While I was working on my high-poly mermaid I was also working on the low poly/cartoony mermid concept.

the concept for this model was similar to the high poly version in that instead of a mermaid being half human with a fish tail I wanted to make it half human with a fish head. I imagine that this fish bites onto the head of weary snorkelers and controls them with its tendrils and telepathic abilities. The concept is supposed to be funny and I really enjoyed making it. 

I decided that instead of swimming the model should be standing as if the fish is using the human for her legs in order to walk out of the ocean. For the human to still function logically I added a snorkel coming out of the fishes gills. (after all the fish needs the human to stay alive in order to control her).

I painted the model in Photoshop and worked modular in order to work as fast as possible since I tend to slow down once I get to the texturing process. I made one fin and duplicated it, I made 1 scale and duplicated it 4 times to make 4 colors, then duplicated that group over and over until they covered the surface of the fish. I also created a variety of swim suits for the model. some bikinis and some one pieces in all sorts of colors. The one that got the best reviews was a green striped one piece. Which was also my favorite. ...the bikini was just way too sexy.

After making the model I thought that there was something missing. Something about the silhouette was off. So I experiemented with the body form and added a toy prop to balance out the top heavy feeling. (although I imagine that the girl would come out of the ocean staggering, barely able to balance the giant fish which is flopping and positioning itself. 

 This is a marmoset render of the two models: