For this month’s Featured Student post we will be featuring six students that participated in MerMay 2020! Let’s start by getting to know a little bit about each of them:

Neha Rawat

Website: www.nrbstudio.in

Instagram: @NRBstudio.in

Number of years you have participated in MerMay:

This was my first time.

Number of pieces you created for MerMay this year: 

Two

How did you participate in MerMay this year?

Since joining SVSLearn and discovering my path to becoming a children's book illustrator, my main aim for every piece I create, whether for a challenge or personal, is for it to be appealing to children. I wanted my protagonist to be a child and also wanted to try telling a different story. The concept struck me when I was video chatting with a friend from the other side of the world and she was snuggled up in her blanket which had sleeves. I just found that blanket so brilliant and that's what started the ball rolling. I was excited to brainstorm on an indoor scene for MerMay. I tried my best to pay attention to detail and show the girl's personality through her room decor. Mermaids are often associated with mystic and magical feelings which I tried to show using the mood lighting through the fairy lights. The end goal was to create an indoor scene for my portfolio but also have the viewer go "I want that blanket" :D I've been creating all my art on Procreate for the past 2 years purely because of its portability and convenience since I travel a lot.

Anna Miklo

Instagram: @anna_miklo_art

Number of years you have participated in MerMay:

 Two

Number of pieces you created for MerMay this year: 

Two

Jeremy Ross

Number of years you have participated in MerMay: 

One

Number of pieces you created for MerMay this year: 

One

How did you participate in MerMay this year?

Admittedly, I’ve never heard of MerMay until stumbling on the forum post on SVSLearn. Although I didn’t have much time, I thought it would be fun to create a new piece with the mermaid theme. My illustration was sketched and painted entirely using digital medium via Procreate on the iPad with the apple pencil. While brainstorming ideas with my daughter, we finally agreed on a bedtime theme (perhaps because it was sketched in the evening right before her bedtime). We had so much fun making the piece together as it evolved throughout the entire process, even making last minute decisions on the clown fish and rubber ducky floating in the tub. It certainly would not have been the same without her constructive and fantastical ideas!

Chris Akins

Instagram: @chrisakinsart

Number of years you have participated in MerMay: 

I have only participated in Mermay for two years.  Last year was the first I had heard of it.

Number of pieces you created for MerMay this year: 

Because of other projects, I only created one piece this year which was really a continuation from last year.  It had to marinate a bit apparently.  

How did you participate in MerMay this year?

I had not planned on participating in Mermay this year, but I kept coming back to the piece that I was going to submit last year for the SVSLearn monthly contest but decided not to and did another piece instead. It was a digital piece that I had drawn and inked traditionally and then pulled into Photoshop and finished it up. I wanted a comic book/graphic novel feel.  I wanted to create a merman who was powerful and realistic. I was not looking to create the sweet mermaid, but the ruler of the seas. However, people just did not connect with it last year, and as I mulled it over I realized that there were things that I learned this year watching the SVSLearn videos that I could do to finish the piece so that it had more impact. I cleaned up the color and created more emphasis by unifying it with a color overlay. I think it is much more visually impactful this time.

Camila Nogueira

Behance: camila_illustration

Instagram: @camila_illustration

Number of years you have participated in MerMay: 

This one.

Number of pieces you created for MerMay this year: 

One

How did you participate in MerMay this year?

This illustration was created for the cover of the single “underwater”, a track by the chill hop artist Jalowo. The idea behind it was to show as if the music transformed the artist into an underwater creature. Since the first sketches, I knew I wanted it to have strong contrast and mainly blue palette. It is an image that is going to be mainly seen as a thumbnail (in the music platforms the artist uses), that is why it as a square shape. I worked first with Procreate (Ipad Pro 12.9) for the thumbnail sketches and for the tonal sketch. As soon as I was happy with the selected sketch, I refined all the linework in Procreate (maybe two times) and then did the shading, the light, the coloring, and the final touches in photoshop.

Chip Valecek

Website: cshellmedia.com

Instagram: @chipvalecek

Number of years you have participated in MerMay: Four

Number of pieces you created for MerMay this year: One

How did you participate in MerMay this year?

This year's piece was done in Photoshop. Last Inktober the theme was around Aliens. Since those are quick hour pieces I knock out each day I decided to take a few of them and turn them into full illustrations. I started a series of Alien illustrations and when May came along, I decided what would an Alien mermaid look like? Basically I just combined my two favorite things, Aliens and Octopus.

Now that we have learned a little about each student, here is what they have to say about the MerMay challenge:

Did you do anything to prepare before MerMay began?

Neha - Once I decided to participate, I told myself to focus on creating one great piece that I was happy with instead of lots of "meh" pieces just to keep up with the challenge.

What did you learn from doing MerMay this year?

Neha - Stick to what you enjoy doing and grow in that direction. The first piece I created for MerMay, I did exactly the opposite. I created a typical "pretty" mermaid with no story just to be a part of the trend. Although I considered it a decent illustration (skill-wise), it left me very unsatisfied. So I retracted back to remembering what I loved drawing (cute things, telling stories) and pushed myself further in the direction I wanted to grow.

What are some of the benefits you have found from participating in this type of large month-long art challenge?

Jeremy - Without a doubt, the largest benefit is the incremental growth (no matter how small) in challenging yourself to become a better artist with each piece. I would be remiss to not compliment the amazing courses on SVSLearn and especially the greater SVSLearn community for always offering constructive feedback to help me improve my work. Selfishly, creating art allows me to escape into the flow state, which I understand has many positive health benefits, but enjoying the process and having fun is the best part!

Chip - The biggest benefit is getting your imagination going. I feel in the beginning I am all full of ideas, and then midway I start to struggle, then when you see the finish line the ideas start flowing back again. I think it helps build consistency as well as time management. It’s hard to find time every day to work on a piece when you have a full time job and a family to take care of.

Chris - Doing a month-long challenge like Mermay, Draw Every Day or Inktober is immensely impactful in several ways. For me, it is a stimulation of my creativity, as I always find myself trying to stretch the restraints of the daily prompts. Every day is a new challenge of my creativity and by the end of the month, I am able to generate really great and creative ideas. A second benefit it brings is the practice. I always find that my skills are vastly superior after a month of doing the same thing day after day. It also helps when you draw the same thing over and over. You get really good at drawing fins if you draw lots of mermaids, haha!

How do you deal with illustrating the same subject matter for an entire month?

Chris - Drawing the same thing over and over can potentially become monotonous. Last year for Inktober, I drew a lot of mice. But I loved it. I overcame the difficulty by creating a storyline that I could follow in my head. I have seen other artists do one single picture that features all the prompts.  That is something I am considering next year.  MerMay is no different. How cool would it be to see a giant reef filled with 31 different species of mermaids or to see a mermaid city with a bunch of mermaids doing different jobs? The key is being creative and having a little forethought.  Let your creative juices flow as you think about how you can fulfill the prompts.  Or conversely, you can do one or two prompts that you work on all month. That is what I did last year for MerMay. It was a nice challenge to persevere through a single picture, taking the time to explore a single concept and really refining it. Either approach has its own merits. 

Would you do anything differently next year?

Anna - I definitely want to do more pieces next year. The full month.

Any tips for someone thinking about participating in MerMay next year or another art challenge?

Anna - If you don't like the prompt lists, pick a theme of your own. It really helps to have some sort of plan in place when you sit down to draw. And having a few sketches in the hopper before the month starts can take some pressure off.

Camila - I’ll give a tip to myself also: participate with a theme you like (otherwise it will probably be very hard to do it all month) and try to connect all the illustrations to make a story.

Chip - I think the best tip I can give is to prepare ahead of time. If you know how many pieces you need, start writing down all the ideas that come to you. They may come at the weirdest times, but that is ok. Grab your phone and record your thoughts. If I don't have a game plan in place for each day, there is a better chance I will not finish the challenge.

Jeremy - As cliché as it sounds, my advice to anyone thinking about participating in future MerMay contests (or any other monthly art contests for that matter) is to just do the work! And by the work, I mean - create your best work you can do presently and submit it on time. The contests are offered to help us all become better artists and develop a portfolio that is so good they can’t ignore you. Just remember, making the piece and submitting it on time is already a win, anything else is just icing on the cake. Thank you so much for your interview Austin and thank you to SVS and the community for helping me become a better artist in order to be considered for this spotlight!

Thanks for sharing y’all!

If you would be interested in sharing your work for a chance to be featured for July head over to the SVS Learn Forum and post your best work by June 30th.