The concept piece actually came together pretty quickly. I used the moon jellyfish as my inspiration. A jellyfish native to where I live that (thankfully) doesn’t sting (I’ve swam into them).

Version 1. I just want to get the general shape right. They aren’t exactly hemispherical. I think the pink and blue are working.

Version 2. Adding some translucence. I really think I out did myself here, the pink structure through the jellyfish *muah* (like I said I am not an artist, so this is kind of a big deal for me).

Version 3. Adding some small tentacles. I deliberated over this for a while. I never want to be in a situation where I am subtracting through addition; hippocratic oath stuff.

Version 4. With the tentacles as small as they were, putting the little tentacles on the back side of the bell was pretty scary. I worked out spacing system that seemed to help.

Version 5. A jellyfish has some thickness to its body in some parts, so I tried to capture that with some internal separation.

Version 6. A leap of faith. I now move outside my comfort zone and make a major addition to the jellyfish. I add 4 large tentacles connected to the center of the jellyfish. I think they look great! It’s later pointed out the me that the tentacles look like d*cks… I go back to work.

Version 7. Despite my best efforts the tentacles have become more Japanese, the condition is worse than I feared.

Final Concept. Vindication! It appears the jellyfish is cured; we’ve got a concept!

This jellyfish is a little too advanced for where our character needs to start. I’m going to move backward to a simpler form, but we have an aesthetic.