MerMay in its title is the month of May, where people show their artistic abilities and draw their idea of Mermaids. It started as a pun, which then transitioned into being a worldwide art challenge.
It is a month-long art challenge where every day, artists draw their idea of a mermaid and post it with the hashtag,
#mermay
.
This fun art trend started with the former Disney animator Tom Bancroft in 2016. He drew two mermaids lounging on their “shell phones”, which were drawn to symbolize his two daughters. He told NPR that it blew up immediately and “And I realized that ‘Oh, wow, people really like mermaids.’ And there’s nobody kind of tapping that area of fantasy.” This inspired him to try and post a mermaid drawing every day – weekends being optional – for the entire month of May in 2016.
In just this first year, hundreds of thousands of people participated. To help inspire artists, he helps come up with daily prompts to support artists. This art challenge continues today, and people can still submit their art in the MerMay art contests. There are even new prizes such as a Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet.
One reason it blew up is because of the 1989 film, “The Little Mermaid,” and people who grew up watching it now like to participate in this challenge. The fun about this challenge is that there are no restrictions besides drawing your perception of a mermaid. People can change the interpretation to their liking. Some examples of unique art are Lianda Hee’s “Mini Gauge Paintings” or Felix d’Eon’s gender-norm-breaking drawings. He portrays mermaids as beings who could be queer, trans, or fat. As it turns out, this is not just a fun contest; it is also a way to show who you are, and break norms.
And they even have fun mascots every year, with this year being a cute mermaid named Harmony. “Because we felt like the world needed a little more harmony, right now,” Bancroft
said.
It is a month-long art challenge where every day, artists draw their idea of a mermaid and post it with the hashtag,
#mermay
.
This fun art trend started with the former Disney animator Tom Bancroft in 2016. He drew two mermaids lounging on their “shell phones”, which were drawn to symbolize his two daughters. He told NPR that it blew up immediately and “And I realized that ‘Oh, wow, people really like mermaids.’ And there’s nobody kind of tapping that area of fantasy.” This inspired him to try and post a mermaid drawing every day – weekends being optional – for the entire month of May in 2016.
In just this first year, hundreds of thousands of people participated. To help inspire artists, he helps come up with daily prompts to support artists. This art challenge continues today, and people can still submit their art in the MerMay art contests. There are even new prizes such as a Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet.
One reason it blew up is because of the 1989 film, “The Little Mermaid,” and people who grew up watching it now like to participate in this challenge. The fun about this challenge is that there are no restrictions besides drawing your perception of a mermaid. People can change the interpretation to their liking. Some examples of unique art are Lianda Hee’s “Mini Gauge Paintings” or Felix d’Eon’s gender-norm-breaking drawings. He portrays mermaids as beings who could be queer, trans, or fat. As it turns out, this is not just a fun contest; it is also a way to show who you are, and break norms.
And they even have fun mascots every year, with this year being a cute mermaid named Harmony. “Because we felt like the world needed a little more harmony, right now,” Bancroft
said.