Wow. so cute. when I saw your rough sketch, for some reason it reminded me of the book "There's a Tiger in the Garden". I thought of it might be fun to introduce a grand-daughter character in your mermaid granny world.

very cute. Love the energy in this piece. looking forward to see the progress

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I might take both the fish herder and the tea party idea to the rough comp stage to see which one I like the best, and which one I am more likely managing to pull it off.

I really like the fish herder idea myself, but I am not sure if I am able to pull it off, struggled quite a bit even in the thumbnail stage It is a very much scene based piece, and I have never painted the underwater scene before, nor did I drew many fishes.

Love the design and how you handle watercolor. Also, love the personalized speech bubble.

I am late with this. Hope this painting will make its way to Will somehow. In this piece, I used the texture Will painted, and shared in one of the SVS class. I also used a lot of tips and tricks Will taught in various classes. Thank you, Will.

Thank you @ShannonBiondi for organizing this.

@suenaumi hmmm. interesting thought. I will try that.

@Laurasketches #8 has a clear story, and very fun. But I like the composition of #2 and #6 better. Maybe you could bring the pirate story element into other comps: something like adding a tattoo on the hand to indicate it is a hand of a pirate.

Cool thumbnails :-), lots of energy.

Hi. I almost decided to skip the contest this time, but I really really want to draw the underwater scene (Which I have never done before).

So here are some of my thumbnails.
Which story is worth telling? which concept is interesting to you?

#1: A lazy Sunday walk with your pet seahorse.
Keywords: Playful, optimistic, relaxed, happy.

#2: The fish herder. (a mermaid holding a group of giant fish, swimming away into the deep sea.)
Keywords: Mysterious, surreal.

#3: let's go, big guy! (Tiny mermaid is ready to go for a walk with her giant fish pet)
Keywords: Fun, friendly, content.

#4: WIll you be my friend? (A mermaid with a giant hairdo, meets a tiny seahorse).
Keywords: curious, fun. playful.

#5 Tea party ( a human child is coming for a playdate with a mermaid. She is in the middle of the tea party (a bit of Alice in Wonderland reference).
Keywords: fun, playful.

Wow. Neat.

Wow, @theprairiefox very smart suggestion regarding the keywords :-). I definitely will think of that when I am going to do my printed portfolio.

I personally like No7 for your name. But I hesitated to recommend that. Now I read @theprairiefox 's comments, I think I know why - I do not feel your work is "Loose, rage, rough". I think option No.8 for your name might work better, it goes with your art style.