Cephalort

Yeah! I had never really enjoyed drawing animals before, but after doing those lessons I gained a new appreciation for them. By that point I was looking forward to whatever the next lesson would hold.

It is kind of tedious at first, but doing drawabox exercises during lunch breaks with a cheap ballpoint pen was the single most effective method for building up line confidence and technical proficiency for me. Definitely recommended, and those exercises are still good to revisit from time to time.

Seconding Printful, for sure. I got a job that took priority before actually getting a storefront up, but the quality of their samples/proofs and communication were great.

Huion's screen tablets are great. I've been using a Kamvas for years, and while I never had a screen Wacom, its pen and software are much nicer than the Wacom stuff I did use. It's quite affordable, too.

I'm just a Stranger on the Internet, but the most eye-opening advice for identifying unusual or chronic pain for me was "The correct amount of pain for daily life is none."

If small tasks are physically painful and that sort of pain is consistent, it's worth bringing up to a doctor.

Thank you✨

A drawing of a pair of identical mermaids in witch hats, swimming in a spiral pattern and reaching towards each other. The radially-symmetrical composition is a bit like a playing card, and it's rendered with simplistic, flat shading.

Mermays 28 and 29, 🧙‍♀️Wicked Gemini🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️

This is a comfort zone piece for me for sure.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A rough drawing of an oasis with fluffy clouds, palm trees, and a pair of mermaids in the water. One lounges in the sunlight, while other chats with a traveling woman modeled after a gerudo from Zelda.

Mermays 24 and 27, watercolor oasis🏝.

I've always wanted to learn how to use digital "watercolor" brushes, but I still don't feel like I mesh with them very well.

#mermay #mermaid #art

Thank you✨

Two characters relaxing at the pond surrounded by a ghost cat and a ghost frog.

Pond 🐸

A drawing of a small neon tetra mermaid napping in a round fishbowl. The fingers of one arm peek up above the water line, her tail hangs out of the bowl's opening. Aquariam plants fill the empty space of the bowl, and provide the mermaid a modicum of modesty.

Another twofer, 🐠Aquarium and ♻Redraw. This was originally from the 2020 Mermay.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of a mermaid girl in simple clown makeup with a ruffled collar and cuffs. She leans forward with at big smile and wink. Her lower half is, predictably, a clownfish.

Mermay 20 🤡Clown(fish)

I'm sure lots of people did this, but I'll not turn my nose up at low-hanging fruit.

#mermay #mermaid #art

Thank you✨

A drawing of a gently luminescent jellyfish mermaid against a dark background. She has a large mantle about her waist like a dress, and a smaller one about her head covering the upper half of her head. Long ribbon-like tentacles make up her "hair" and "legs."

Mermay 19, 💡Bioluminescent

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of a mermaid in a white shirt, low-cut vest, and short pencil skirt. She presents a magician's hat from which a school of fish flows out.

🧜‍♀️Abracadabra✨

Still a little behind, but I'm enjoying leaving these as rougher pieces.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of an eel mermaid with big, round glasses and an iridescent spaghetti-strap dress. She wears a cute, dorky grin and her long tail with frill-like fins loops around the page.

Eccentric💫

I started out pulling from a harajuku outfit, but turns out frilly pants look pretty normal as an eel tail.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of a gray mermaid with deep black hair and lipstick wearing a simple black bikini and a dark sheer cover. She sits on the sand under a dark umbrella, with one arm raised to further keep the sun off her eyes.

Beach ⛱🖤 Goth

#mermay #mermaid #art

A rough drawing of mermaid Peach from Princess Peach Showtime, holding her arm up and presenting a peach (the fruit). Iridescent scales are drawing all the way down her tail.

Mermay 15, 🍑

I've been wanting to do a mermaid Peach basically since her game came out, so this was a good opportunity.

#mermay #mermaid #princesspeach #art

A drawing of a giant angler-fish-woman with glowing crazed eyes and a wide grin full of crooked, needle-like teeth. She holds up a clawed hand beneath the silhouette of a much smaller, more typical mermaid carrying a spear.

Brave!

I messed up my layers on this one and decided to call it sooner that I would have liked. Don't tell anyone

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of three mermaids, two larger with hair tied back brandishing spears, and a small, wide-eyed, bushy-haired one between them. The guards look directly at the viewer with intense focus. The smaller wears lots of shiny beads.

Mermay 🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️, guard.

I may revisit this one later, but I've got catching up to do for now.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A flat, sketchy drawing of a mermaid holding out a worn ship's wheel and admiring it. A dark silhouette of a shipwreck sprawls into the depths behind her.

Mermay 10, lost and found. Since I'm behind, I just went with a polished sketch, but honestly I like that style so I'll probably do more of those.

#mermay #mermaid #art

Thank you! I keep letting these get away from me, so something simple and muted helped keep things simple

A drawing of a warm gray mermaid sitting on a stool and painting at an easel. She has a focused expression and a somewhat stiff posture. Rough, choppy, cool brushstrokes fill the background. On her easel is a painting of this image in a more cubist-inspired style.

Mermay 9🧜‍♀️

I am not practiced in cubism, so here's a mermaid painting a much lower res cubist piece.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A rough, somewhat painterly drawing of an undersea city made up of spherical and pill-shaped buildings extending into the depths. In the foreground, a couple of mermaids sit outside a cafe that looks like it's made of driftwood. Small crowds of colorful merfolk gather and swim around between the floating structures.

Mermay 8. The theme is nominally "Atlantis," but I just took that to mean "underwater city." I feel like mer-buildings would be round for better pressure resistance and have all sorts of different buoyancies.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of a little isometric diorama of a room in the bath house from Spirited Away. A mermaid lounges in a small tub with a giant sweet dumpling while chatting with a bath attendant. In an attempt to emulate Studio Ghibli styles, the background is painted with a watercolor brush while the characters are more cell-shaded.

Mermay 6 and 7 are a hybrid one, since I missed yesterday. Sweet Treat and Ghibli.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of a mermaid sitting in a dark space looking up at bright rays of light from above. She is mostly in silhouette, with only rim lighting to highlight her.

Day 5, drama(tic lighting). I'm learning that social media compression doesn't like narrow value bands very much.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of a woman in a tied bikini with curly hair and huge aolotl frills, fin, and tail. Her arms are held out in casual invitation, and a little pink axolotl floats in front of her. She looks at it with gentle smile.

Mermay 4! Axolotl have legs, so I went back and forth on whether she should be a proper mermaid or just a salamander lady.

#mermay #mermaid #art

A drawing of a sharky mermaid looking down with a toothy grin. Her dark hair drifts around her, with strands twisting around her torso, arms, and fingers.

Mermay 3! Hair!

I told myself I'd try to keep things simple for these, but I tried out a lot of little tools and tricks and definitely spent too long fiddling on this one.

#mermay #mermaid #art

Thank you! I love a weird sea-creature mermaid, they're fun to think about

A dark drawing of a nautilus mermaid sitting on a rock. The Milky Way and countless stars reach through the background, reflecting on the ocean below. The mermaid reaches one arm out in front of her, basking in the light of the stars.

Mermay day 2. I feel like nautiluses have a pretty cosmic feel, right? This was a fun learning experience.

#mermay #art