#mermen designs

[huffle-dork]

Merm forms for the swaps from todays SATCV chapter!!

[yinza]

I never see elderly mers so I thought I would toss something out there.

Available on Inprnt and in my Etsy shop!

[Image Description: A digital painting of two older black mer people kissing, their tails twined around each other. The mer to the left is a trans man with visible top surgery scars. He has short grey hair in an undercut and the tail of an epaulette shark (tan with black spots). The mer on the right is a fat woman with grey hair partially in cornrows and the tail of a mandarinfish (orange with turquoise patterns). Both wear a few bands of gold jewelry. /end ID]

[ant1draws]

[arttsuka]

Octavius and Jed but merman AU. Maybe they're tiny mermen who live inside an aquarium 😂

How did they end up in there?

[zomibom]

Orca oc Redesigned a sweet and deadly mermaid

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD Critique: Izzy Hands, "Burying Your Cripples," and That Fucking Finale

(Note: this is a cleaned-up/expanded version of a post I made earlier regarding disability rep in this show bc I was chatting with @itswhatyougive and @notthewriteryourelookingfor about "Burying Your Gays" and the parallels with the "Burying Your Cripples" trope in media, which is often more insidious because people are less primed to notice it and call it out.

Also, although I am analyzing a trope in media in the most unbiased way I can, I am going to get angry. Because this is a show that did its job at making us care about its characters and their portrayals and you can't get mad at me that I did just that.)

On a fourth note when it comes to the problems with the writing in this season of ofmd...the handling of disability. Because good God.

To preface this before anyone jumps down my throat about getting upset: I am disabled myself, both physically and mentally. I carry a small laundry list of mild to moderate conditions that impair my daily functions. I understand what it is like to desire to see characters that carry disabilities similar and dissimilar to my own onscreen. I also understand that there ARE multiple disabled characters in OFMD (ex. Jackie with her wooden hand, Ed with his knee brace, Pete with his cleft palate, Lucius with his mentioned bad back/wooden finger). I UNDERSTAND that these were all generally handled decently well, incorporated without drawing attention to them (although the disappearance of Ed's knee brace was strange to me in season 2, even that I could get with bc personally I only need to use my cane when my knee flares bad and can walk perfectly normally the rest of the time without an aid).

Which is all to say: the way that Izzy's death was written is insidiously (likely unconsciously, but still) ableist. His entire arc this season revolves around community and recovering from trauma and accepting himself both in a queer sense and a DISTINCTLY DISABLED sense. The way he remarks upon his own disability and his acceptance of himself and the way that the show is written to have his crew member ACCOMODATE him joyfully as an EXPLICIT SYMBOL OF LOVE was a breath of fresh air when it comes to disabled characters. I also enjoyed the way that he pokes fun at it occasionally in the same way that I do with my coworkers/friends (joking "oh really, you're going to ask an invalid to do that?" *gestures at my cane*).

But that ending. God, that fucking ending. *vehemently taps table* The fact that this character who opens up, who is accepted for both sides of his identity after dragging himself through the fucking pits over them, is killed. BECAUSE HIS MOBILITY AID COULD BE SEEN BY THE ENEMY. BECAUSE HE WAS SEEN AS UNIQUELY VULNERABLE. And then they FUCKING PULL HIS MOBILITY AID, the very symbol of his acceptance, from his FUCKING BODY SO HE CANNOT BE BURIED WHOLE?

I'm sorry. I really am. I don't mean to get furious about this. But as a disabled person who saw such hope in this character, who saw a storyline about a part of myself that is rarely displayed onscreen (that slow acceptance of the part of yourself you considered broken + the acknowledgement of love by your family/community in the form of loving accommodation without complaint), this hurt me at a very primal level that I didn't know I could be hurt at.

Bringing this back around to the "Burying Your Cripples" trope: the reason why an ending like this is so horrifying is because it is very much telling you that you can have a healing arc, that you can finally find yourself accommodation and acceptance, and it doesn't matter. Your disability will be the thing that kills you.

To people who say that this ending is justified because sometimes death is just random like that, that saying that death makes healing not worth it, I get what you're saying. In real life, of course you're right.

But this is a CLOSED NARRATIVE. It is a story with BEATS that MATTER, made of decisions by writers who had to purposefully decide to put scenes together. There's a reason they're called "arcs"- they're supposed to aim at a specific point. IF YOU LET EVERY CHARACTER IN A SHOW LIVE THROUGH THINGS THAT SHOULD HAVE KILLED THEM EXCEPT FOR THE DISABLED CHARACTER, YOU ARE MAKING A FUCKING POINT WHETHER YOU REALIZE IT OR NOT. Izzy's death is not showing "random chance" or "the risks of piracy"- HE DIED BECAUSE HIS MOBILITY AID WAS VISIBLE.

Lemme repeat that: costume concepts showed that the original design of Izzy's naval outfit covered his wooden hoof. It was a conscious decision to have the shot of the naval officer looking down at Izzy's leg, at his exposed leg, and pinpointing him as the weak one despite there being entire scenes dedicated to showing that he was still as strong as the rest of them. In a show where the budget and runtime was restricted, not a single shot or costume decision was on accident. They had to pay more to green screen in that leg.

If Castiel went to superhell because of his gay confession for Dean, then I cannot think of a clearer way to Bury Your Cripples than having Izzy die because someone saw his mobility aid.

Do I think they did this on purpose? Well, no more on purpose than David Jenkins looking at Izzy's Hayes-Code-era gay coding/arc and saying that he knew that Izzy would have to die because that's what characters like that do. No more on purpose than saying that the mentor character had to die because that's what characters like that do.

Izzy's disability was visible, was the cause of his death, because "that's what happens" to pirates who gain disabilities. They are weaker. They are more at risk.

I'm sorry, but fuck that.

Fuck the idea that in a show that created a careful space in its narrative (for a season and a half at least) for queerness to be treated ahistorically kindly, that often disregarded geographic, historical, and medical accuracy to tell a compelling story, and that purposefully provided racial and body diversity while calling out racism, that the disabled character getting offed is a "kind ending." It's not. It never has been. And I'm tired of accepting that sort of thing.

I am SO GLAD that fanfic exists with better depictions of disabled arcs/endings in OFMD bc I don't know if I could recover otherwise. Hope my fellow disabled folk out there are recovering as well, and that they understand that there is positivity to be made out of poison- it just wasn't what the finale gave us.

[whereserpentswalk]

Just though up a fucked up creature:

Merman but his lower body is the top half of a squid. Like just a giant long pointy squid head from the waist down. He has two massive squid eyes on either hip too. If you want his hair and/or beard can be tentacles.

I feel like this is what we need to compete with centaurs. I need a medieval monk to draw this for me.

[tempural]

My interpretation of Triton, as seen by Ephraim in his sweaty nightmares. Based on old maps and sailor tattoos.

This was done in one sitting, with a pencil brush in Clip Studio Paint. No process shots for this one! But have some closeups:

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

i think mermaids should be freaks always

[mintymuses]

4/12/23

The first entries in my mer series!! I may have kicked off MerMay early lol

This is actually a redesign of two of my older lads in their mer forms, Max and Cal. Max is the smaller shark(a leopard shark mer) and Cal is the larger(a blacktip reef shark).

All merfolk in this series have bioluminescence. It's innate to mer, and color/patterning depends on their strength in magic. The brighter/more detailed, the stronger magic they hold. This can be seen just between Max and Cal here; Max is a hybrid mer, his mother was human, and his markings reflect his weaker blood attachment to magic as lines of dots. Cal is a full mer, and has more detailed swirling designs.

And for reference, this is what Max and Cal looked like the first time I drew them as mersharks back in 2018.

[camping-with-monsters]

Hey! It’s Mermay!

While these weren’t made specifically for Mermay, there’s really no better time to post them! As a “for fun” thing, I’ve been designing merfolk versions of several of the “Tags of Whistlegrimm” characters, more specifically for an AU. Apologies for these not all being colored, haven’t gotten around to that for everyone yet!

Not pictured is that Cinder has an alternate design with what’s essentially an artificially crafted lower half of her body after she’s attacked and gets her bottom half completely ripped off… how she survives it is up for debate— boils down to being discovered in time after the fact.

The idea is that some have varying levels of “humanity” which just means like… how “human” the human halves are. Einin has the closest human half, Robin as well to an extent. Snowie not so much but I will say she retained her hair lmao.

This kinda works along some kind of “Merfolk Sanctuary” type idea where they’re all at the same rehabilitation center for different reasons. Some of those reasons just not pictured here right now.

[gold0kapi]

Istio doing what he does best (sunbathing on the beach)

[dragonriderwarrior]

Adopts OPEN

Hiya selling a couple of mermen yautja, if anyone interested they're available for purchase on my Ko-fi page. They're $25 each.

~TERMS OF USE~

-Upon purchase, you agree to my conditions.

-Credit me for the art/design

-No reselling

-No refunds after payment

-I reserve the right to reuse aspects of the design for future designs

-You CAN GIFT the design, but please let me know who ends up with it Buyer will receive full unwatermarked file.

Green Bass Fish: https://ko-fi.com/s/d2e4ef5250

Red Bass Fish: https://ko-fi.com/s/5748888207

Grey Bass Fish: https://ko-fi.com/s/a5c8c7bec6

Gold Bass Fish: https://ko-fi.com/s/1fb02edfeb

[ant1draws]

Another self indulgent mermay self portrait

[just-remmus]

i was watching the little mermaid in class and got bored cos i had already seen it 🤷‍♀️ anyways heres some halle (as ariel) sketches because shes so etherial

[aid-xenostar]

Hey! Commissions Are Open!

As the title says, I have open slots so if you have an idea you'd like drawn out, I gotcha!

I illustrate characters of fantasy, such as mermaids, dragonborn, halflings, monsters, etc. and typically in a set environment.

If you're interested in what I have to offer, don't be shy, send me a message and we can talk the details of what you're looking for, pricing and so on!

Lightly suggestive content may be doable, but NSFW is off the table.

All messaging will be done either on Tumblr or Discord.

All financial transactions will be through PayPal.

All commissions will be digital and given as a digital product.

If you have any questions at all or feel uncertain about something, feel free to let me know. Communication is key!

I wish you a good day!!