my favorite design finds, current art projects, and more

2010-03-25

[ michael c. hsiung ] merman series

(an unlikely portrait found of a merman living in a small apartment near a whaling community)

when i was younger, my absolute favorite disney movie was - by far - the little mermaid. i used to pretend i was her and i'd brush my hair with a fork. or wiggle my toes obscenely (sadly i still do this). or sing the "ah ah ahhh, ah ah ahh" song that she sang when she got her voice back at the end of the movie.

but my favorite ariel activity was definitely swimming like a mermaid. unfortunately, when i first saw the movie, i was like three years old or something and still wasn't allowed to swim without floaties. oh how i loathed those air-filled plastic armbands. i often tried to see how far underwater i could go with them on (verdict: not very far). eventually, i went to swim camp... i think maybe when i was four years old. and then after that, i was able to perfect my mermaid swim: arms to my sides, legs stuck together.

artist michael c. hsiung uses mermen as the subject in a lot of his illustrations. i love his style! tiny heads, fuge bodies, random details, varied line strengths. and the mermen are cool cus the scaley pattern in their tails is one i often draw when i'm doodling incoherently. very fun! and a lot of his work has fun, descriptive titles (like the one above).

clockwise from top left: merman sighting 1960, untitled, of what happened to the merman on the cliff, on the sobriety of certain mermen

[ links ]
michael c. hsiung: click
illustrations: click

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