By: Alice Dai

The article I read addresses how MerMay began and what has happened since its beginning.

Tom Bancroft is the creator of MerMay. He noticed that many people like mermaids, so he decided to draw mermaids and post his creation on the internet. The text explains that Bancroft realized that “Oh, wow, people really like mermaids” when his post went viral. He also realized that “there’s nobody kind of tapping into that area of fantasy.” The text reports that “the image’s popularity inspired Bancroft. He came up with the idea of posting a mermaid drawing every day – with weekends being optional – for the entire month of May 2016. Bancroft invited fellow creators to join him.” This shows Tom Bancroft’s MerMay ideas

The importance of this writing is that Tom Bancroft has ideas and a big imagination. I say this is important because without his ideas, then there would be no MerMay. For example, “To help inspire artists every year since, he comes up with a list of daily prompts to incorporate into their works.” This shows how he feels about his work in making the MerMay. Another example is “Bancroft said a lot of people enjoy this aspect of the challenge, especially since they can check the day’s hashtag, where they can see how other artists approached the prompt.”

This article is important because it discusses the development of Tom Bancroft ideas and his imagination. Without his ideas, then there would be no MerMay. “To help inspire artists every year since, he comes up with a list of daily prompts to incorporate into their works.” This shows his intense dedication towards keeping this community of mermaid artists alive. In the article Bancroft says, “a lot of people enjoy this aspect of the challenge, especially since they can check the day’s hashtag, where they can see how other artists approached the prompt.”

Tom Bancroft started his artwork when he was a little kid, he loved the designs of the mermaids and wanted to start one on his own. Other mermaid enthusiasts feel the same way. Liana He, an illustrator, says, “I’ve drawn mermaids since I was a very little girl, probably since I was four years old, because that’s when Little Mermaid came out for me […] I just fell in love with their design.” Bancroft also spoke to the idea of community within the group of internet artists that like to make mermaid art; He said: “It’s really neat to be able to bond with strangers over the internet like this.” Bancroft says, “It really is artists supporting artists. And I think for us to have such a small community – it’s really special.” He is very grateful for the people who helped him launch MerMay even if most of them are strangers from the internet.