Ok so it was suggested I post my designs... (image heavy)

[Mermaid Lilium]

I'm going to link to the fb album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7072344&type=1 which will have all my sketches, progress images etc - I've set it to public (even though I'd rather it be friends only) so that you can all access it.

Firstly... Yeah I'll be doing some personal designs but my idea at the moment is to make a neoprene+sequin tail for the time being while I loose weight but I'm wanting to work on silicone tails... and I'm not just talking about for myself. IF people would be seriously interested, then I'm thinking of going into tail making for others as there are no euro full-silicone tailmakers that I know of. There is also a chance that in the not-too-distant-future I'll be moving to PA so I'm trying to make sure that if I am going to be making tails, that they're going to be something different.

so... first off, a personal design that I may open up to making for others (especially the fluke design) I was thinking black shadows with a purple highlight


these ear prosthetics are to go with it.


and now, for something completely different....

fresh-water or plant based designs:

(initial sketch inspired by this post: http://mernetwork.com/index/showthre...-water-mermaid )

"just an initial sketch and it's not coloured or anything (petals could be any colour, I was thinking a graduated rosy pink as I was drawing) and the 'scales' are leaves and fins could be made from leaves or half-fronds of fern."


and then from there...

'beech' type leaves


'maple'/acer leaves (was thinking a gradual blend of autumnal/fall colours)


petal design (totally un-coloured or anything here, will be playing around with colour in photoshop shortly)


and then inspired by Mermaid Melaina.. seaweed design sketches (done today using my phone to pull up reference images) most of these sketches are for flukes or dorsal fins but I was just too lazy today to mirror the fluke designs







Please note that most of these have been done in the last few days while I've been really ill and stuck in bed or on the sofa going crazy lol

I've purposefully not coloured these initial sketches so that they are more open for other people to have ideas about colours etc for if they are interested in these designs

feel free to use them as templates to play around with colour ideas but please do NOT steal the base designs/concepts =)

Let me know what you think! *runs and hides*

[Mermaid Saphira]

I like the very first design

[Aziara]

The 'leafy' designs are very nice. Makes me think of water fae or a naiad/dryad. My favorite though has to be the first picture. I've always liked the look created by having the tail spines extend beyond the fin. Kinda like a saltwater catfish. Venomous >

[Mermaid Kelda]

Ooh, they're beautiful! So many different types of seaweed <3

[AniaR]

what a totally unique idea

[Mermaid Lilium]

*comes out of hiding* phew you guys like them XD thanks for the support guys!

and yeah in terms of the first design I love the idea of all the 'streamers' flowing in the water cause most of the tails I've liked the most have had the trailing spines on the fluke.

I have quite a gothy style so I guess the 'spikiness' comes from there lol I was never going to go for the cutsey mer look ;D

I'll work on some more traditional tail bases and keep you updated - I'm going to have a mess with the petal fluke in photoshop and construct some full versions of the seaweed flukes for you guys to see a bit better. I've also been trying to learn how to use zbrush 3D suite so that I can sculpt my designs in 3D once I have the hang of it. My older brother is teaching me as he's a game design student =)

I'm glad you like the seaweed sketches Melaina - I tried to look at what would work best and keep fin ideas and combinations open, but the designs still need work so I'll need your expert opinion on these

Again, thanks for the support everyone <3

[Mermaid Lilium]

so I started doing a bit of colour work - working my way through finally and thought I'd share this one - I have versions of it with some side fins up in my fb album (linked at the top in the OP) for those who'd be interested.... anyways on to the next one! lol Let me know what you think anyways now that you can see a bit better what I was meaning/intending by that initial idea xx

[Azurin Luna]

Wow, that would look really nice. You would be a flower mermaid
I love the colors you picked

[Mermaid Lilium]

arghhh I thought I'd posted these....

[Mermaid Dottie]

OOOOHH my gosh..... I love the seaweed-inspired design...
I'd make one, but I wouldn't want to steal your idea...

[Mermaid Lilium]

OOOOHH my gosh..... I love the seaweed-inspired design...
I'd make one, but I wouldn't want to steal your idea...

Well I'm looking at starting up as a tail maker so you could always commission one from me? Let me do all the hard work ;P

[Mermaid Dottie]

My friend actually did a drawing for me when I first got into mermaiding, and all she had seen were fabric tails. It was also seaweed inspired, but looked a little different, and included a top that looks like a less detailed version of the one that Raven just released.

[Mermaid Danielle]

They look great! I love the flower-ish theme!

[Mermaid Lilium]

My friend actually did a drawing for me when I first got into mermaiding, and all she had seen were fabric tails. It was also seaweed inspired, but looked a little different, and included a top that looks like a less detailed version of the one that Raven just released.

cool =) I can imagine it was probably a little flatter in design if she had only seen fabric based tails - I do love raven's top design and I'm trying not to encroach on her work with this.

[Mermaid Dottie]

*nodnodnod* I totally see where you're coming from there. I was like that with one of shelly's items. She started making baby pajamas with tails on them, and my face was .
I actually went and asked her how she felt about me selling a similar kind of item, since I'd been working on the design for weeks before I saw hers. she was totally cool with it.

[Mermaid Lilium]

hehe I think this whole thing plays into my work as a photographer.... i mean, something I produce is always going to be different to something raven might make. I would always try to make my work different because with so few tail makers out there, what is the point in copying? When it comes to photography, it's incredibly hard to keep your work totally original because it has 'all been done before' so my experience with that should pay off =)

[Miyu]

Oh my gosh, I love your designs! All of them! The trailing bits on the first fluke are awesome, I've been wanting to see more of that in tails. And your plant-based designs are just lovely for a freshwater Mer, it really does look like the tail a water nymph or what-have-you turned into a mermaid... which is an idea I've been working on for writing. I always felt that any water spirit/nymph/whatever could transform into a mermaid, that it, have a tail.

When you think about it - in the old legends and tales, the water nymphs (and all the other elemental beings) have been around much longer than humans. Yet they mostly seem to be depicted as looking like humans (with some exceptions, such as earlier depictions of sirens, and mermaids). Would a water nymph always look like a human, or take on human form when around humans? Do they just swim through the water looking all awkward with two scrawny legs, or would they grow more appropriate appendages for their environment, such as webbing or tails? I like to think that various water beings would be a bit of a shapeshifter, growing tails quite like yours (in relation to their environment and personality).

Which leads me to think about tails based on localities - maybe a cherry blossom tail for freshwater Japanese mers (or, alternatively, something almost kappa-like), and Japan also has a ton of interesting seaweed for saltwater Japanese mer tails. A tail made of tropical flowers local to, say, Hawaii, or the Caribbean or what-have-you. A tail for a rainforest mer... (which could be so varied, seeing as how there's different kinds of rainforest - I live in one here in Oregon, even!

I can't wait to see what you come up with, I'll be saving up for a silicone tail, and I'd love to have one of yours be my first (not-homemade) tail!

[Mermaid Lilium]

Oh my gosh, I love your designs! All of them! The trailing bits on the first fluke are awesome, I've been wanting to see more of that in tails. And your plant-based designs are just lovely for a freshwater Mer, it really does look like the tail a water nymph or what-have-you turned into a mermaid... which is an idea I've been working on for writing. I always felt that any water spirit/nymph/whatever could transform into a mermaid, that it, have a tail.

When you think about it - in the old legends and tales, the water nymphs (and all the other elemental beings) have been around much longer than humans. Yet they mostly seem to be depicted as looking like humans (with some exceptions, such as earlier depictions of sirens, and mermaids). Would a water nymph always look like a human, or take on human form when around humans? Do they just swim through the water looking all awkward with two scrawny legs, or would they grow more appropriate appendages for their environment, such as webbing or tails? I like to think that various water beings would be a bit of a shapeshifter, growing tails quite like yours (in relation to their environment and personality).

Which leads me to think about tails based on localities - maybe a cherry blossom tail for freshwater Japanese mers (or, alternatively, something almost kappa-like), and Japan also has a ton of interesting seaweed for saltwater Japanese mer tails. A tail made of tropical flowers local to, say, Hawaii, or the Caribbean or what-have-you. A tail for a rainforest mer... (which could be so varied, seeing as how there's different kinds of rainforest - I live in one here in Oregon, even!

I can't wait to see what you come up with, I'll be saving up for a silicone tail, and I'd love to have one of yours be my first (not-homemade) tail!

well I'm going to be slowly saving up to make the first tail, but I have decided that if anyone wants to take a chance on buying my first tail I will do it for cost only. So there's always that option if you're going to save up =) means you wouldn't be saving as long! ^_^

I'll have a think about the cherry blossom one and the tropical flowers/leaves. I can definately see some silicone flower head pieces made of flowers and blossom that might naturally exist at the edge of the water or overhang it. I can see an amazonian tail working well, but I wonder would it be more fish based or plant based - they would have to develop as a more warrior like race too due to the other predators in the water so perhaps even as a fish-based tail, it would be slightly more armor-like?

I think at least in my head the story of these 'waterhouse' mers would be that they evolved separately from other mers once they became land-locked and have evolved to have placed their 'egg-sacks' (like sharks) on the underside of leaves on the branches overhanging the lakes. And that once they were 'hatched' they would fall into the water and take their first swim like a water-baby. I know some toads reproduce in a similar way - attaching the eggs to leaves so that the tadpoles fall into the water when they hatch - protecting them from predators in the water.

Even if my back-story were true, I could see nymphs and sprites shape shifting to go and play with their 'mer friends' in the water. A bit like the 'selkies' of the lakes I guess?

[Mermaid Dottie]

Now that is different! I like that story. It would be cool to see an animated version of that.

[Mermaid Lilium]

Now that is different! I like that story. It would be cool to see an animated version of that.

Was already planning on it