I never knew mermaids even had nationality. I guess I assumed they live in international waters, except the one in that movie who showed up in the guy’s swimming pool. Was she American? I think the swimming pool was American.
the fishside of those beautiful mermaids is a bit limited. I’m waiting for mermaid- carps, -eels and sharks etc.
Edit: i forgot to mention the awesome mermaid-herring swarm.
Personally, I think it’s more appropriate/accurate if they use aquatic/marine mammals; such as Dolphins, Whales, Manatees…
i agree if we assume the Siren history of mermaids, but i lack any deeper knowledge about the origin of these myths.
It’s cool, but the stereotypes kind of jive me out of it. Like, of course you need to have your “African Mermaid” holding a spear, how else would you know?
But maybe I’m thinking too hard about fish ladies. Cool to see some of the artwork, anyway, I really like the fluidity of the sketches and an exploration of clothing styles, that’s pretty cool.
Great work. Wait 'til some buzzkill gripes because they’re all impossibly thin.
Of course the African one is half-naked. (Yes, yes, I know: they’re all half-naked – the fish half isn’t wearing any clothes! yuk yuk yuk har har!)
Of course she has a spear.
Of course her hair is nappy/looks like it’s styled with mud.
I guess I should be happy someone who resembles a person of mostly sub-Saharan African descent is represented at all since folks who look like me are usually left out of these kinds of things altogether. (See, for example, how often Tiana is left out of any discussion or re-imagining of the Disney princesses.)
But still…as one poster above said, that portrayal is so jarring it just takes me out of the whole thing. Ugh. 
The real question is “why aren’t they all half-naked, or at least wearing whatever passes for appropriate swimwear in that culture?” Just imagine the drag most of those clothes would create. That’s why Ariel didn’t wear a flowing European-style ballgown until after she lost the fishy-bits.
I was wondering if those tails are representative of fish from their region.
Not to mention the issues with having long hair underwater. As the original mermaids at the Disneyland Submarine Voyage discovered, having long hair in water all day long gets kinda icky. And in non-chlorinated environments I’d imagine quite a bit of algae growth.
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