In the grand kingdom of the ocean depths, there lived a rebellious princess—a mermaid who never conformed to the expectations of others. Her spirit was independent, her character unbreakable, much like a tiny kitten that, despite its size, behaves like a true tiger.
One day, she was kidnapped by humans—the king of a neighboring kingdom ordered her capture, intending to force her into marriage with his son. His goal was to seize control over the ocean realm by keeping her hostage. But the princess never despaired. Although she was almost powerless in the human world, she refused to let it break her spirit. On the contrary—she resolved to make their lives as difficult as possible.
Her antics knew no bounds: she overturned banquet tables, devised elaborate pranks, drove the guards to madness, and became unmatched in the art of testing her captors’ patience. She refused to change, refused to conform to human customs, and always remained true to herself. She never saw herself as lesser or sought to compare herself with others—she was unique, indomitable, and free-spirited.
When the opportunity to escape finally came, she didn’t simply return to her kingdom—she did more. She became a pirate, conquering the waves and venturing into the unknown in search of adventure. For she was no victim, no princess locked in a tower—she was a warrior who chose her own destiny.
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First sketches, resources, and finding the best composition. Components of composition: the mermaid, “chair”, water gun, cat, and decorations.
Style doll-like, cartoon. Mood grampy, ready to fight, and cute.
Colours closer to pearls, with shimmer and a hint of pink.
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Developing three favorite sketches –
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MoodBoard
Work on Concept art for sketch n2. Tried photobash
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Turnover for modeling –
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Blocking in Maya
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Working on modeling, started with an umbrella/jellyfish.
Testing an idea with nHair as part of the Jellyfish.
Used the tutorial “Introduction To nHair | Maya And Arnold Renderer | Tutorial”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbFLtkelwZ0&ab_channel=ReimagineFx
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Moved to the next piece of composition – Lotus flower.
Found this tutorial “Lotus, Speed Modeling, 3D Maya “very helpful for modeling the flower. Learned how to use the Bending tool.
The next step was the Chair modeling. Tried to use Sphere and then manually added volume inside. Also used a tutorial for modeling a moon decoration for it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW_Z5uhiQlo&t=3s
It didn’t look great, so I tried to fix the main shape by using the Expand tool. Also added pillows made with a tutorial
The picture has improved a lot.
Next, I’ve modelled Mermaid, Cat, and Gun, and made the tail, hands, and face more detailed.
Got many difficulties with nHair – it acted weirdly and kept passing through other objects
Modelled couple ears using tutorial
lot of tech issues. work is still in the process
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