AniaR
04-27-2013, 08:54 PM
So, after another thread on here, and drafting my book, I've realized I've really come a long way in my mermaid evolution and maybe I don't stop to actually look at that. With so much pressure for people who want to go pro to be as hyper realistic as possible, I think people might be waiting too long to get going. You can go pro and start out with a tail that is less than your ideal. I did it! I talk a lot about it in my book and gradually upgrading my tails as I went along with the rest of my costume.
I get so many people emailing me because they want to start but don't know how. The truth is, you just need to START and do SOMETHING. :) No one expects someone fresh into the water to land a huge aquarium job, or get on TV, or be booked end to end with gigs. It rarely works that way. You start out with whatever you can do. Even if your tail is limited.
I want to take you through an embarrassing swim through my mermaid memory lane. Like seriously, I was looking back at all this cringing, haha. I go into much more detail in my upcoming book, Fishy Business.
Check it out, here's the first tail I ever had, a mermaidFX tail, with two swim fins inside. Here's my VERY first swim ever, at the end of one summer:
http://youtu.be/CvaRq1yMp_4
http://youtu.be/SpD0k2FHR-k
This is what I used to start out. I didn't do much with it but those videos and some photos. The photos helped me fundraise for my mertailor tail. (they weren't even good photos either, but if gave potential sponsors the idea)
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs46/i/2009/193/7/a/Mermaid_by_the_lake_by_raine_angel.jpg
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs49/f/2009/179/2/6/26a99f05b6bef21f42ad11e07420893a.jpg
Then I was able to afford my mertailor tail! And most of you know, that didn't go as planned. Haha. At best, I had a tail that didn't fit and I couldn't swim in, but I could use it for photoshoots. I had a mermaid top and accessories, but they were all dry despite being beautiful, not something I could use underwater.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/071/1/f/what_I_did_at_work_today_by_raine_angel.jpg
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/130/f/a/fa86e11a12c2030a365f95c98f86fdc8.jpg
So I bummed around with the tail like that for a summer. I got some photos, started coming to the mer yuku forum, and researching professional mermaiding. In the meantime I graduated from my first degree in child development and started to brain storm about how I might be able to turn this into a business. I pretty much couldn't swim in the tail because of how it came down my butt, and the fluke bubbled up. As a second semi-mermaid summer wrapped up, that's when I started to talk to Raven about having it remade so it would be functionable. I sent it to her and got it repainted, re alexed, re glued, and an extender piece added on.
It was insane when I got it back. I still didn't have any other wet mermaid accessories. No wet tops, and the only wet jewellery I had was one necklace Raven was lovely enough to give to me! I also went blonde, haha, and started trying to actively pursue a mermaid career, doing a lot of volunteer stuff first, and some paid dry gigs. Oh, and photoshoots, Many photoshoots.
First swim before I dyed my hair:
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/042/7/4/748301760aa16e9e9f1049194002cbf1-d39bcc6.jpg
First photoshoot
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/124/4/b/4beffbdf65370226291f12537b3dc113-d3flf63.jpg
On my way to a weekend of dry gigs at a festival
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/212/8/9/89c5ba8e2af2ab439819d9456b5a4493-d429lgy.jpg
Dr Sketchy gig
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/144/9/6/96a3d26826df67a6c366f8a3845503be-d3h51e2.jpg
It became very apparent however, after several water gigs, this tail would not survive. Everytime it got wet, the monofin pulled away from the neoprin, the neoprin stretched, and the paint came off. I started researching new tails while still doing many gigs with this one. Before I knew it, I started landed media attention! I got more and more nervous about the tail, but man, I couldn't turn those opportunities down! So the tail gained some stripes to cover some spots that just wouldnt stay orange, and it became more and more textured and flakey with multiple paint applications. It continued to stretch and get baggy, but I didn't stop.
Here's a totally embarrassing underwater video I did with my terrible hair, and inability to swim in my tail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL_N4Xaw-Vk
I got on the cover of my paper, with my bad dye job, and my falling apart tail haha
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/283014_232266470141437_3844888_n.jpg
they did a great big feature on me, and while the photographer was wonderful he didn't exactly photoshop my tail haha
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/269584_232266520141432_3999119_n.jpg
I got to be on the cover of a summer guide! It brought me some of the most publicity I've ever gotten, but it was photographed 8 months earlier before I fixed my hair and got my new tail. So when I was booking stuff last summer with my normal hair and great new tail- my old tail and old hair was plastered all over the city hahah I did finally get a wet top thanks to the talented Cydney Tolbert, but not until the end of the summer. Just in time for this cover.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/554650_436528229715259_1894522935_n.jpg
I did almost all dry gigs for that summer, while fundraising and saving for my new tail... which came.... February 2012!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/179211_421781747856574_1567953921_n.jpg
So I finalllllly got my new tail... but... I still wasn't the *best* swimmer. I just couldn't seem to sink no matter what I did! I made some jewellery so my costume looked a little more authentic, and I was able to do loads of dry gigs, and still do loads of birthday party gigs since most of them didn't require me being able to sink to the bottom of the pool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy7b60NXsV4
Then I got my awesome weight belt, and suddenly swimming was easy as pie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw0eCi_XfvY
(yes Im aware my tail is baggy, this is a recent video and I've lost a lot of weight and inches, hence why I'm sending my tail to get taken in!)
Now I'm booked solid, I've been in a music video, I've been on TV, I've done some wicked cool parades and events, publishing a book, and have loads of videos of photos. I've travelled to Florida to meet some of my mer idols and spend time with them, I've explanded my business to include my sister, and I have some HUGE things in the works that I can't announce yet ;)
My point? Everyone has to start somewhere. So stop wishing you were a professional mermaid, and start :) Do whatever you can with your fabric tail, or your latex tail that falls apart, take some photos, make some videos, makie a FB page and put yourself OUT there! Yeah, I'm embaressed a bit by my beginnings, my awful black bathing suit top, bad dye job, and bad swimming skills... but I did it, and I was happy when I did it, and I met cool people, made some money, and opened some doors to be what I am now and beyond!
You can do it too! :) I hope my book helps you, and check out some of my other threads on the topics of getting started so you can get some ideas:
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3687-The-Official-quot-How-to-Become-a-Professional-Mermaid-quot-Index
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2756-Professional-Mermaid-Gigs-(index-amp-ideas-from-Raina)
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3086-Photography-amp-Professional-Mermaiding
I get so many people emailing me because they want to start but don't know how. The truth is, you just need to START and do SOMETHING. :) No one expects someone fresh into the water to land a huge aquarium job, or get on TV, or be booked end to end with gigs. It rarely works that way. You start out with whatever you can do. Even if your tail is limited.
I want to take you through an embarrassing swim through my mermaid memory lane. Like seriously, I was looking back at all this cringing, haha. I go into much more detail in my upcoming book, Fishy Business.
Check it out, here's the first tail I ever had, a mermaidFX tail, with two swim fins inside. Here's my VERY first swim ever, at the end of one summer:
http://youtu.be/CvaRq1yMp_4
http://youtu.be/SpD0k2FHR-k
This is what I used to start out. I didn't do much with it but those videos and some photos. The photos helped me fundraise for my mertailor tail. (they weren't even good photos either, but if gave potential sponsors the idea)
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs46/i/2009/193/7/a/Mermaid_by_the_lake_by_raine_angel.jpg
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs49/f/2009/179/2/6/26a99f05b6bef21f42ad11e07420893a.jpg
Then I was able to afford my mertailor tail! And most of you know, that didn't go as planned. Haha. At best, I had a tail that didn't fit and I couldn't swim in, but I could use it for photoshoots. I had a mermaid top and accessories, but they were all dry despite being beautiful, not something I could use underwater.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/071/1/f/what_I_did_at_work_today_by_raine_angel.jpg
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/130/f/a/fa86e11a12c2030a365f95c98f86fdc8.jpg
So I bummed around with the tail like that for a summer. I got some photos, started coming to the mer yuku forum, and researching professional mermaiding. In the meantime I graduated from my first degree in child development and started to brain storm about how I might be able to turn this into a business. I pretty much couldn't swim in the tail because of how it came down my butt, and the fluke bubbled up. As a second semi-mermaid summer wrapped up, that's when I started to talk to Raven about having it remade so it would be functionable. I sent it to her and got it repainted, re alexed, re glued, and an extender piece added on.
It was insane when I got it back. I still didn't have any other wet mermaid accessories. No wet tops, and the only wet jewellery I had was one necklace Raven was lovely enough to give to me! I also went blonde, haha, and started trying to actively pursue a mermaid career, doing a lot of volunteer stuff first, and some paid dry gigs. Oh, and photoshoots, Many photoshoots.
First swim before I dyed my hair:
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/042/7/4/748301760aa16e9e9f1049194002cbf1-d39bcc6.jpg
First photoshoot
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/124/4/b/4beffbdf65370226291f12537b3dc113-d3flf63.jpg
On my way to a weekend of dry gigs at a festival
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/212/8/9/89c5ba8e2af2ab439819d9456b5a4493-d429lgy.jpg
Dr Sketchy gig
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/144/9/6/96a3d26826df67a6c366f8a3845503be-d3h51e2.jpg
It became very apparent however, after several water gigs, this tail would not survive. Everytime it got wet, the monofin pulled away from the neoprin, the neoprin stretched, and the paint came off. I started researching new tails while still doing many gigs with this one. Before I knew it, I started landed media attention! I got more and more nervous about the tail, but man, I couldn't turn those opportunities down! So the tail gained some stripes to cover some spots that just wouldnt stay orange, and it became more and more textured and flakey with multiple paint applications. It continued to stretch and get baggy, but I didn't stop.
Here's a totally embarrassing underwater video I did with my terrible hair, and inability to swim in my tail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL_N4Xaw-Vk
I got on the cover of my paper, with my bad dye job, and my falling apart tail haha
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/283014_232266470141437_3844888_n.jpg
they did a great big feature on me, and while the photographer was wonderful he didn't exactly photoshop my tail haha
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/269584_232266520141432_3999119_n.jpg
I got to be on the cover of a summer guide! It brought me some of the most publicity I've ever gotten, but it was photographed 8 months earlier before I fixed my hair and got my new tail. So when I was booking stuff last summer with my normal hair and great new tail- my old tail and old hair was plastered all over the city hahah I did finally get a wet top thanks to the talented Cydney Tolbert, but not until the end of the summer. Just in time for this cover.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/554650_436528229715259_1894522935_n.jpg
I did almost all dry gigs for that summer, while fundraising and saving for my new tail... which came.... February 2012!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/179211_421781747856574_1567953921_n.jpg
So I finalllllly got my new tail... but... I still wasn't the *best* swimmer. I just couldn't seem to sink no matter what I did! I made some jewellery so my costume looked a little more authentic, and I was able to do loads of dry gigs, and still do loads of birthday party gigs since most of them didn't require me being able to sink to the bottom of the pool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy7b60NXsV4
Then I got my awesome weight belt, and suddenly swimming was easy as pie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw0eCi_XfvY
(yes Im aware my tail is baggy, this is a recent video and I've lost a lot of weight and inches, hence why I'm sending my tail to get taken in!)
Now I'm booked solid, I've been in a music video, I've been on TV, I've done some wicked cool parades and events, publishing a book, and have loads of videos of photos. I've travelled to Florida to meet some of my mer idols and spend time with them, I've explanded my business to include my sister, and I have some HUGE things in the works that I can't announce yet ;)
My point? Everyone has to start somewhere. So stop wishing you were a professional mermaid, and start :) Do whatever you can with your fabric tail, or your latex tail that falls apart, take some photos, make some videos, makie a FB page and put yourself OUT there! Yeah, I'm embaressed a bit by my beginnings, my awful black bathing suit top, bad dye job, and bad swimming skills... but I did it, and I was happy when I did it, and I met cool people, made some money, and opened some doors to be what I am now and beyond!
You can do it too! :) I hope my book helps you, and check out some of my other threads on the topics of getting started so you can get some ideas:
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3687-The-Official-quot-How-to-Become-a-Professional-Mermaid-quot-Index
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2756-Professional-Mermaid-Gigs-(index-amp-ideas-from-Raina)
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3086-Photography-amp-Professional-Mermaiding