OBBSESSSSSEDDDD with mermaid tattoos…
I WANNTTTT
Progression of a drawing, mermaid design for a client. She had a lot of input on the style and pose so I had some revisions of various details.
After a few thumbnails, we both agreed on this pose. I was thinking of a half body portrait with more focus on the face, but she was interested in a full body with tail and everything, and wanted the mermaid to be holding a seahorse.
I referenced traditional Americana tattoos for the body shape and style, but traditional pinup body needed some editing to make it a bit more modern.
I was really excited to do seaweed in the background, and wanted to try a sort of Art Deco/arabesque pattern with it, keeping it flat, almost as a frame to the more 3D mermaid.
After some refining with pencil I made a composite photocopy of the drawings on trace paper and then traced again in pen for the final linework.
