Mermay Art Challenge

Hey! You’re doing a really great job with this piece! One thing I would suggest is avoiding shadows that are too dark. Even underwater, there is usually some amount of bounced light, unless your intention is for the character to be very close to the darker depths. However, since you’ve added light rays coming from above, it suggests that the character is still relatively close to the surface. Because of that, I’d avoid painting the shadows completely black and instead introduce a bit of bounced light. This can help define the forms better and make the character’s silhouette read more clearly. On another note, I would use a more consistent color throughout the tail to maintain a unified color scheme. Right now, the area where the body transitions into the tail has one color, while the rest of the tail shifts toward a greener tone. I think it would work better if the tail maintained a more consistent base color, with subtle bluish variations to keep it from feeling flat. Speaking of the transition between the body and the tail, you could extend some of the scale texture slightly onto the human skin. That would create a more natural connection between the two forms instead of relying solely on blending the colors together. You could also add a few highlights in key areas such as the hair, the hand, the tail fin, and even around the hip area. Small accents like these help reinforce the silhouette and make the design stand out more clearly. Finally, I would push the glow coming from above a bit further. Hope this helps!

Hi Grant! Your mermaid is coming together very nicely already!! Going off your comments on your previous decorations, You want her to feel more intimidating, correct?maybe make the lighting more dramatic, like light leaking into the sea from her depths, looking up for a human that falls down. I made her hair messier and more unkept, her intimidating features, like the spikes on her fins, more prominent and big to communicate their importance and gave her an overall more relentless appearance. Does she hunt down humans? would she use their bones or items like jewelry/ clothing scraps etc of her prey as trophies, which you could incorporate in her design? Or something else? Put yourself in her shoes and think how she would go about her day and present herself to the world. In my experience, it is much easier to come up with ideas when approaching it from that angle. Good going and keep it up, good luck!

Hello there! Now, regarding the colors, I think you could add more vibrancy to avoid the image feeling muddy. Right now, the shadows feel a bit dull because they lean too much into brown tones. To make them more interesting, you could introduce some desaturated purples instead. This makes even more sense, since the mermaid is underwater, so the ocean colours would naturally influence the shadow tones. You could apply the same idea to the tail shadows as well. Instead of using only dark aqua tones, mix in some bluish hues for more variation and contrast. To push the color contrast even further, you could also add subtle purple accents in certain areas, like the fins (or whatever those parts are called haha, let’s just call them fins ) and the shells. Even small touches like that help create a more appealing color balance and keep the palette from feeling too flat. Also, don’t forget to add some reddish-orange tones to the skin, especially around areas like the cheeks. That little bit of warmth helps bring more life to the character. Hope this helps!

Hey! Good work! It’s definitely looking better now Just a few small adjustments, mainly around the face. Because of the angle, we should be seeing a bit more of the underside of the head. Otherwise, it starts to feel like the head is being pushed backward. I added a reference so you can get a clearer idea of how the head would look from that angle. Also, the way you drew the neck curving backward makes that “head pushed back” effect even more noticeable. So instead, try drawing the front side of the neck with a straighter line. On top of that, you could slightly shorten the arms and make the hips a bit wider :) Hope this helps!