Lydia Tadina and the Myth of the Mother Pearl
Character Design: Lydia Tadina
A girl who by day is a shy high schooler (and debate team star!) but by night is a mermaid trying to solve the mystery of the mother pearl. Lydia is just a normal quiet girl living in a tiny valley town until her 16th birthday, when everything changes. Her grandmother gifts her a magic bracelet and reveals to her her family’s biggest secret - she comes from a long line of shapeshifting mermaids who immigrated her generations ago through a series of magical tunnels that used to connect every continent in the world. Now the tunnels aren’t working and Lydia takes it upon herself to figure out what’s wrong and fix them.
While Lydia’s character is quiet and reserved, I wanted to contrast her soft pastels and simple human form with the bright fantastical colors and swooping shapes in her mermaid form. Inspired by “mother pearl”, her mermaid form can shift from a darker blue-grey iridescence in the night to a lighter pink-blue pearly iridescence in the daylight. Armed with her backpack and bracelet, she is ready to take on the mysteries of the world alongside her cousins and extended mermaid family.
Storyboards
Throughout this project I created a mock title sequence for the show pitch, visualized here in the final animatic. To click between individual boards, use the gallery below.
