I need to post some mermay!

I did another story illustration, but there’s a merboy in there.

“They passed lovers promenade, a few late night junkies bloodletting by some totems. Graffiti artists flitted over any barren limestone, leaving intricate fluorescent paintings and hymns. Most of them would be gone by morning as the shrimp would clean them as they grazed.”

(Slowly getting these chapters illustrated guys, I don’t need to tell you, it’s been a long 2020)

angry punk dolphin. I had to nail down her design a bit better for comic stuff- she’s based off a common dolphin.

bloombloomyblossom replied to your photo “it’s been a while : ) last inktober fun fact: seahorses can change...”

it’s one of those things I could draw all the time if I let myself. I went right hopping mad about them and even wrote out a story that is still sitting around. Here are some pages from my sketchbook I colored up from that tale.

That whale fellow is  @theuselesstoe‘s character! Who found his way into this world (I guess to make me feel things).

Happy mermay!

Just moving to finalize a character of mine. This character’s name is Aldernan Nul Po. Po for short. This guy is a tinkerer (of sorts). Tengu are really interesting to build a race out of, since there are varied types in Japan’s mythology. They were initially portrayed with beaks, before beaks became represented as long noses.  In this world its attractive to have the longest nose... the more beaklike the better. 

Your weekly sunday post!  Decided to go back and do the “build your own mermaid” requests since it will be a little bit before I get to that part of the comic. This one is for @cassowary-king :) Larger Pacific striped octopuses are really really something. They break a few rules from standard octopus behavior, they are known to be more social, and they don’t die off after mating and giving birth, or cannibalize each other. They may mate up to several times!  In the world of Tidal Arch, they are rarely seen, but generally known to be much more laid back than their other octo-cousins, and if you are lucky to be neighbors with one, he might just invite you over for a backyard picnic!

If you like this piece, you can buy the original on my etsy :)

Sunday Post- Seuba the tengu. She’s in the story, rather than the comic (insofar) 

something early for next week  A small. And a much ... smaller smol.

Weekly, Sunday post Sirens, are a change that can happen in a harpy. However, there are two different kinds of siren. Depending on what a harpy focuses on, determines which they can become. More on my patreon tonight!

Your Sunday Post I could work this more but I don't want to work it to death. There's a point to move on to do greater things! like... the rest of the chapters.  This place is Called The Old Crown, in Pilgi, where one of our main characters lives. It’s a sinkhole of an atol, and the coral, with a little encouragement, is able to flourish at great depths. It’s a small port, merfolk flock here for trade.

Weekly Sunday Post This Time, above the waves in the Republic, the floating cities in the skies.

Tengu are the second most common race in the Republic next to harpies. They come in shades of russets to yellows. Some may be pie bald in skin coloration, and almost invariably, brown to copper toned eyes.

Their cultural structure is matriarchal. They live in large, polygamous families in which many mates may roost to one female or two. (Family structure can be very complicated and interwoven). Females are significantly larger than male Tengu, and other than their size and often longer noses, they can be distinguished by the winglets on either side of their head. They may also bear horns, and longer noses. It is considered attractive in a female to have a very large nose. Masks are popular to wear to elongate the appearance of the nose.

Males, by contrast, are considered more humanlike in appearance. It is considered attractive in a male tengu to be slight, delicate, and innocent in appearance and in demeanor. They have pointed ears which can grow to varying lengths. They rarely, if at all bare horns.

There are exceptions to the rules, but Tengu will often ostracize any of their kind that fall out of these gender appearances. (On a side note, Tengu find humans very strange in their androgynous appearances and will often not be able to tell them apart, although it is hardly a concern to them.) For Tengu’s slight and delicate females are considered as much a bastard as a bestial appearing male. These varieties of Tengu will rarely find willing mates. Since family unit is a measure of a Tengu’s worth, many may elect human suitors out of desperation. In the same line, any tengu with piebald skin is also considered a product of imbreeding, (which is fairly common in the Republic and among Tengu). Imbreeding causes genetic imperfections such as small wings that are to small to take flight with.

Tengu do not have mammary glands. Males will typically egg raise until a chic is born, which is able to eat solids almost immediately.

Sunday Post!

TLDR: Warmblooded merfolk “kiss" cold blooded merfolk to get a bubble that gives them some extra air to breathe, and therefore keep them submerged longer. Some cold blooded merfolk take kissing as a job, there are literally red light “kissing” districts, where many remoras or cleaner fish merfolk will offer to give a kiss of air for payment.

Unfortunately, weaker merfolk can be trafficked for the purpose of becoming a ‘lung slave’. Read on for an extensive and verbose account on worldbuilding on kissing mermaids.

weekly sunday post! New character design for later date. A deep sea mermaid, transparent in nature. I’ve been busy working away at the Tidal Arch saga, story and comic. I’m really excited to release it- just a couple more weeks away!

Your weekly Sunday post Hippocampus are fitted with special saddles for their riders to fit their tails into, and in the case of traveling from Pilgi to Banthi, are fitted with kabutos, respectively, this hippocampus is likely native to Banthi and doesn't require a full suit.  Those traveling to Banthi are often encouraged to grow out their gill filaments (which to us, would look like the hair on our heads) to better breathe in the oxygen poor environment. This is often why you see long "hairstyles" in Banthi, as opposed to Pilgi, which favors short. 

From tonights livestream- basic concepts I'll be taking further for the Kabuto: deep sea diving suits for mermaids that don't live in Banthi and cannot survive in the enviroment. A Kabuto tends to be iridescent. It is plated with special ores, nacre, inscribed with certain runes, and thrives with the chulel of Xoa. All of this will protect a mermaid from Pilgi traveling to the punishing environment of the abyss. Kabuto's are expensive and only certain places can create them.  More on this Sunday!

Your weekly Sunday post! I did this in the early bird livestream today.  Vampire squid familiars live in Banthi, and are known to belong one of the most ancient groups of cephalopods, before squid and octopus split on the evolutionary tree.  They have bioluminescent tips on their tentacles and eyes, which is meant to confuse larger creatures, but there is few predators in the zone in which is usually floats.  Despite its name, it is not in fact a vampire. It feeds, like many creatures in Banthi, on marine snow- debris that fall from the upper zones of the ocean, and from Pilgi.

Your weekly Sunday post Cymothoa are ancient creatures, some growing to a colossal size, smaller breeds, known as "tongue eaters" have been plague to both fish and merfolk alike until the recent ages. Their preferred niche is in that of any fishes mouth, they do, in fact, eat the tongue of their host, and take its place and then attach themselves to the back of the throat. They benefit from food their hosts ingests and are given protection.

Tongue eaters were sometimes used in ancient practice for "guppies" in training for opera, as the parasite has been known to improve singing tone and pitch. After this practice died out, they were considered scourge of merfolk and dropped severely in numbers until recent centuries. Some youth of Pilgi have adopted the practice of introducing cymothoa into their mouths. This is seen mainly a status symbol, much like piercing the ears/tongue or earning a tattoo. This moorish angel fish familiar can talk just fine with one.

Since many merfolk have poor sense of taste (despite having excellent olfactory senses) loosing your tongue isn't a huge deal compared to cultures above water.