a special sea turtle

My wife has a cousin who's young daughter is currently fighting cancer. She's undergoing her final round of chemo and for the next 6 weeks will be hospital bound and spending her birthday there as well.  My wife was putting together a care package/birthday present for her and asked if I'd draw something for her.  She loves sea turtles so I thought I'd try my hand at one.

Since I'd never attempted a sea turtle before I downloaded a bunch of pictures and made a few reference sheets for myself and then did a bunch of quick reference sketches a couple of which are featured below.

  I decided on not doing a full body illustration and instead focused on the head which has , depending on the species, super intricate designs.  The effect I was going for was what you might see while looking though your scuba mask.  I also opted  not to busy the piece up with a back ground, to keep the turtle as the focus, not needlessly busy up the page, and save a little time.