MerMay | Day 1 | Hello, Mermaid
- GenreChowderStudios
- Jun 4, 2018
- 2 min read
Hello, Mermaid
Illustration done with HB\4H\3B pencils on 4.5 x 6.5 white cardstock.
The first piece of the event. Having finished the whole to-do, I can look back at this and see how I hadn't hit my "stride" yet. Of course, it was only Day 1, but a number of tropes I picked up later on aren't present/in full swing here. Bald mermaids/mermen, spiny webbed ears (these aren't quite right), enclosing scenes in rounded boxes, clearer use of value... Sure there are some other things, too, but I can't spot them as of yet. Also, there just isn't that polish at play here.
The depth is good in the foreground only, however that works *wry laugh.* The way the lily pads recede are decently effective, but the vantage point is... I dunno, there's something wrong. I feel like we're slightly higher (we ought to be in the water for this) or slightly lower (we ought to be standing or in a boat for that) than we should be. Either way, we're placed awkwardly. In addition, she's supposed to be looking at us, but her eyes aren't quite lining up with us. Or at least with me, anyway. You'll likely hear me saying this a lot during this retrospective, but I had a sketch that handled this image rather better than this.
You know, now that I look at this, I can see another difference between this image and ones later on. This composition is actually really awkward. True, humans naturally seek faces, and the face is clearly right there. Yeah, the flora leads us to her face and her tail leads us to the background. But it's just not balanced right. Unfortunately, I don't know precisely why... It's not quite uncanny valley "off and I don't know why," but it's just not balanced well enough.
Do I like it? Ehh. I don't dislike it. It's alright, I guess. I like the concept. I like the biggest lily pad. I like her tail. It's not terrible, not at all. It's okay.
Thanks for reading.
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