Introduction

On this tutorial we will learn how to draw mermaids and mermans in simples steps. I will teach you the different structures of this half humans half fish creatures, how their tails works and their appearances and feautures.

Anatomy

Three types of body.

 

We have a proportional type, where the tail will have the length of the human legs. An out of proportion tail. I think this kind of tails succeed in making look terrifyng or mysterious our mermaid, becuase of the idea "what is hidden at the bottom of the ocean".

The third type is not like the rest, where human legs turn into fish tails. Rather, the upper half of the human body comes out from where the head of a sea mammal or a shark would be. So the "tail" of this Sirens, actually are the entire body of a sea mammal or fish.

How does the tail move?

 

Depending on the tail we choose , it will limit the movements of our mermaid or merman. For the out of proportion tail you can choose were to put the knees and the rest of the tail will work as a snake. In the case of the proportioned tail, the knees will be in the same place that they are on the human legs. The only difference will be that the knees of a Siren can bend foward too.

*Sea mammals and sharks don't have knees, therefore the Sirens who have this type of body can't kneel or support themselves on their knees.

Scales

The tail can have scales like none. I will show you how to design the scales.

 

For the first case we draw a wire mesh. And we draw the scales in the small rhombuses that are formed.

For the second case, we make groups of scales and as they get smaller they remain as points.

For the third case they are more like irregular spots. I recommend a dark and a light color for the scales. In this way it seems that the light illuminates some scales.

The last case is without scales.

The final result.

Gill

The places to draw gills can be on the cheek, the neck or the lungs.

Body Features

How is the face of a Siren?

 

There isn't a correct way to do them, but there are different ways to do one. It may have human ears, pointed ears, or finned ears. Skin that when the sun touch it, shows scales. or is gray, blue or green in colour.

For the front body we have mermaid clothes, that can be seaweed, kelp or moldy fabric. Or it can be covered by scales or having two skin colours, one of then will be the same colour of the tail.

The back follows the same method as the front in some cases, for example a two colour back or covered by scales. We have a different option that is having a dorsal fin in the back.

For the arms it can be a two colour arm, with scales, fins or change the structure of the arm and make it more flat.

As for the hands, we have a two colour hand, a scaly hand, with claws or webbings between their fingers.

Tail

Here I show you some designs of tails. Depending on the aura of the Siren you will have different features. For example, the number of fins, the style of the fins, the size of the tail, if it will have the body of an sea mammal.

Mermaid

Hope my tutorial helps you design unique mermaids or any kind of sea monsters.

Have a nice day.