My Walk to You is a future comic project of mine. it resolves around a young, lonely mermaid who is discovered by another young, human girl. Despite her best efforts to keep her away, the human girl keeps coming back- and soon, the mermaid realizes she doesn't want to be alone anymore.
Isobel, also called "the Maiden" (as a placeholder), is an optimistic and kind young woman.
Isobel's journey is that of self love and strength. She starts her journey with long hair and feminine clothes and she's kind to a fault. But as she becomes closer to Mara (the mermaid), she gains the strength to stand up for herself more and one of the ways that is represented visually is by her cutting her hair
Marella, Mara for short, (also known as "the Mermaid" as a placeholder), is living life on survival mode, and built walls around herself to keep herself safe.
Mara's journey is about vulnerability, and being willing to accept help and affection from others.
Originally, I had a very stereotypically beautiful mermaid, who looked pretty identical once she became human.
I decided to give her more fishy and predator-like features - large bulbous eyes, no nose, sharp teeth, sharp claws, etc.
While she became more fish-like, her mannerisms are closer to a feral cat
It was always the plan for the mermaid to, at some point, become human. While considering her design I recognized that, as a mermaid, she has no eyebrows and no nose, so, I thought, "Why not give her big bushy eyebrows, and a beautiful roman nose?" Not only did I find this choice visually more interesting than manicured eyebrows and a button nose, but it also makes Mara almost unrecognizable from her mermaid form (which could help further the narrative).
I did, however, want to give her some indication of her mermaid self, in this case, by letting her keep her sharp teeth.
This project is still ongoing, and I hope you'll stick around for when I'm able to turn it from a concept into a reality!