Jasmine as a Mermaid – Altered Coloring Book Art #5

It’s time for new altered coloring book art! This time I’m reimaging a coloring book page based on Aladdin. I’ve been so excited to give Jasmine a new look as…a mermaid!

We’re going to keep it really chill on the blog today, because as you may have noticed, I have taken an unintentional blogging break since early February due to my health. Coloring is a fun way to share something creative with you all, and it’s a comforting activity when my chronic illness knocks me down.

This is my way of keeping the creative juices flowing in spite of my limitations. I might not have the energy to create a new work of art, but I can create something new by looking at a coloring page from a new perspective.

I knew I was probably going to be very tired after my virtual birthday party, but it was really fun and I’m hoping to share about it on the blog soon. (Here’s that post! I share tips for throwing a virtual escape room; mine was set in Egypt in the 1920s!) And for the first time in four years, I didn’t have a cold and/or massive flare on my birthday, so that was a huge plus!

But then February brought doctors’ appointments and other medical work, and it really wiped me out. March started with a nine day ME/CFS flare, one of the worst I’ve ever had. I’m still dealing with a lot of health flareups, so thankfully I had this by post mostly written, and I thought I’d get it polished so I could share something fun on my blog.

I hope sharing my creative process inspires you to find more ways to be creative—whether that’s coloring or another hobby!

(Find my other makeovers of Disney Princesses here. You may have guessed Ariel is my favorite.)

Now because I’m obsessed with mermaids and the ocean (which even helped inspire my blog name) I immediately looked at the way Jasmine was sitting and thought “Her legs kind of look like a mermaid tail…”

So I decided to move Jasmine’s palace underwater. The fact that the picture cut off about an inch above the edge of the page gave me the opportunity to add in her mer fins.

I made the mistake of adding her fins with a fine sharpie (which bled) while shaking from tachycardia due to my Dysautonomia/POTS (which sucks). I should have known better and gone in with a black pencil, but I was aiming for making the lines the same shade as the coloring page.

Oh well, lesson learned. I was able to go in later and tidy up the lines but they got thicker than I wanted. But perfection isn’t the point. Onward to bringing this Disney mashup to life.

 

I went on to give Jasmine some new seashells. I also filled in the sides of her former blouse so it looks like she’s just wearing seashells, if that makes sense. I’m just going to ignore the bottom edge of her former blouse. She has a line on her midriff, no big deal!

Then I added details to her earrings and headband, aiming to make them look like mother of pearl. I also wanted to show that she was underwater, so in the mirror’s reflection, I made the lines defining her curtain into strands of seaweed.

(See some of the photos that inspired me while I was coloring on my coloring Pinterest board.)

PS Am I the only one annoyed that coloring books fill in characters’ black hair? Even as a kid, I wanted to fill it in myself or have the option to change the color. I really wanted to give Jasmine a blue ombre look, but alas. I even thought about tracing her hair and cutting out a piece of paper to glue on top so I could color her hair. I scrapped this idea because if sounded time-consuming and tricky (again, tachycardia), but I might try it in the future.

Then I added some scale details to make Jasmine’s tail look more realistic. In hindsight, I should have left more paper white to show off the scale details, but I’m still happy with how it turned out.

Then I went in and added some bubbles and a fish to sell the idea that Jasmine was indeed underwater.

Ta-da! Now I kind of want to turn more coloring book heroines into mermaids.

Like this post? Check out how I redrew these other Disney princesses: Steampunk Aurora, Fairy Belle, Rosie the Riveter Cinderella and Ariel as a Pirate.

Also, I have a few coloring book pages saved on Pinterest.

I hope this post inspires you to find a new way to be creative and relieve stress. Happy coloring!

What do you think of the idea of altering coloring book pages? What have you been creating lately?

If you give altered coloring book art a try, please share a link in the comments or tag my Facebook page!

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