Mermay

The annually Mermay challenge by far is my favorite challenge. It also has been the first daily challenge I took part, back in 2019. Since then I managed to post mermaids every day in May. You will find my Mermay 2019 and 2020 entries here, whereas in 2021 I for the first time created a separate subpage and continued in 2022 with a collaboration prompt board. In 2023, however, I just kept it simple and went with the official prompt list.

2023

2022

2021

2020 – Prelude – Prompt List – Gallery – Addendum: #FaceYourArt

2019



2020



Prelude

Even before beginning of Mermay 2020, I got an inspiration for a squidmaid, a painting that still is one of my favorite.



Prompt List

2020 was the year I created an own prompt list for the first time with help of the twitter art bubble:



Gallery

Originally I planned a picture puzzle, a painting which was added another detail day by day according to the given prompt. Soon after the first painting it became clear to me that this won’t be possible. So, I changed towards an art journal or diary.

I combined my prompt list with a second one which I found on Twitter and what remained of the idea of the picure puzzle that was the monochrome style. Without I wouldn’t have managed during the whole May, especially since I was sick in the middle of the month:



Addendum: #FaceYourArt – Mermay Edition

In the beginning of August 2020 another challenge went quite popular: Face Your Art! Nine faces resp. heads had to be shown in a collage. Because Mermay this year provided some handsome faces, I used them to this purpose.

eun Gesichter/Köpfe von Meerjungfrauen aus dem Meerjungfrauen-Monat Mai, alle Zeichnungen sind Digitalzeichnungen im Comocstil, monochrom dunkelblau auf hellem Hintergrund: Eine stachelhaarige Feuerfisch-Seejungfrau. Eine Meerjunfrau-Medusa. Eine Engelshai-Meerjungfrau, die aus einer halben Kokosnuss trinkt (ein Teil des Heiligenscheins ist zu erkennen). Eine junge Meerjungfrauen-Hexe mit weiß leuchtenden Augen. Eine Piraten-Meerjungfrau mit Papageienfisch über der linken Schulter. Eine Abenteurerin, die, wie zum Teil noch zu erkennen, in eine riesige Sushirolle eingewickelt ist und entsprechend missgelaunt zu der Piraten-Meerjungfrau guckt. Ein Mensch-Amphibien-Wesen mit Kiemen und großen, ovalen Augen, nach rechts ins Bild schauend. Eine junge Meerjungfrau nach links Augenkontakt mit dem Wesen aufnehmend, man erkennt noch eine Seerosenblüte in der Hand. Eine Meerjungfrau mit kurzen Haaren, sie guckt fasziniert nach rechts im Bild, in ihrem Gesicht spiegelt sich sachte grünes Licht.



2019

2019 was the beginning of my Mermay years, to my own surprise I painted one painting a day or at least a sketch. Of couurse, this was my old style, I just started painting digitally with professional grafic apps (Autodesk Sketchbook). However, there are paintings I’m still holding dear.

Most Mermay characters and their stories started here and I elaborated them during the following years in style, design and background stories. Several paintings already were connected to each other in this year, most of them even on purpose.

Can you find all the references?