How to Draw a Mermaid

Hi everybody, welcome to a new NIL-Tech drawing tutorial: "Mermaid". A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature referred to as having the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a fish. Mermaid mythology is present in several cultures. Mermaids are known to live underwater. Once in a while, they come out to the surface and rest on the rocks.

 

Here are some exciting facts about Mermaids:

1. The very first mermaid or half-human recording was found in ancient Syria, in 1000 B.C. The recording was of a lady called Atargatis. Atargatis was a beautiful and powerful priestess who fell in love with a human guard boy with whom she had a child. An older Atargatis then tried to commit suicide by throwing herself right into the sea to drown, but the Gods didn't let her die. Instead, the Gods transformed Atargatis into a mermaid.

2. In the Greek mythical story "The Iliad," Odysseus asked his crew to tie him to the ship's mast to stop him from being attracted by the mermaids and also drowning himself in the sea. These mythical mermaids were not just deadly and savage, but they likewise had feathers and could fly!

3. The term "Mermaid" literally indicates "woman of the sea". The Old English word "Mer" stands for "of the sea," and "maid" stands for "woman".

4. The existence of mermaids was never questioned throughout medieval times. Back then, they were given the same credit as various other ocean creatures like whales. This was because there were numerous accounts of mermaid discoveries, so mermaids were talked about and believed in without question.

5. Mermaids were frequently considered to be bad omens. Legend says that if seafarers found mermaids at sea, it usually implied that the seafarer's trip was heading for trouble. Typically, to overcome these kinds of superstitions, the Captain of the ship would be tied to the mast, and the rest of the staff would stuff their ears with wax to hush any potential damaging singing from the mermaids. Or they'd sail another way.

 

In this tutorial, we used the following supplies:

• B pencil
• 3B pencil
• colored pencils
• blue
• pink
• burgundy
• cyan
• White Vinyl Eraser
• Kneaded Eraser

 

 

Let's draw a "Mermaid" step by step

 

Step 1. We start by outlining the skeleton. Outline the head (it will be slightly in turn). Draw a middle body line and the shoulder line (pencil B).

 

Step 2. Draw circles along the edges of the shoulders (these will be joints). From these draw lines - the base of future arms. Outline the upper body and the tail (pencil B).

 

Step 3. Over the construction lines, outline the tail and the chest with circles on top (pencil B).

 

Step 4. Draw the shoulder girdle, draw shells over the circles. Outline the hair (pencil B).

 

Step 5. Erase all excess construction lines. Add details such as scales on the tail, face, and hair (pencil B).

 

Step 6. With a nag or eraser, make the contour almost invisible, and draw it over with a blue pencil (blue pencil).

 

Step 7. Start hatching with the skin and face. Since the mermaid is a mythical creature, you can choose absolutely any color for drawing the skin. Try blue as in the example. Right after work on the shadows on the skin. The light areas, in this case, should not be very saturated (blue pencil).

 

Step 8. Hatch the tail, hair, and shells (pink pencil).

 

Step 9. Add volume to the pink parts with shadows (burgundy and blue pencils). To make the skin a little brighter, you can add a blue pencil to the light areas (colored pencils: burgundy, blue, cyan).