out your stuff.
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Welcome and Thank You for being with us!! Following your Blog now
Welcome to steemit !! Followed. Follow me back 😘
hello @artbyneilputam. nice art works.
you are very much welcome to steemit,a one of its kind in the history of social networks. i will like to share with you some lessons i learnt the hard way.
First,make good use of your introdution post.
Your intro post is you telling the community "here am i,and this is what i plan to do". You don't fail to sell your self to those that are reading. If you wish to blog on travel,food,nature,fasion,art,photography,crypto etc. make if attractive to read and make sure you mention what your interest will be here on steemit,cos your intro is like your course outline and you are telling your students/followers to watch out
Secondly, use eye- catching titles to your posts.
Many steemians make the mistake of taking the site to be like facebook where everything you do gets you likes. well news flash, its not, and that's the more reasons why you should work hard more than ever.
Steemit is a community of writers and believe you me, if your post is not attracting, you will only get sympathy vote which is not good for anyone.
Getting a good title alone aids to your writing cos you can easily follow
Thirdly, make good use of image.
The world is gradually shifting from words to images, so using a good image that will relate to what you writing about is very important and can add to your content,
Also, make sure to add the source of your image whenever you upload them. you can use imgsafe.org for posting of your images,it helps to give your image a link which you now copy and paste in your post.
fouth, leave a good comment.
When you write a good comment in someone's post sometimes, it might even earn you more money than your actual post. And it sure makes the writer happy sometimes more the upvote.[some one like me : )] Pour out your heart in writing a comment, cos it might even get you followers more than "follow me back" that most new steemains do.Fifth, check the time. Most new guys posts randomly, thinking that that will make them relevant, but the truth is that most times those their posts will be unnoticed.
Let me ask you a question, when is the most time you make use of your social networks [facebook,snapchat,tweeter etc] My guess is that is its in morning and night, and during the day, you are a bit busy with personal issues. Then why post randomly on steemit when you self would consider not appropriate. For instance, now, the time here [Nigeria] is 1:38am GMT, but it is 8:39pm American time. which i know has the target population here and most will online now cos many will be done with personal issues and now checking out steemit to know whats new. imagine you make a post and more than half of your targeted population is still at work? so take note.
Sixth, dont beg for followers.
When people follow you one quip pro quo bases,that the foundation of no getting upvotes and comments because many of your followers didn't do so because they wanted what you have to offer but rather they are just there as numbers. #don't go for numbers, but value.
When i joined, after my intro post. i went low kay and started engaging with people on their posts and comments and like that,i was getting people that truly liked me for me. i must note that at some post as a newbie, i outrightly asked people to follow me but that was before i learned that it was one of the unwritten rule of steemit;don't beg for followers.
Finally, learn to engage. Get the esteem app on your phone so that after writing and posting with your pc,you can now use your phone and respond to replys on the go. This will help you build your followers.>/h4>
I hope that this piece will be of grate help to you as it has been for me[though i learnt the hard way]. Follow them and thank me later. : )
once more, you are welcome.@arizonawise.
Thank you for your list of do's and don'ts.