#hallucigenia mermaid

[shirecorn]

Today's..... Mermaid

It's my goal right now to create a new mermaid design every day Mermay. I thought opening up requests would be a great way to learn about new and awesome fish! Then people asked if maybe I can do other sea creatures that aren't strictly fish?

Sure! I've done selkies and cetaceans, what if somebody wants an octopus? So I can handle that! I said any aquatic animal is fair game.

I have since been challenged with an array of strange and haunting creatures that technically count as aquatic!!! And I said I'd do them so, after the frog, a cherished supporter gave me a new task.

hallucigenia

Yeah I didn't know what that was either. It's a funky noodley spiky creature from the cambrian era and TECHNICALLY IT'S AN AQUATIC CREATURE SO OK. Hallucigenia is called that due to the absolute silliness that went into its discovery and reconstruction. Scientists originally put it together upsidedown and backward, not knowing which part was for walking or waving around. So of course she proved a ridiculous challenge to adapt to mermay.

Ready to meet my cambrian nightmare?

yeah. She's happy to meet you too.

[frowny-clowny]

I made my favorite animal into a mermaid because nobody else will I give you all Hallucigenia-mermaid

[opalescent-apples]

Mermay Prompts (Unofficial)- Prehistoric Edition

Anomalocaris

Trilobite

Megalodon

Essexella

Dunkleosteus

Ammonite

Icthyosaur

Plesiosaur

Cameroceras

Opabinia

Tamisiocaris borealis

Hurdia victoria

Hallucigenia

Wiwaxia

Ottoia prolifica

Haplophrentis carinatus

Isoxys

Marrella

Leanchoilia

Dickinsonia

Syllipsimopodi bideni

Styletoctopus

Tusoteuthis

Priscomyzon riniensis

Asterotrygon maloneyi

Glyphithyreus

Leedsichthys

Tylosaurus

Metriorhynchus

Kronosaurus

Prehistoric hominid (Reverse Mermaid!)

The last prompt is a bit of a wild card, with the human side being prehistoric as well as the fish.

(I personally will not be able to post every day, but I intend to fill all 31 prompts).

This is not intended to be scientific, more of an exploration of sea creature art, and the extinct sealife I see getting passed over in most MerMays. I'll still be making traditional mermaid art for most of these (with a twist). I hope you enjoy.

[hereticalteapot]

A comprehensive evaluation of relevant google image search results for "anomalocaris mermaid":

1) Technicolour Meme Queen* - by Yujin0623

A gorgeous little friend whose design incorporates lots of features of A. canadensis’ anatomy without losing that mermaid aesthetic. I love the frontal appendages reimagined as ponytails, the huge, distinctive compound eyes as little hair decorations (which do in this drawing more closely resemble an arachnid’s simple eyes, but given that each anomalocaridid eye had over 10,000 lenses per eye, they might have had an identifiable “pupil” like a modern dragonfly so I’m happy to put this down to a stylistic choice), the way the oral cone has been preserved and integrated into a cartoonish design that doesn’t look inhuman! Oh I love it!

I’m a big fan of the rainbow colour scheme. While there’s no evidence that anomalocaris had bright colouration (and developing colouration that advanced during the Cambrian period would be a wasted effort), rainbows are cool and gay, and it feeds into my pet theory that, as anomalocaridids were possibly the first creatures to ever develop dichromatic colour vision, that they would also have been the first creatures to truly see a rainbow.

I’m also 100% here for the meme format and the nice reference to genus Peytoia, which was the name given to Anomalocaris’ oral cone when first discovered and mistaken for a jellyfish. Shows a real appreciation for my favourite lil funky panarthropod.

10/10 This is the new standard for high art.

2) Chill Radiodont Gal* - by TenticaIs

This is a pal. Don’t be fooled by her vast, subtly-but-definitively-compound eyes and her frontal appendages obscuring her mouth. This is just a chill gal who wants to hang out on the sea floor, munch some trilobites, and watch She-Ra in her pyjamas. I like the more understated colours, the stylistic but clearly inhuman hands, the damaged fishscale(?) bikini - this gal doesn’t owe you a disney princess performance, she lives her best life and she does it for herself. I also like how she’s wreathed in her own hair, really sells the feeling that she’s just relaxing deep under the sea. I can just imagine her casually swimming in from the murky depths to ask if you want to split a pizza and watch bad movies together.

10/10 Would hang out with this friend.

Literally a Picture of My Life Goals* - by ketrinadrawsalot

Look at her. She’s regal, powerful, commanding, yet kind, beautiful, welcoming. I can only imagine her as queen of her palaeozoic radiodont dominion. I am both gay for, and long to be, this literal goddess. I love that she is surrounded by lovingly drawn A. canadensis friends, I love the way her frontal appendages are angled upwards, almost evoking a crown or tiara, I love the way her humanoid skin fades into her scaled arms, I love the detail on her body segments, the way her pose evokes unspoken power, a line of action just waiting to be realised, and yet her face suggests no threat.

10/10 I can only hope and pray that this is my final form.

Abyssal Cryptid* - by InoXShika

YESsssss. Look at this eldritch horror and accept that the sea is not for humankind’s consumption. It will not be bent to our ideals and whims. This is a powerfully alien creature who is older than mortal minds can comprehend. This mercreature will kill you, do not approach them. I love the background details, an opabinia and hallucigenia look on as a trilobite draws its final lil athropod breaths. I love how this one defies convention by placing their dorsal flaps not along their tail but on their back, almost resembling wings. I respect that this one’s most human trait is their tiddies and that they do not feel obliged to cover them. They care not for your human norms, nor for the rules of Tumblr dot com. (But for real I’d love to hear someone argue how any part of this is “female-presenting”, this old one of the deep is beyond mortal concepts of gender).

10/10 The lives of neither men nor civilisations matter to this timeless horror. Fear them.

And that’s it. That’s all of them, in all their glory. I can only hope that if this post gets some traction it might inspire more people to depict this lovely Cambrian friendo as a mermaid, and then I will have even more to praise!

*note: these were pretty much all just called “Anomalocaris Mermaid”, the names here are just my own perception of them.

[uniquezombiedestiny]

I apologize in a very "sorry-not-sorry" kinda way but you DID activate my sleeper cells with your wonderings about your Kin Assigned Yume 2kki Worlds so here I am to give you just a little more sauce to drink (yummie!)

The Silent Sewers DOES have creatures in it! :D A creature, anyway. That whale looks at you as you pass it by. There's another, more eerie and empty sewer you can get to from around here called the Dreary Drains with some cool graffiti in it, but alas, I wasn't about to make a trip longer than I needed.

Really, all the worlds by the world author that made Silent Sewers give off a very empty, Hollow Knight-ey vibe now that you mention it. There are even frequent benches... and a dive into an abyss. Though not a shadowy abyss, more like an ocean abyss.

And, also... the Viridian Wetlands isn't just water, it's also got plants, this cool ass lizard, mermaids, and an entire treehouse! It's a place that would probably be nice to fall asleep and dream about for real...

And while it's too long a trip to make to show any screenshot proof, those tally marks? Those are worms! Hallucigenia worms, like the prehistoric creature.

Again. Sorry-not-sorry. But you did make me feel very excited.

dont apologize this is awesome!!! the sauce is very yummy. 10/10

both of the worlds look amazing... they have a bunch of details and stuff in it that i really like. also that whale is a Creacher

also the tally marks being worms?? thats really cool

[shirecorn]

Will you take cephalopod mermay request/commissions?

Yes! It's up to the commissioner if they want me to go with straightforward mermaid body plan (humanoid torso with creature back half) or if I should figure out something new.

I added a paragraph to the end of the post about doing non-fish creatures

You can do any mollusk or other critter you want! Someone just ordered a... hallucigenia. yeah. That's gonna be fun when i get to it!