“Oh! Surprise! Didn’t see you there… Uh, hello, Denizens of the Deep, we interrupt this comic to tell you that we’re — ”
“definitely not stealing apples and stuff off of Root’s boat or any docks whatsoever!”
— No, no, my eight-armed friend, what we really want to say is that our creator is still working behind the scenes on our story, and —”
“what is behind the scenes? Is that like when I hide behind my ink cloud?”
“— well, yes, sort of, she is using ink to make our story! She wants us to be patient and find stuff to keep us busy in the meantime. She’ll be back soon.”
“What’s soon? A turn of the tide? A turn of the sun? A turn of the moon?”
“I don’t know, these land-people have a different sense of time than we do. Let’s just go keep busy, and see if we can find some more land-stuff that’s fallen in the water.”
“Now you’re talking, two-arms!”
Yes, folks, I’m still alive! — I’ve just been snowed under with a veritable tempest of other projects, including scripting ahead on this one. But the clouds are parting, and the sun is shining on the glittering waters of free time again. So, more than a tide, less than a moon, and I’ll begin posting here again. — Karen
Page 90 — Annabelle is a famous baker, and knows the way to Jones’ heart!
Mermaid Music will be on hold for a few weeks due to a last-minute brainstorm I had about the next scene which will require some rewriting. See this blog post for details (and a nice sketch of the guesthouse).
Page 89 — She only ordered them a month ago!
Well, it’s still Monday here, and even though I said Tuesday, I’m going to go ahead and post it. We had a lovely Thanksgiving, and I made pumpkin pies instead of comics.
Page 88 – Cook’s not the only one with a sense of humour on this ship!
Hi, Sea People! The next update will be on Oct. 10, due to Canadian Thanksgiving. Wish I had Cook to help out with the pies!
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Page 80 — The farmer’s return to the sea
And we’re off again on our main story! I really enjoyed finally getting to draw the back of Root’s houseboat, and the scene across the dock from her. It was hard getting it to look like dawn, though, as she is docked facing northwest; I settled for some early risers having the lights on, and the sun just starting to light up the hilltop. Notice the name of the houseboat — in light of the short story just before this, guess what she used to pay for her boat! I guess that will be the sequel…
I’ve added some new items to the menu: The Mermaid Blog is all the posts that are not comics; they also appear on the home page underneath the current comic page. In case you missed it, I just posted a week’s worth of tiny downloadable mermaid paintings on the blog.
I also created a comics archive, as there isn’t a native one built into this theme (the archives widget in the sidebar goes to the blog posts — go figure! this is a comics theme!). So I built one as a page and stuck it in the menu. You can link to any past comics page from there, and there are little hints (but not spoilers, I hope) to guide you to the page you are looking for.
I have also been working on some background writing, which I hope to be adding to the menu soon. I hope you enjoyed the Root Redwing story as much as I enjoyed having a bit of time to catch up on some of the background work.
PS — for those who are interested in such stuff, I tried out a new watercolour paint for this page. It’s made by Daniel Smith company, and it’s called Lunar Blue. I used it for the rocks in the background, and for mixing with other colours in the two rooftops. It does that neat granulated textural thing all by itself!
Here’s the seventh and final in the week-long series of A Mermaid a Day sketch cards for you to download! This one celebrates the close friendship between Fins and Hands. Please see the permissions blurb below:
It’s fun to think up different ways my merfolk might be patterned for camouflage!
You have my permission to use, for personal use only, any of these to make home-printed stickers, postcards, iron-on patches, place cards for a mermaid party — if your home printer can do it, have at it! You can even use them for your avatar on social media, if you credit me. Just don’t sell them or print them commercially or remove my teeny imprint, please. The originals of these are tiny, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, so don’t expect them to print large; I’ve uploaded them at full resolution, though, so they should be suitable for small uses as mentioned above.
Here’s the sixth in the week-long series of A Mermaid a Day sketch cards for you to download! This mermaid seems to be having an earnest conversation with a fish friend. Wonder what they are talking about? Please see the permissions blurb below:
You have my permission to use, for personal use only, any of these to make home-printed stickers, postcards, iron-on patches, place cards for a mermaid party — if your home printer can do it, have at it! You can even use them for your avatar on social media, if you credit me. Just don’t sell them or print them commercially or remove my teeny imprint, please. The originals of these are tiny, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, so don’t expect them to print large; I’ve uploaded them at full resolution, though, so they should be suitable for small uses as mentioned above.
Mermaid Music 