Weekly drawing contest|| week #26: Draw A Shrimp by ahbaz

S H I R M P

A word which refers to an organism botanically classified under crustaceans. Shrimps possess elongated bodies. They also have a primarily swimming mode of locomotion. To say that writing on this makes me miss my biology class back then in SS1 will be an understatement. It was in this class that I got introduced to the classification of plants and animals. This is currently the second and largest topic in biology.

Only a few students love this topic because it is complicated. Grasping the concept fully requires more time. For this reason, let me skip going through the whole classification of a shrimp to thrill you with a few interesting facts about the shrimp.

Shrimps can be found in oceans, freshwater lakes and even streams. In most places, there are commercialized as food. There are about 2000 species of shrimps and sometimes a few people get to consider prawns and even crayfish as one of its species. Shrimps are found in different habitats in the world and for them to survive, they need water and a good source of food.

Shrimps are characterized by their semitransparent/transparent body (exoskeleton) flattened from side to side and a flexible abdomen terminating in a fanlike tail with appendages which are modified for swimming. Its antennae are long and whiplike, like flagella. A shrimp's diet includes algae and other plant particles. It also consumes tiny animals, fish and plankton.

Shrimps are marine animals and it may interest you to know that each shrimp has five pairs of pleopods and a pair of uropods used for swimming. As earlier stated, crabs, crayfish, and lobsters can be described as close relatives of shrimps. Close relatives!

One popular behaviour about shrimps is that it is often solitary, and this is a golden attribute which there is much to learn from. Shrimp consumed widely as food has its benefit and disadvantages as well.

On the dark side, it contains high cholesterol content. When there is an increase in the cholesterol content in the blood, the human is prone to heart diseases and attacks. On the brighter side, shrimps are rich in nutrients; vitamins, minerals, proteins, omega-3 fatty acids, iodine, an antioxidant that helps in reducing the risk of chronic diseases and many other benefits.

I have eaten shrimp both as a sub-dried and cooked food. If you hang around the kitchen sometimes, it's most likely that you have once helped yourself to a palatable sun-dried shrimp while selecting crayfish before grinding.

While drawing this beautiful creature I couldn't help admiring God's perfect work on it beginning from its head which looked more beautiful at every step of the drawing. I had to take some specific creative shots with it. As a biology student, I drew this with one stroke not going back to straighten any line. I still remember my biology teacher repeating this whenever a student took years to represent a diagram in his notebook, memories lol.

Below is a step to step visual representation of the process and the result.

Materials
°Paper
°Pencil

Step 1
I started by drawing the head. I so much love the head, it looks so beautiful.

Step 2
I then added the shrimp's eye.

Step 3
I continued by drawing segments of the crustacean's body, its tail and few legs

Step 4
I then completed the legs, added the shrimp's antennae and then started shading it to give it a more realistic look.

My love for the head made me take this close shot, I hope you love it too.

A picture of me while drawing this beautiful shrimp

Images taken with Infinix Hot 5.

I invite @gemeex , @idyharrison , @secua to participate in this contest.

@eliany