Another deep sea mermaid with a creative body plan: the stoplight loosejaw. This dragonfish has unfolding jaws that allow it to swallow slippery, oversize prey, though it is happy to feast on copepod plankton, which power its unusual bioluminescence.

Red light disappears in the depths, but the mermaid still sees what is illuminated, unknowing, in front of its jaws. Blue light to lure prey in, red to signal its impending death.

Mermaid Overview Lecture

Fish Scale Tutorial

In order to draw a material, it really helps to understand it. First, a little science.

Fish scales are not matte surfaces, neither are they smooth and reflective. Fish scales are actually covered in ridges and detail that bounce and polarize the light within each scale, which gives it a shimmery effect.

Fish SEEM super smooth because a healthy fish is coated in mucus that protects their scales and keeps them hydrated. Add that slime to give fish their shine. It goes over the scales like thin covering of glass and has its own smooth, reflective surface.

This is probably wrong but for me as an artist, it works. Light interacts differently with the scale texture vs the slime layer. That's why I start to think of fish scales as cut gemstones, because there are multiple surfaces reflecting the light at different levels.

You do NOT need to draw out the ridges. I only did that to show the science. Now that you understand HOW a scale is shiny, you can just draw the end effect.

I use Sai, primarily, but spent the morning recreating my brush in photoshop so I could give it out.

Get your tail, put in shadow and vague color/markings, and play with a brush that is more opaque on one edge than the other.

My mermaids have HUGE scales, because I like how it looks. I get a new layer, set it to Luminosity/Add, and just sweep in the scales, one at a time.

Put in the rest, smaller scales near the tip. Don't draw every scale, just the ones that catch the light. Some of my mermaids only have scales on 10% of their tail, with un-detailed shadows.

Next, add yet another luminosity/add layer, and do a big swoosh along the top for catch light, and a bit on the bottom for reflected light. This is the light reflecting on the slime layer.

Add a few more layers of shine, pop out the edges a few scales, and there you go.

This entire process took me one minute and thirty seconds.

Deep in the ocean, mermaids can take on extreme forms, divorcing themselves from human mimicry for the sake of survival.

The Gulper Eel Mermaid has jaws that take up the entire length of their torso, repurposing arms to support long, thin bones lined with tiny teeth. While the prevailing theory is that the large jaw allows them to consume prey many times their size, they have been known to open their mouth for a different purpose. By filling their baggy body with water, this mermaid swells up to an intimidating size. Other creatures think twice about tangling with what appears to be an immense predator of pure muscle.

Not much is known for certain, as these beings are reclusive; even from other mermaids. They're very sensitive, you see. Perhaps one day we will liaison with them and learn of their culture.

The Hadal Snailfish mermaid is one of the deepest mermaids ever recorded. The cold, high pressure waters allow her to keep her adorable shape as she hunts for tiny sea bugs in the muck of the darkest part of the ocean.

This is one of the many mermaid species humans have never seen in person. Instead, information and illustrations are ferried to the surface by vertical migrant mermaids. Scholars, mermosologists, and diplomats bring communication through the different zones of the ocean. But those who travel the furthest vertically must know the most languages.

Humans who wish to learn mermaid languages will usually stop at Pelagic, since most mermaids they encounter will be surface-dwellers. They may be able to parse Mesopelagic as well, as it is closely related. But as one travels deeper, the languages of the oceans change and twist until they are formed of sounds a human can barely comprehend, much less speak.

You've happened upon a tiny cecaelia! The quiet beige creature suddenly comes alive with pulsing blue eyes on a sea of glittering gold. It seem you've startled her! Best back away so she has a chance to calm down before you approach. You wouldn't want her to bite.

Cecaeliae are sentient mollusks, unrelated to mermaids, which are fish. Instead of being descended from them, cacaelia mimic the mermaid body plan, using their color-shifting chromatophors to form a pseudoface on what is actually the creature's main body. The mouth, nose, and eyes are all carefully controlled markings, while the eyes are set on the side of the head.

This Blue Ringed Octopus cacaelia has the same body plan as other octopus and cuttlefish "mermaids." Those cute shiny "cheeks" are actually her complex eyes, and the "eyes" on her face mere mimicry. Hopefully it works to warn you off of a surprise hug! That could end very badly for one of you. You see, those beautiful blue rings warn of a deadly tetrodotoxin venom she possesses, but would really rather not use. Why don't you get to know her first?

It was flagged as "Eksplicit", shadowbanned, and every reblog turned invisible. The flagging is also unappealable (unless that is an error, thanks tumblr)

Happy Trans Day of Invisibility from your tumblr mods!

Only found out because I tried to reblog with an update from your local trans unicorn siblings!

I cannot even LINK to my old comic without every new post getting deleted.

The original post was pardoned, but the shadowban still persisted and every reblog was hidden from the dash and flagged explicit. I'm not sure if it recovered by now, or if it's always going to be at risk of banning.

So whatever staff reviewed my complaint agreed that it wasn't explicit. So thank you for that, moderator. This highlights that the problem starts with bad actors reporting anything they don't like, and that it's a tossup if your appeal is seen by a bot, a normal human, or a bigot.

I'm grateful I can still touch people and spread positivity. Many of my queer siblings, brothers, and sisters - especially trans sisters - can't say the same.

But no matter what happens, we will always have each other. Every letter in our alphabet is a pillar holding up a beautiful world that only stands if we're all in it together. The rest of society may call you a monster, but it calls me one too. Maybe you won't hear it from the rest of them, but listen and you will hear it from me.

I love you.