Hey! I like the idea of the mermaid having a helmet while the rest of the body stays relatively simple. However, you could try adding a bit more armor to make the design feel more interesting overall. Maybe something simple like shoulder pads or armor around the waist area, just so the design doesn’t feel kinda boring lol. When painting, try to always keep two things in mind: the direction of the light and the form of the object. Think of objects as simple forms like boxes and cylinders. Doing this helps ensure that your shading feels more believable and that it actually gives volume to the forms. Start by blocking in the shadow shapes first. After that, you can decide whether to refine the midtones more, increase the brightness in the lit areas, think about bounce light, and so on. You can see the pose correction in the upper-right corner. Ideally, the pose should lean more toward a 3/4 view, since right now the character feels too frontal. Hope this helps!
