#merdude bel

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

Finally finished merdude Bel!

In the Sapphire Heartverse, his name is "Beleza Muscadine" (which, a muscadine is a type of wine grape)

But, in the Seaphire Heartverse, their name is "Beleza Muricidae" (which is a taxonomic family of predatory sea snails with intricate shells)

Xe is a dazzling merman who is very interested in all of the jewelry and riches found in shipwrecks. Xe is the boyfriend of Van-eel-a, and Tippy

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i'm just imagining merman au bel taking advantage of halloween to score free treats from beachgoers who praise his "realistic mermaid costume" pffff

Announcer: And now the winner of the beach's best costume contest is..... Beleza Muricidae!

Bel: *flops up to the stage* I'm a winner! I get all the shells!! Hand over the loot, dry scales

Announcer: *thinking xe's joking* Ahaha, here you go, man. By the way, how did you get that tail to look so realistic? It looks just like some kind of.... Fish or something

Bel: *stuffing his face with candy from the trophy* Hm? *Their tail twitches a little*

Announcer: Is it... Like uh... Mechanical? Where do your feet go? That end is transparent

Bel: Feet? Oh uh yeah I have those. I have several! I have legs too! They're all right here... All three of them!

Announcer: three?

Bel: *counts the announcer's legs* two! I said two!

Audience: *laughs and claps*

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

mer vanilla: *slithering gracefully across the beach*

mer tippy and mer bel: *FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP*

Mer! Vanilla: *fabulously flips his hair and slithers across the beach with ease, the onlookers admire his beauty*

Mer! Tippy and Bel: *flippin and floppin around*

Mer! Tippy: Hey! How's it going, land dwellers? *Flopping around, sand flying everywhere*

Mer! Bel: Alright, you split finned dry scaled landwalkers, hand over your loot!! *Aggressive flopping*

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

Is merdude! Bel the clam caretaker? 😂

Mer! Bel: *filing their nails with a piece of coral* Oh yeah, I help out Nilla and Tip Tip with all those little clams

*the clams are all talking amongst themselves*

Mer! Bel: *swims up really fast, holding a polishing brush* Who wants to get their shells poliiiiished?! ✨

*the clams gasp and close up quickly*

Mer! Bel: ó0ò .... ò~ó

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

(if the fo takeover extends to the mer verse) so merman vans, how much and how often do you, tippy and bel go on land? does ramon like going on land too?

Mer! Vanilla: Well, I only go on land when my partners decide to. As an eel merman, I'm pretty reclusive and prefer not to be around a lot of people.... Let alone land dwellers

Mer! Tippy: I think it's fun! They have so many different foods and games and trinkets and stuff!!

Mer! Bel: I like to assert my dominance on those dry scales. Also I do enjoy when they admire how beautiful and handsome I am

Mer! Ramón: I like to tag along and see what in Davy Jones's locker mis padres are going to get into that day

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

If it's not too sensitive of a question: is s/i Tippy post-op? I imagine it would be easier in a world where stands are a thing. Maybe Giorno could have played a part due to his abilities.

(Also in the Mer-Verse I had the idea that perhaps like many irl fish species merpeople could naturally change and have no fixed sexes so perhaps merdude!Tippy just transitioned on his own) 😊

It's all good!! 💪✨ Yes, my s/i is post op and he is on testosterone 😎

Some kind of TMI stuff in the mix??

Aaahhh yes, it's definitely easier in a world with stands 😭 hrrrghhhh that would be so awesome...

Interesting that you say that because a while ago, with my oc f/o Bel... Bel actually got most of their transition done by a stand user!

Xe had top surgery and wanted to keep the scars, because they reminded him of how far he came 💪 (xe also has both working sexes due to the stand user, which is something I've personally wanted for a long time and felt that it would add to my Identity... I've actually talked to a doctor about that and it makes me even more excited for bottom growth. It won't be much but it'll be mine 💙)

And I kind of wanted to write a little fanfic about Bel taking Tippy to the stand user 🫶

OMG YES. THAT'S AN AWESOME IDEA 😭💙💜 I've always envied species that could do that!! I really like your idea 🥹🫶 He just went one day "huh I think I'll be a dude now..." And there it is 😎✨ I gotta do more merverse stuff!

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

How do you stay away from "same face syndrome" in your art? 💙

This is going to be kind of long but here goes!

For me personally, it's *mostly all about the nose, eyebrows, and jawline

(*there are other factors such as lip size, distinct markings, makeup, tattoos, etc)

For the case of Emmanuel (an oc I made to be Vanilla's cousin), you can see that he has distinct scars on his face, a slightly pointed ear shape, is wearing a little bit of eyeliner and he has an interesting looking eye patch. But what you might not notice at first is the most "eye catching" thing is his nose shape! His jaw is a bit wide and his cheeks have a soft shape. You can identify him as Emmanuel Nemesis 💪

Next is my beloved f/o oc, Beleza Muscadine. The thing about Bel is that he has the largest and most pronounced nose out of all the characters. The obvious thing you can see is that he has a rather large dorsal hump. However, xe has other features on xis face that you may notice almost immediately. Their eyebrows are thick and bushy and they are wearing very heavy eye makeup. Xis jawline is strong and sharp but xis cheeks are very soft.

Now about the way I draw Dio! I feel that the biggest thing you'll notice on him is his odd eyebrow shape. Then you'll notice his vampire/elf ears. Dio has very sharp features compared to the other characters. A lot of the time, the character's face will match their personality. His nose is more pixie like and hardly has a visible bridge and no dorsal hump. Dio can also have more snake like features, much like in Phantom Blood where he looks like a snake person every now and then.

For my beloved f/o Vanilla, he has a very hooked nose but it's very soft and his dorsal hump goes all the way down. His jawline is soft yet strong and his eyebrows are pretty thin. (Every now and then I'll draw his forehead bigger because he canonically has a large forehead, which I assume is one of the reasons why he wears a circlet... I keep forgetting this feature unfortunately) He, like a lot of the characters I draw, wears heavy eyeliner too. His eyeliner is drawn similarly to Bel's, where the tear duct corner is drawn towards the bridge of his nose.

For how I draw myself, my jawline and cheeks are soft but visibly masculine. My dorsal hump is visible but not as prominent as Vanilla's. My eyebrows are a lot thicker than his too! It's not seen here, but every now and then I'll draw myself with my overbite I have in real life, teeth shape can be very important too. I also have very small ears, that's not a drawing mistake! (Pay no attention to the merdude drawing, I don't have elf ears in real life- my ears are quite small) and yes, I'm wearing heavy eyeliner like the others!

Even Razz (mine and Vanilla's fusion) has distinct facial features! Razz's eyes are bigger and more cartoony, his nose and ears are a mixture of mine and Vanilla's, his jawline is sharp and soft at the same time, and his lips are a little more pursed and pouty. He's also wearing pink eyeshadow and heavy eyeliner!

For Jonathan and Erina, you can see Jonathan's facial features are more strong and pronounced while Erina's are more soft and delicate. Like I've said previously, most of the time the character's face will match their personality (but not all the time, that's not what I'm trying to say!)

So in conclusion: Bone structure is very important! Something as simple as nose or eyebrow shape can make a world of difference 💪

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

Merdude Bel likes to climb onto cruise ships and crawl around being an absolute menace

Sailors: *talking, hanging out, sailing and stuff*

Mer! Bel: *crawls onto the ship*

Sailor 1: WHAT THE HELL?!

Mer! Bel: *bares xis fangs* Alright, dry scales, hand over your loot!

Sailors: *all screaming and holding each other*

Mer! Bel: *starts frantically flopping around*

Sailors: ...

Mer! Bel: You heard me!! *Flop flop flop* hand it over!