How can I make this come to life?

[Rachael]

So it was late at night and I was bored and hyped up on sugar. For some reason I was thinking about the movie Free Willy and this is what came out of it all. I love doing flourish art but I don't think any of it is any good. I don't think my skill is good enough to offer clients either. I know the lines are to thick but I was using sumi ink and it wasn't diluted. I need to find a good black ink that isn't super expensive. Black guoache works for me but I didn't feel like messing with it that night.

I want to bring it to life, if that makes sense...That's how I want all my art to become. But I think I'm my worst critique. What do you guys think?

[Erica McPhee]

I love it! I wouldn't change anything. 

[RD5]

The whale looks good, I understand the what you mean about making it come alive though. Maybe if you may the whale so it has not yet reached the peak of his jump. If that makes sense.

[cejohnson]

Rachael - you did a great job on this, and like me, you are your own worse critic 

IMHO to make it look more alive I would work on the effect of it jumping out of the water. You have several little dots and squiggles under whale that I assume represent the water effect of the jump.

I googled 'Whale jumping out of water images' and found several examples that would be good references. Maybe do this google search and look at some of the images and see if they add that extra life you are looking for.

You are good at flourishing and I bet you will make a great flourished water effect.