Mermay contest concept WIP

[ArtofAleksey]

Hi everyone.
I don’t think I’ll have a lot of time this month doing a lot of mermay drawings, but I still wanna do one for this months entry. I’ve been Having fun doing drawings of older women for my Baba Yaga character. I wanted to do a nautical version of an older woman knitting at home. Long fishy tail, has a pet catfish that’s playing with the yarn ball, has a package delivery from an octopus that works at MerEx. Except instead of a box it’s a treasure chest. And I’m gonna throw a bunch of nautical themed items to decorate her home with. Anchors, fishnets, bottles with messages in them, etc. the lantern on her left is gonna have a bioluminescent fish in it. I still wanna do long mermaid hair but I feel like it might be better if I didn’t. Thoughts and feedback welcome of course.

This might also have too much going on I might turn it into a vignette and lose the octopus

[ArtofAleksey]

Updated version
I think I’m going to go with this design

[Elizabeth Rose]

Oh! I love where you are going with the Mermay idea! I really like that you are doing a granny mermaid. Grannys are awesome!
Considering that you think you wont have much time this month to work on it, I would go with the newest/simpler version for sure.
I think the long hair could work, especially if it was long and white But whatever you do, i'm sure will be awesome!
I'm excited to see where this goes!

[ArtofAleksey]

@Squirrelsize thanks for the encouragement!

[StudioLooong]

@Aleksey we had the same idea! :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:

[ArtofAleksey]

@StudioLooong theres not enough representation of granny mermaids

[StudioLooong]

@Aleksey my thought exactly! Where do all the old merfolk go?!

[ArtofAleksey]

@StudioLooong the tropics

[Johanna Kim]

@Aleksey Good job simplifying. I am so looking forward to seeing this develop. Thanks for sharing your earliest rough draft. It's really cool to see your process.

[ArtofAleksey]

So much for simplifying. I kinda like it like this though. Should i get rid of all the additions?
Any thoughts on the rough sketch?

[ArtofAleksey]

Second version

[chrisaakins]

@Aleksey Hahaha! I now have another idea for Mermay. Granny and Gramps Mermaids playing Bingo in Florida. Hilarious.

[chrisaakins]

@Aleksey This one definitely gets my vote. What a great drawing. The other is a great pic but has so much going on that Granny gets lost. It also loses that homey feel I think you might be going for. I think you should show long hair otherwise she kind of looks like a gypsy fortune teller. Maybe when you add color and such that won't be the case.

[braden H]

Nice! I'm likin' all the little details and puns you're working into this. It looks like it's gonna work out nicely

[ArtofAleksey]

Haha ty. Yeah im not doing long hair cause shes just done with the mermaid bs and wants to just enjoy her sports

[ArtofAleksey]

Ok heres the updated paper and ink version it’s abit cropped because photo too large atm.

[sigross]

@Aleksey This looks great. Digging the knitting and playful catfish. I think the tail looks like a young 'uns mertail though. Maybe some barnacles and torn tips?

[ArtofAleksey]

@sigross I was thinking about that but i feel like a mermaid would exercise proper fin care. Like a human would use skin creams and brush their hair so that when they are older they would have well cared for hair and skin. A mermaid would have well cared for scales and fins.

[Spencer Hale]

@Aleksey Looking great! It nice to see all the process steps.

[sigross]

@Aleksey Yes and there's probably fish-folk that specialise in finicures.