Mishelle Redesign and Rewrite: (I can’t pick a palette I prefer)
This is my second redesign, after Holly and Poppy O’Hair to fit my rewrite.
Design notes: (I changed the spelling of her name because it’s always bothered me)
This version falls into ‘Sea Creature Who Grew Legs’ as Apposed to ‘Sea Creature Who Turned Human’.
The ridges on her scalp create the illusion of cornrows, and the coral growing out of the side of her head become afro puffs. I struggle in character design with balancing details, so I had to abandon more details on her body such as gills, scales or patterns to make her clothes more dynamic.
I was inspired by the scene in Disney’s The Little Mermaid where Ariel has made a makeshift dress out of ship sails and rope, which lead me to basing Mishelle’s outfit on the Greek Toga. I wanted her to stand out from the other princesses who have poofier fabrics and more stream-lined silhouettes.
(I refuse to believe mermaids have zippers and buttons underwater. This Mishelle struggles with above-water fashion and just wears whatever is most comfortable to wear and put on. Except for the stilettos, because if walking can’t get any harder for her, why not wear six inch stilts?)
However, I ended up making Michelle’s clothes more colourful than just plain white ship sails. 1) I had already redesigned Holly with a more neutral palette, I didn’t want to re-use my ideas. And I wanted Mishelle to be far more whimsical and naive in personality, and as such used brighter, more glaring colours to get across her childishness and excitement. As opposed to the other Royals pastels and three-colour palette, Mishelle is inspired by coral reefs.
(A small play on the Constant Agony that the original character had: I gave her forearm crutches. Her mermaid brain and human body have no connection, and she really struggles to force her lower body to move correctly. She’s not in pain, but there is a real emotional struggle behind it.)
Which Palette Do You Prefer?
Option 1: Orange and Green
Option 2: Pink and Blue
Remaining time: 3 days 21 hours
Character Rewrite: I’ve made another post saying I wish Holly, Meeshell and Crystal become more prominent characters once Ashlynn, Blondie and Cupid’s storylines ended (or at least stalled). And so we can get new perspectives from the Royal side, and get to know about the world and social system outside of the school.
The main Royals characters seem to have been pretty isolated in their social class and all been told the same propaganda, but Mishelle could’ve been raised with a completely different culture, but one that still embraces the Royal outlook. Make Apple and Daring see the concept of a Legacy from a different perspective that makes them ask questions.
And with that Mishelle could’ve been a way weirder character:
This could be her first time communicating with words and lungs instead of humming and vibrations like fish do.
Someone asks her a question and she just screams at them, and then smiles blankly. She can’t quite tell the difference between which Loud Mouth Noise correlates with which emotion.
She could use the wrong pronouns; preferring to herself as a ‘We’ because she was raised to see herself as a part of a colony, not an individual. Or interchangeably use ‘It’, ‘Them’, ‘She’ and ‘Mine’ regardless of if she means a person, object or concept. She just can’t remember the difference or why it’s important.
(Non-binary Meeshell is real to me. That fish does NOT understand gender at all. She just lets people call her ‘Her’ because she forgot that it’s gendered. She thinks it means someone important because 90% of the Royal Legacy Holders are girls).
She could keep dropping everything she’s handed, or just randomly collapse because she always forgets gravity is a thing now.
Also another post where I gripe about how Ariel is a way more interesting character than people give her credit for, and she shouldn’t be lambasted in those tacky articles proclaiming The Little Mermaid is setting women back to the Stone Age.
