By: Katelyn Chen

Why do people love drawing mermaids this month? Well, it all started with a program called MerMay. What is MerMay though? According to NPR, It is monthlong art challenge where artists are invited to draw some type of mermaid every day and post it.

MerMay started with one of the former Disney Animater, Tom Bankroft, where drew two mermaids and posted the images on social media, where they went viral.

Part of how MerMay became such a success was due of the movie, The Little Mermaid. Some of the people who grew up watching the movie and are now participating in MerMay. “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,” character designer and illustrator Liana Hee told NPR. “I just fell in love with their design.” Liana has competed in every single MerMay competition, and this year she was brought to judge

For the last two years, MerMay had a mascot. Artist Whitney Pollett incorporated elements of toy design in her concept for the mermaid mascot. “This one’s like a tough guy. And this one’s an explorer. And this one’s really sweet and quiet,” Pollett said. “The more I started drawing new starfish, the more I was kind of giggling to myself, like having a lot of fun.” This year’s mermaid is named Harmony.