Merman

Just finished this piece for a friend

The idea for this piece was to make a "summer" to the "winter" that is the Pegasus piece a few posts below. I just took the theme of a kid riding a mythical creature and this time I went with mermaid, and a girl riding on his back. It's just sort of a contrast to the pegasus picture in a few ways. Male/female, up/down, under water/high in the sky, you get the picture.

I also wanted to do a little twist on the mermaid/merman idea and instead of making it a fish-man I went the mammal direction. At first my sketches were of a more cetacean-like creature, but that seemed a bit cliche, so I went a bit more after the seal direction. I was somewhat inspired by the Aquatic Ape Theory. His body is more of a human body that's in the process of adapting towards permanent life in the sea than just some tossed-together hullaballoo. Some liberties here and there. Anyway, I had fun making it.