Stl Ariel

The mermaid heroine of the animated film and the Hans Christian Andersen story underneath it: long trailing hair, a fish tail in place of legs, and a pose that only works if the figure is read as suspended in water rather than standing on land. Sculpts of this subject live or die on that sense of drift — the tail curling away, the hair lifting off the shoulders as though there is a current moving through it. This is a fan-art display piece aimed at collectors and painters rather than play, and it comes as a small multi-part kit. It is a popular subject with people practising skin tones and flowing hair, since almost all of the sculpting is figure work. Equally at home on a child's shelf, standing in as a cake topper, or lined up in a cabinet of animated-film characters.