A How to Draw a Mer Tail Tutorial

This outline of an adult woman can be found at www.learn-to-draw.com and served as the base for my recent mermaid drawings. I traced the original outline down to the top of the knees, then continued to taper inward until I bisected each ankle before widening again just below the feet to form the tailfin. This produces a tail that is both flexible and powerful!

When I transform an adult into a Mer, I like to add about 2 feet to the overall length, to me this adds grace while retaining the original human proportions.

For my Mer drawings I trace and fine tune in pencil, then finalize in ink (and sometimes white-out) before photocopying and then coloring the copy with colored pencil. I never color my master copies.