How to Design a Mermaid OC

This is part of our design series on How to make an OC! – the ultimate guide to character building.

Mermaids are a popular type of character in media and mythology who appear to be half human and half sea creature. How do you design a mermaid OC of your own? Let’s talk about it!

Defining Your Mermaid OC’s Personality and Backstory

First off, you want to know what kind of merperson you’re designing. A villainous mermaid might have a different design than a mermaid protagonist. Another thing to consider is where the merfolk are located too. If you need some ideas of what to think about, here’s some questions to consider:

• What’s the personality of the mermaid?
• Are they good, evil, or morally grey?
• Where in the ocean do they live, and would it affect their design?
• What’s their status? Are they royal? Commonfolk?
• Do they have any powers?
• What’s their story?

If you’re wanting to design a scary antagonist mermaid, try taking inspiration from some of the spookier sea creatures rather than using a traditional mermaid look! Or, if a mermaid lives at the bottom of the ocean, researching sea creatures that live down in ocean trenches could be especially helpful.

For more ideas for a mermaid OC, check out our article on mermaid myths to use for OC inspiration.

Designing Your Mermaid OC’s Physical Features

Since mermaids aren’t exactly human, they often have interesting aquatic features – and not just tails! Depending on what kind of mermaid character they are, you could add details that make them look more or less human. If you need some inspiration, here’s some ideas to get your creativity flowing:

• Scales
• Fins instead of ears
• Pointed ears
• Glowing eyes
• Glowing limbs
• A fantasy skin color
• Gills
• Colorful markings
• Webbed fingers
• An anglerfish lure
• Translucent skin

The above ideas are just a few of many different details to add to a mermaid. Sea creatures have many different cool and strange aspects to their look. For some more inspiration, try doing some research on ocean creatures. Some of my favorite marine animals are deep sea creatures – there’s all kinds of odd creatures down in the deep! Some are transparent, others glow, some have no eyes, and lots of other things. Utilizing nature for inspiration can be a great way to create a unique mermaid OC.

Mermaid OC Hairstyle Ideas

Another thing to consider is the hairstyle the mermaid OC will have. There’s lots of fun hairstyles to choose; a mermaid doesn’t have to wear their hair down – but that’s perfectly fine too! For some hair ideas for a mermaid OC, you could try:

• A long flowy ponytail
• A fin mohawk
• A fishtail braid
• A wavy half-up style
• Curtain bangs
• Tentacle hair
• A pixie cut
• Bubble braids
• Side braids

Depending on how sea creature-y you want the merperson to look, you could give them hair that doesn’t look like normal hair. Aspects like tentacles, fins, or other things can be used as hair instead. Try playing around with different ideas to see what you like best for the mermaid OC.

If you need some more ideas for how to choose character hairstyles, and not just merfolk ones, we have an article all about how to choose a hairstyle for an OC.

Mermaid Tail Design Ideas

Time to design your mermaid OC's tail. It’s probably the most important part of designing your mermaid character. They could have a normal fish tail, or you could base their tail off of a different sea creature! Need some ideas? Here’s some to consider:

• A koi fish tail
• A clownfish tail
• A sea angel tail
• An eel tail
• Octopus tails
• Squid tails
• Jellyfish tails
• A shark tail
• A stingray tail
• A lionfish tail
• An orca tail

There are all kinds of unique ocean critters to use for a mermaid OC's tail. Some creatures have average fish tails, some have tentacles, some have translucent tails, and much more.

A mermaid doesn’t have to have a normal-looking tail either. Play around with unique shapes, colors, or patterns to create a beautifully unique look for your merperson!

Fantasy Details: Scales, Fins, Gills, and More

As you design a mermaid OC's look, one thing to think about is incorporating ocean-themed elements into the design. There’s plenty of different underwater aspects to use for OCs. If you need some mermaid-themed ideas, you could try:

• A cloak with a fishtail pattern
• Turtle-shell themed armor
• A coral-inspired crown
• A bubble-themed set of hair ornaments
• A water-themed skirt
• An iridescent scale pattern
• A wave-shaped hairstyle

Since merfolk don’t usually wear normal clothes and accessories, there’s a perfect opportunity to use sea-themed ideas to decide what they might wear.

If you want more ideas for coming up with possible design ideas, why not take inspiration from your day-to-day life?

Choosing an Ocean-Themed Design Element

Next, you’ll want to think about clothing to give a mermaid character. Merfolk might not always wear the same kind of clothing as a human, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give them unique clothes anyways. If you need some ideas for clothing to give a mermaid, you could try:

• A shell top
• A fishnet poncho
• Fin-themed sleeves
• A crop-top with ruffles that mimic waves
• A flowy blouse
• A scale halter-top
• A coral-colored tube-top
• An asymmetrical skirt with a fin pattern

What kind of clothing you give an OC might depend on the type of mermaid or their story as well. Another option is to think about what the OC might wear based upon their unique personality. Try considering what materials the mermaids have available to them to make clothing out of too.

Mermaid OC Accessory Ideas

Another thing to consider for your mermaid OC is their accessories. There’s plenty of fun options to use for a mermaid OC design. A mermaid might use things found in the ocean for their accessories. If you need some inspiration for accessories to add, you could try:

• A coral hair clip
• A shell crown
• A pearl headpiece
• A pearl belt
• A kelp boa
• A trident
• A conch instrument
• Starfish ornaments
• Golden armbands
• Clam shell earrings

Try taking your favorite ocean items and see how you can turn them into cool accessories for merfolk OCs. Accessories could be inspired by different fish, sea creatures, sea plants, coral, or other things. A mermaid might use human-made objects that fell to the bottom of the ocean as accessories too. Maybe they found a sunken pirate ship filled with items unknown to them – and turned them into accessories! 

Wrapping Up Your Mermaid OC Design

There’s plenty of fun ways to create a unique mermaid OC. It can be fun to pick accessories, design their tail, and more. If you post your merperson here on Unvale, be sure to use the tags merperson, mermaid, or merman so your other merfolk enthusiasts can find your OC!

If you need other OC ideas, there’s blogs on how to pick the perfect aesthetic for your characters, how to revamp your old OCs, music-based design tips, and more.