Designing: Merle

Created: 6 March 2021, 12:06:46 UTC

Last updated: 5 October 2023, 02:46:35 UTC

Merle

Examples

Real life examples:

Basics

The merle gene desaturates parts of the coat, leaving behind patches and speckles of the base color and markings beneath.

In your ketucari's genotype, merle is denoted by the letters "nMr" (heterozygous) or "MrMr" (homozygous).
Bullet; White

In its heterozygous form, merle has a pass rate of 25%. Homozygous merle has a 50% pass rate.

Color and Shape

Merle is always a light, more desaturated shade of the base coat. It can be completely gray, but should never be white. Here is how to create merle:

Step One:
Design the ketucari as if they didn't have merle.

Step Two:
Pick a color lighter and more desaturated than the base color. Make a new layer over the design and fill it with this color.

Step Three:
Erase away patches from the fill layer to reveal the original design underneath, mimicking the merle patterning found in dogs.

Range

Merle can appear anywhere on the body with varying degrees of coverage. It has no minimum or maximum range, but must be immediately noticeable in the design.

Interaction with Other Markings

Merle covers all markings except white marks.

Accents

Here are some small accents you can add to your designs to make them more unique!

Bullet; White

The layer on which you put your desaturated merle color can be slightly transparent to show the patterning
of the markings underneath. Be careful not to make this too overbearing, such that the merle is barely noticeable. As well, you can add
a bit of texturing to the marking.