(👋🏼 Welcome! If this your first visit and you don’t know the Way, please read my sincere caveat here. Thanks for visiting!)

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<aside> ✍🏼 This capsule is an alphabetical spotlight on the diverse marine life that God has blessed Singapore with. In the curation, I have sought to showcase commonly-seen species that I’ve personally encountered. It also includes some rare ones, however.

Illustrated innocently, yet remaining anatomically faithful, the 26 highlighted profiles span the major marine phyla and classes, ranging from microscopic creatres to apex predators such as sharks. I have sequenced the species in the vernacular for accessibility, but also included their Latin names for accuracy. Anatomical highlights (in the omnicards) complement the identity to help us better grasp each species.

I’ve also taken a more product-inspired approach to this capsule. The elements comprise art prints, a deck of omnicards that function as check-in cards and postcards, as well as a few other ideas I have. The latter are still in development.

My hope, and prayer, is that more of us will deepen our acquaintance and appreciation of Singapore’s rich coastal and marine natural heritage through this work.

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Illustrations

A to Z

I was first moved to do this in the winter of 2020. Finally, after more than two years, I’ve completed it. This is my most involved and complete work thus far, and I have my daughter, Hope, to thank. Inspiration struck when we decided to have a mini art jam anchored on marine animals. It started with a fun drawing of the Coastal Horsehoe Crab (It’s not really a crab, btw, but a close relative of scorpions and spiders) and it blossomed into the prints below. The second variant is a special print that I’ve designed for Skillseed’s Resilience Trails.

As I first envisaged them as framed posters adorning the wall of my kiddos’ room, I crafted these in A3 sizes. I think they will pair well with a simple pine-toned frame.

The original version of the ABSeas poster. I thoroughly enjoyed illustrating and painting these magnificent creatures that God made. My favourite is the Yellow Seahorse (H. kuda). What’s yours?

Taking a leaf from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’ve installed an easter egg. Can you spot it in both versions? (Hint: it’s a crossover from another series. Scroll to the caption of the second image for the reveal.)

The Skillseed Resilience Trail variant. It features new species in the top line (did you notice the difference?), as well as the Stork-billed Kingfisher, which is a crossover from the Alphabird series 😉)

To make these more accessible, I’ve also created them as postcards:

Here’s how the postcards will look when printed.

Phyla Feature

In addition to the A - Z above, I’ve also curated monographs of some groups that I find particularly interesting. At the phyla and family level, these comprise the molluscs and bamboo sharks. More to come soon.