MerMay | Day 7 | Koi Pond

Koi Pond

Illustration done with HB/4H pencils on 4.5 x 6.5 white cardstock.

---

Ahh, finally. A picture that doesn't look subpar.

This is a decidedly well-executed piece, I feel. It's simple but with enough detail to warrant more than a glance. The forms have volume. The designs are friendly and different enough from regular mermaids to be interesting but similar enough to be recognizable as said mermaids. Lately, I've seen I have a fair amount of success with drawing small faces, and their small faces are on point here. The black-splashed mermaid is my favorite, both in reference to her face and also her fins. They feel light and airy. I do like the other mermaid, too, though, because she looks so open and (again) friendly. The lily pads are nice, too.

Naturally, I have gripes about this picture. The fins on the top mermaid never looked right to me. That don't look out-and-out wrong, per se. They just look a bit... not right. Not flappy enough or something. Also, those scales on her side... I don't want to use the word "ruin," but yeah, it sort of ruins the side of her. God willing, if I get to do a digital version, I am doing away with those.

I recall having less time to do this one than I typically had. Poor timing or something. Whatever it was, I had to make things simple. No complex shadows, no crazy details, very plain stuff. I think it's better for it. There's more focus on the energy of the lines and the subjects as opposed to extra detail muddying things up.

Of the varieties I've seen, the koi with strong red markings are my favorites. Such a strong contrast in color for such a graceful fish. But that's the thing. Color. All except one of my MerMays are monochrome favoring greyscale tools. So for one of the mermaids, I picked a white and red koi splashed with black to give the picture some pop. She's the lower one because black has a weight to it; placing her nearer to the bottom prevent the eye (or at least my eye) from sticking awkwardly in the upper left hand corner.

I like their heads. Their delicate, round-faced, and very bald heads. Somehow, I was worried that a lack of hair or a feminine headdress or sorts would lend them to looking masculine or, at the very least, mistaken for mermen. Going out of my way to give them pretty faces did away with that, certainly. Plus, the beginning of the fish body looks like big hips, so...

Far happier with this one than the previous goofs I churned out. I love this one.

Thanks for reading.

#mermay #mermaid #cartoon #koi #illustration