Tackling a POTC Tail

[Coradion]

So this one has come up a lot, I think the biggest appeal to these tails are the realistic feel. I love a lot of the tails I've seen, but there are some things I've seen that make them obviously fake from the perspective of someone who studies fishes. I'll probably do one like this for my next tail, ordered the clay, neoprene and silicone in the next round of orders. I figured a thread that highlights different aspects of the tails would be helpful, and if you use my designs or ideas COOL! These are meant to help and we're not going to come up with the same tails at all, so go for it!


From Calypso's thread here are the mermaid corpse pictures, I'll try and highlight different aspects and link them with some of my own pictures of fishes. So here the first thing I notice is counter shading, this is common in the ocean, light belly, dark dorsal region. One thing about this is that a lot of the time you can't pick out individual scales very well on the belly and scales near the dorsal region are more defined. Note the iridescence on the tuna skin picture below and how it outlines the scales as well as transitions from belly to back.

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[Coradion]

Next point is in the caudal fin, as well as all the fins. Fishes have a lot of rays and spines in their fins. Tails like mertailor's don't highlight this aspect, if you want to copy a fish look it up on fishbase.com. It will tell you the number of hard spines and soft rays in each fin. You can copy this number and proportions to make a more realistic tail. Hard spines are bones, they are usually thicker, harder, and pointed on a lot of fishes, they occur closer to the anterior end of the fish and the fins, the bones behind these are called soft rays, rays are finer and may be branched.

Here's an example in an ocellaris clownfish. Look at the spines near the head, and see the transition to rays towards the tail. Note the number.

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/fish-pictures/ocellaris-clownfish-1265473965-800.jpg



Branching rays as seen in the caudal fin of a betta. See the splits, branching can occur in a number of splitting patterns, see the difference between the anal and caudal fins?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LeSEUUObjMM/T8TQsqB5i4I/AAAAAAAAAZo/wCuLM25reb0/s1600/DSC_0032.JPG

[Coradion]

Will post more later.

[roamingmer]

Interesting posts and good background info. I personally see the biggest differences are in tail orientation and the sudden waist transitions between rainbow colours and human flesh. The corpse image shows a much nicer transition and blurs the distinction between mer, fish, and squid like tentacle structures.

[roamingmer]

And on a zoomed image the flat frills along body edges and arms seem associated with flat fish like sole? But im a medical physicist not a marine biologist

[Aquatarian]

I think you have definitely brought up some really nice points to take a look at when tackling a realistic tail. I think a VERY big part of getting a tail to look the most fish-like is the scale work. And like you mentioned above, the coloration (including fading), and scale shape and definition of the scales are a few things that can be difficult to replicate on fabric or even silicone. I would love to hear any ideas on how this can be accomplished.

Please continue this when you can though. I would love to see more ideas and/or issues that can be improved when trying to make a more realistic tail. :)

[Prince Calypso]

AHHHHH HE KNOWS MY NAME!!!! *GIRLY SQUEAL*
ok I'm done.
anyway I agree, everybody is clearly enthralled by the mermaid tails from POC, for the simple fact that they look more realistic then anything we have seen. the length is realistic and flattering, the fluke/tailfins are the same and the flowing, tendril like fins tie the entire thing together.
I think this will be an interesting and helpful thread

[MerAnthony]

POTC tail? I know I am not an expert on things like this but the title has me lost. Please elaborate.

[Mermaid Celissa]

Anthony: There were mermaids in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which was the fourth installment of the series.

[MerAnthony]

Ok I get it now. My mind is not awake yet. Just a bit confused.

[Coradion]

For the ribbon like fins, they're not actually all that fish like, longer flowing fins aren't ideal on fast moving predatory fishes, but they look pretty. The concept for them involved translucent fabric underwater and how that moves, it gives it a more fanciful feel I guess. For the scale work I think the trick is not having scales that are exactly the same size, most fishes have larger scales along the lateral line area and then they get smaller near the belly and dorsal area. Nothing in nature is so precisely perfect as a lot of the scale patterns I've seen on most mermaid tails. I think a transition from body to tail could be achieved by an edge of clear flat silicone with a few unevenly shaped colored scales along the base of the clear edge. To achieve the shiny iridescent look a lot of the mermaids had in the underwater scenes I think the trick might be to paint neoprene and then add thin, clear silicone scales on top and treat those with an interference pigment so they shine, but only at certain angles. That way the tail isn't all the same color, different points would shimmer as you moved.

[Coradion]

Another thing about the POTC tails are the long forked caudal fins, if you want to do a really nice replica tail you can't be limited by the caudal fin or the monofin you have available. I think thin fiberglass dowels could be used to act as additional bones in the tail to give extra length. A lot of fishes tails are translucent to some degree and that could be achieved just by using clear silicone. Or like for my last tail I may just have my friend do a custom one, but this time have him essentially make a monofin skeleton of a fish tail where he adds thicker points to look like the bones, and then I can just silicone over it.

[Prince Calypso]

Another thing about the POTC tails are the long forked caudal fins, if you want to do a really nice replica tail you can't be limited by the caudal fin or the monofin you have available. I think thin fiberglass dowels could be used to act as additional bones in the tail to give extra length. A lot of fishes tails are translucent to some degree and that could be achieved just by using clear silicone. Or like for my last tail I may just have my friend do a custom one, but this time have him essentially make a monofin skeleton of a fish tail where he adds thicker points to look like the bones, and then I can just silicone over it.

this is actually a really great idea. i can't wait to see the progress you make.

[Mertara]

I am a HUGE fan of realistic mermaids, like the corpse pictured above. I think even though the tendrils might not be seen on a real fish, it's an awesome idea for a mermaid tail! I mean mermaids are already not real, so who cares right? I say long, flowing things are great!