Mermaid prompts by age
“Use this prompt” fills in the generator and sets the detail level. Every page is drawn fresh, so if one misses, change one detail and try again.
| For | Prompt | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Ages 2 to 5Simple | a smiling mermaid with long wavy hair and a simple top, sitting on a rock holding a seashell, big simple shapes, no background One figure with a big tail and a shell: simple shapes and a happy face. |
|
| Ages 4 to 7Medium | a mermaid with long wavy hair and a plain short-sleeved top sitting on a rock, waves and a seagull around her, clean bold outlines Waves and a seagull add a seaside scene around one figure. |
|
| Ages 6 to 9Medium | a mermaid with long braided hair and a simple top swimming among coral and seaweed with small fish and a starfish, clean bold outlines An underwater scene with coral and fish to fill around the mermaid. |
|
| Ages 9 to 12Medium | a mermaid and a manatee swimming side by side through seagrass, clean bold outlines A legend next to one of the sea animals some people link it to (see below). |
|
| Teens and adultsMedium | a mermaid's tail curled on a rock, every scale drawn as a separate outline, with shells and starfish around it, clean bold lines Hundreds of scales to color one by one, in two or three shades. |
Color the tail scale by scale
- Rows of color. Give each row of scales a slightly different shade, light at the waist and darker toward the fin.
- A pattern. Repeat two colors across the scales, like a checkerboard.
- The fin last. Color the fin in long strokes along its lines, so it looks as if it is moving.
Where the legend may have come from
In European folklore, mermaids had the head and upper body of a human and the tail of a fish, and they loved music and often sang. Some people think sea mammals such as the dugong and the manatee, which nurse their young above water, lie behind the legend (Britannica). NOAA's answer to “are mermaids real?” is plain: no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found (NOAA).
A bronze Little Mermaid by Edvard Eriksen, made in 1913 after Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, is in Copenhagen harbor (Britannica).