Mermaid research

After researching further into the subject and legends of mermaids I have decided to make this the basis of my theme.

I think that they are a really interesting subject to work with, people find them quite captivating and intriguing. It could be really interesting to bring some of these myths to life? create small scenes depicting or focus on they're characteristics.
I need to consider how i would like to portray these creatures? this decision relies heavily on my audience really., and what would work best as a wall paper design. - will i focus on they're good reputation? or display in a more eerie /evil way.
- mermaid mythology;

There are many different interpretations of the mermaid throughout history, - "The earliest known mermaid legends come from Syria around 1000 B.C. where the Syrian goddess Atargatis dove into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the powers there would not allow her give up her great beauty, so only her bottom half became a fish and she kept her top half in human form."

Stories have changed and developed over time however, - its seems to be that The goddess Atargatis and became mixed with the goddess Ashtarte, who is considered the counterpart to greek mythology's Aphrodite. "Though Aphrodite is rarely portrayed in mermaid form, this evolution of mermaid mythology is what led to Aphrodite's role in the mythology of Pisces, which clearly has roots in Syrian mythology.

later tales of mermaid mythology come from Homer's 'the Odyssey' where mermaids were seen as dangerous and luring creatures of the sea, - this has been an intensely popular representation of the mermaid throughout history. Popular tales include legends from the bristish isles, and the famous Arabian Nights tales. - where mermaids would sing to men on ships or shores; their voice and beauty would hypnotise them, and the men would be lured out to sea to either drowned, or eaten.

- Other tales suggest that mermaids were innocent creature, but that still caused great threat - it was said that men would believe they have seen a woman drowning, and dive in after them only to drown themselves.

- Some believe that mermaids perhaps didn't understand that humans could not breath underwater, and would un intentionally drag people down to their death.

- Some cultures believe that mermaids were immortal and powerful - abilities ranging from curing the sick to granting wishes and sharing their gift go immorality.

- The modern perception of mermaids is often far developed from this threatening image - todays perception is that mermaids are sweet and innocent creatures, which can be credited to the most famous tale in mermaid mythology - Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" tale - and the disney film adaptation.

- It is this interpretation that has made mermaids so appealing and exciting to young children and this perception is so distanced from how they were originally seen.

- Perhaps it would be interesting then to reinvent the idea of 'the mermaid' and take it back to where the legend came from? but now i have got some initial research and further interest in the them, i need to consider the purpose for my design. - who will it appeal to?

Represented throughout film/books/stories.

- examples I've known; Peter pan, Little mermaid, Harry Potter - just briefly showing the wide spectrum of how these creatures are represented.

The little mermaid - good

the bad - harry potter.

Context

Need to consider my audience? where would this wallpaper be displayed? in what context?
I feel that with a lot of mythically themes, the largest audience is children/young adults, especially for wallpaper design. So i aim to take my chosen mythical theme and create a wallpaper that will appeal to and be suitable for a young age group.

My target audience will be girls ages 4-14. In appealing to young children, I have decided that although the darker aspect of the mermaid has intrigued me, for this purpose of wallpaper, I would like the design to be quite playful and feminine. Therefore i am choosing to portray mermaids as the well loved friendly versions not the monster like person era in some older legends.

‘Mermaids’ is still quite a broad theme in itself. Within that i feel that i can explore other sea life - I am excited; i think I could bring in a lot of other elements, the content i could choose to feature on my design is not really limited - just has to relate to the sea.
visually i aim to be looking at creatures within the sea that mermaids might interact with, I will begin playing around with underwater scenes

• sailers - boats
• underwater; dolphins, sharks, fish, treasure, shipwreck
  
  I have created a Pinterest board of mermaid inspiration and general sea themes, and wallpaper designs. I haven't drawn mermaids before and i felt i needed more reference material on the subject before beginning to sketch out ideas.
• obviously i know that mermaids are not real, but i was interested to see what existing artwork and imagery is already out there. 

more wallpaper design: