Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
which led me to draw this
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Which got me thinking. I was basing them off of two kinds of real animals (She's a shark, he's a Beta Fish), right? And after I drew them I thought he looked kinda weird and I couldn't put my finger on why, until I realized.
His tail is facing the side.
Why is this weird? Well in all the mermaid tv shows and movies you see (think Disney's Little Mermaid), their fins are facing forwards, similar to a whale or dolphin's tail. Which got me thinking 'hm, if merpeople are supposed to be half fish, why do their tails face forwards rather than sideways like an actual fish???'
My first assumption was that animators wanted them to more closely resemble mammals (by the way, are merpeople/sirens warm or cold blooded? Leave your thoughts in the comments) since they are part human. But my eventual conclusion was that it was just easier to animate, since human legs move more similarly to dolphin/whale's tails than fish tails.
In old illustrations (disclaimer: I have no clue if these are real old illustrations, I just picked ones off of google that looked like they could be) sirens and merpeople are depicted with sideways facing fins such as these:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(I blurred out their boobies bcs I don't want anyone to report me. Ik they probably won't buuuuuuut better safe than sorry lol)
Which means when people started animating merpeople they just decided to make forwards facing fins the norm BUT I have decided to become an advocate for sideways facing fins sooo lmk if you agree with me anywho have a nice day drink water get some sunshine and if you're reading this any later than 11 pm GO TO BED love y'all byeeeeee
