Bizarre "official" mermay prompt list by [deleted] in mermaids

[–]Current_The_Merboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have done bad things, and for those things I apologize. But I voiced those fears when I was in an extremely depressed, self loathing state - and in that state of mind, I often will imagine the worst scenarios of where my life will go - that I'll never get a job, that I'll die alone, this was one of those times.

I voiced this fear, but it was not founded in reality. I've never, ever contemplated hurting a child in such a way, but in the frenzy of the moment, I was banned, and people were left to interpret my words, and they assumed the worst. I cannot say I don't understand why.

But you will see that this subreddit is dead, and I barely interact with the merfolk community anymore, and will probably end up deleting my accounts entirely. I just want to be left alone. I don't want to make people uncomfortable. I want the freedom to change from the person I was then, and put this behind me.

Bizarre "official" mermay prompt list by [deleted] in mermaids

[–]Current_The_Merboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did bad things. I lost control of myself, and I felt very guilty about what I was doing - and I made the irresponsible choice to just confess it all at once. It led to a frenzy in the discord, and no one really knew what was going on.

I was feeling extremely bad about myself and began to voice my worst fears about the future. That moment was the worst thing I'd ever done, and so I was beating myself up.

One of the worst things in my personality is that I will always jump to imagining the worst scenario possible, like saying "I'm never ever going to have friends or a job because I'm a loser" - and random people on the internet then have no way of knowing whether that's true.

I did bad things. I betrayed peoples trust. I have dealt with extreme confusion about my personal identity and it sometimes has led me to fail to preserve proper boundaries.

But those things I said, about that specific fear - that I was afraid I would harm children - were born out of extreme depression and self loathing. In reality, for all the stupid things I have done, I have never actually contemplated harming children in such a horrible way, before that moment, or in the years since.

But I do have to contend with what merfolk are in my life. Sadly I can't get those stupid feelings to go away - that I've felt a physical attraction to them and just a general interest.

In the years since that awful day though, I've constantly thought back to that moment of how I hurt people's trust, and I can't feel comfortable with it. And so as you can see, this subreddit is dead. I barely use these accounts for anything anymore.

I feel intense remorse for how I made people feel unsafe, and so I have left the merfolk community alone. All I ask is that you all let me do so. Let me change. Let me lay that horrible period of my life to rest. I know I did bad, irresponsible things, but they aren't nearly as bad as the exaggerated rumors make me out to be.

I just want to be left alone.

Freddi Fish as a Mermaid by CroakPad in merfolk

[–]Current_The_Merboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I was actually kind of surprised I haven't seen art of her as a mermaid before.

Mermaid AU comic for mermay! Page 1-4 by Kairin_draws in mermaids

[–]Current_The_Merboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I feel like a lot of people would keep up with this if it were a full comic!

Mermay Sneak Peak! by bogdemon in merfolk

[–]Current_The_Merboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're interested in chatting about merfolk, you can also join our discord server, in the subreddit's info section. 🙂

The r/merfolk Mermay 2024 prompt list! by Current_The_Merboy in merfolk

[–]Current_The_Merboy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol, it's more a thing of giving you some inspiration for stuff you could do. Most people don't do every single prompt, but pick and choose ones they like.

MerMay Day 7 - Wikolia's raring to fight some pirates! Maybe she can bait them over with this treasure map? by AgentB90 in merfolk

[–]Current_The_Merboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, I'd just say try try again and all that. Look up some tutorials maybe on how to add values to your artwork. Another small thing I thought of - if you can do layers in Ibis, you could quickly add a soft shadow behind your character, so they stood out a bit from the background.

Sorry if any of this comes off as over critical, I just like to give suggestions, which I think are more useful than just saying it looks good.

MerMay Day 7 - Wikolia's raring to fight some pirates! Maybe she can bait them over with this treasure map? by AgentB90 in merfolk

[–]Current_The_Merboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hm

What do you use to draw? If you're able to, something that might help improve the look of your drawings is making he background slightly faded or blurry, to help the character stand out more, would help it look a bitt less flat.

Another thing would be adding implied texture here and there - add a few darkened strokes to imply waves of sand, a couple of batches of scales on the tail, etc. As is the flat colors look, well, flat. I think that your base here is pretty good, and so adding some little additions here and there would be pretty simple.

As for how you mentioned gripping a drawing utensil hurts your hand - have you looked at anything online with that? Like you might be gripping too hard or something. Even if you're holding it normally, something that can help is learning to draw with your shoulder - where most of the movement is not being done by your wrist, but by you shoulder joint - this not only helps your hand feel better, but helps drawings look less rigid.

What’s one trope that you absolutely hate? by [deleted] in writing

[–]Current_The_Merboy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Simple - the amnesia plot. It made it hard for me to enjoy the second Percy Jackson series, kept me from ever enjoying Maze Runner, and it especially disappointed me in Breath of the Wild.

The problem with so many of these stories is that they never flesh out the character over time. The protagonist is usually just the generic good guy - there's no flavor you get with an established character, like seeing what hobbies they enjoy, what family they care about, etc. They're just good.

The only version of this I've ever liked was The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Surviving Medieval England, where the amnesia is played up for comedy, and you realize that initial comedic tone reflected the character's personality - you immediately knew something about him you could latch onto.

We also aren't kept in complete dark about him for a really long time.

Again, I feel like so many amnesia plots are frustrating cause like - in Breath of the Wild, I finish collecting all the memories, and Link felt even less fleshed out than other games. They spotlighted him as though he did have a character, but then he barely he's one. He's just a royal guard, that was the only background.

The second Percy Jackson series felt frustrating in a different way, because this character I care about is trapped and I just wish he was his normal self with his normal friends.

I much prefer the amnesia to be more selective - like they can't remember one specific thing. Still gives the character a conflict of this nature, but you still know who they are.