This is the 1st panel from the 1st page of the MerDawn story I did for Joe Linsner of his character Dawn (originally published as the 6 page back up story in issue#3 Dawn Return of the Goddess in 2000). At this time he had never done Dawn as a mermaid, and I had always wanted to do her as one. We had known each other for several years beforehand via working for the same publisher, and I had expressed interest in doing Dawn as a mermaid...someday. So it came about that Joe wanted to see her done by me as a mermaid. There is a 7th page, which is like a page 0 to this story, which was published separately in his Dreams of Dawn issue for Wizard.

Dawns' scales are little skulls, so she has SkullScales. Her fins are like the petals of a red rose.

Dawn bursts forward out of the sea reaching high to touch the sky above. She spins upward to see this other world above her own realm. Here she shows her exuberant fascination for the dawn and other times that change the colors of the sky and clouds. She is joined by 3 dolphin friends that jump the waves with her and enjoy her playfulness.

This treatment is what I will bring to the new Elf~Fin comic/Graphic Novel I'm working on now with Julie Ditrich.

Art © and ™ 1999 Jozef Szekeres
Dawn © and ™ 1999 Joe Linsner