Custom Doll Project: Mermaid

Hello everyone,
 To start this post I finally figured out how to repaint a whole doll's face.
 I used an Ariel doll. At first I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with her,

but I started out by using non-acetone nail polish remover: 

( This type of nail polish remover is safer...even if your hands do get a little wrinkled in the process.) 

It took a little bit of work, but her paint started to come off... 

In the end I decided not to remove everything (partly because it was hard to get into the gaps and crevices, and plus I could just cover it up with paint) the next I did was to rinse her off with water from the sink and then I waited...

I came back after a few days, 

and I figured out what I wanted to do with her... 

(my drawing of a mermaid came from this post on my writing (drawing, and acting) blog) 

I decided I wanted to make her look a mermaid from my fantasy book series, All is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again. (This picture is what I had in mind when I repainted her.)

          First I made a outline with pencil (as I have seen many doll customizers do in their videos)

I  then painted on eyeshadow to her, and tried to make it stand out more than it had before. 

(I am not sure how well that worked though.) 

Then I painted in the white space and began working on her eyes.

The next thing I did was to start working on the scales under the eyes (This is common trait of mermaids in my fantasy story.)

I then repainted her lips.

As it turns out part way through the outline of the eyes didn't work, so I had to cover them up with paint.

I then painted the scales to be blue and green to match her eyes and eye shadow.

I then painted on eyebrows and added pupils into her eyes.

Next what I did was to paint scales around her ears (since I cannot exactly do the elf-like ears that have scales on them.) I also painted them the same blue and green colors but I unfortunately didn't take photos of that.
I also made the scales under her eyes look more scale-like.

After that I began cutting her hair since I wanted it to be a more natural red, as opposed to Ariel's red hair...

Once I had done that I began gluing on yarn. 

Until her hair was more natural looking. 

After that I realized I was not completely happy with her eyebrows, so I ended up coloring them in. 

I then drew scales onto her arm. 

Then I began working on her outfit, I used blue felt for her tail, and used silk leaves for her shirt. However I didn't take any pictures of that. 

But here are some photos of her tail from different perspectives: 

Before:                                                              After: 

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I was really busy with Camp NaNoWrimo this April,  which is why I didn't post very much, but I hope to post more this May. In the meantime...

Have you ever done a full doll repaint before? What's your favorite fantasy/mythical creature? 

-Quinley