#aelynn stuff

themes that were kept in mind

CARNEVALE CONFECTIONS: A BLOODSTAINED MASQUERADE

Sogno Dell’Arlecchino + Blood & Candy

inspiration focuses were chocolates, vampires (blood and gothic), carnevale (harlequins), decadence and detail, and Italy. just. in general.

DRAFT 1, sketch

writing, from top left to bottom right

makeup is carnevale inspired, maybe jade for vampire/rainbow drinker

ribbon-like chocolate gift decoration (in hair)

drips - blood? chocolate? (necklace)

wavy hair to invoke pouring chocolate

cream filling or icing (around the hem of bust)

rhinestones in hair and in tulle for decadence

tulle (bustle) -> make it lace, more common in carnevale costumes

caramel drizzle, small jewels as 'salt' (decorating the gloves)

corset VERY IMPORTANT for vampiresque vibe

subtle pattern (on the corset)

like little maltesers (on the bustle)

alternating black and white (skirt panels)

the dress shape itself was inspired by several looks from 'salon du chocolat' fashion shows, however this was abandoned

DRAFT 2, lines (attempt 1)

switched to a long skirt for a more classic silhouette, skirt drafts

based on various cake decoration methods, asked in servers which i should go with and then tried to merge the chocolate chips and the icing for maximum decadence, however

chocolate chips were abandoned due to looking somewhat messy

some rhinestones were placed to replace them much later

LINEWORK, attempt 2 (i redrew the entire thing with a thinner lineweight)

as well as the things written here, i switched out the hairpiece from chocolate squares to unturned fangs and roses

i also included the rest of the moodboard i was using in this image so you can see the other things i was inspired by

COLOUR DRAFTS

tried roughly placing colour in this phase, wanted to have a bright lilac main colour to balance out the dark details and hair, since carnevale costumes tend to be extremely bright and eye-catching, tried to avoid using completely desaturated colours

decided to put the gradient at the bottom of the dress because putting it at the top made it look like it wasn't one piece with the bust, wasn't really happen with the contrast between the leg ribbons and the lilac however

part way through colouring i decided i hated the lilac, tried to darken it a little, still didn't like it, turned it black

decided to hand-draw a tonne of embroidery for the corset because most carnevale dresses have heavy detail in texture and lace pattern

the front two panels are paisley/plant-inspired and then the panels on the back which is then echoed for the translucent torso piece are geometric patterns based off of commedia dell'arte costumes for the character trope 'harlequin'

the torso piece also has small unique embroidered flowers in each of the larger empty spaces because seriously these carnevale outfits go so heavy on patterns

Earliest drafts:

Original the concept was inspired by Dragonmom, [REDACTED], who is in-character known for destroying several cities during a rampage a few sweeps/years ago but also like. mother nature.

In character, Aelynn did get all the materials and start on this, and was planning on making a counterpart outfit for her twin brother, but ended up not liking how it was turning out and scrapped the project.

CONCEPT 2 SKETCH

i'll type out all the writing on there + unwritten thoughts/elaboration

villainess knight vibes, but the beast lies beneath

fake horns for a scarier silhouette (also she canonically already had the materials to make fake horns)

lots of sharp points for hostile shape language

ghoul claws and eyes on for "beast"

tail still included in design because she already had the materials and it worked well for beast

red roses as a reoccurring theme each year to tie her outfits together, and also red is a 'dangerous' colour

holding something? gotta be something that fits the evil/villain concept

shoulder + knee armour for knight

"spine" down the centre of the chest

skull buttons, but might be too cheesy

wanted to cover the eye with dragonmom's symbol, while she's now dressing as a villain she doesn't want to represent dragonmom now

FINAL SKETCH

added a lot more chains, removed some of the 'knight' concept, did plan briefly for her to hold a sword for that, but thought the dress shape was better more for the royalty/princess aspect

didn't remove the shoulder armour though because. i like it.

more spikes for the beast/dangerous silhouette

didn't like that the chest was the only place with a bone/spine feature, so also included it in the tail. i tried to add some of it to the gloves as well but it just didn't look good.

speaking of the gloves, i made it so the gloves actually have a faint divide into her real hands for the sake of in-character being able to return her hands to normal for interacting with people, since her claws ARE extremely sharp, but when she has them turned they blend in almost perfectly

LINES + FLATS

make the heels ALSO spine just to have it reoccurring again

very dark palette but with the lighter purply-silver chains breaking it up

"red wine" is tinted closer to tyrian for. reasons. (eating seadweller reasons) (its not actually blood though)

tiara is replaced with a hair accessory tying some of her hair in a bun - in traditional formal settings, your hair should ALWAYS be up by classical western rules - and while aelynn isn't going to completely conform to that, she has enough hair that she can tie some up just for the appearance

still has a tiara SHAPE though for majesty/royalty reasons

she has her ghoul split-mouth not properly pressed closed for the fang shape it puts across her cheek for beast reasons - but she has good control and will not be opening the mouth past what a normal troll can do so it just looks cosmetic

FINAL PIECE: shown above

Thorns lace detail in the corset, thorns are often used in fairy tales (sleeping beauty, the original rapunzel) to ward off rescuers

Dripping "blood" makeup on one eye, just for drama really

Background is just an alternian skyline but with 'towers' and 'castle' like structure for the majesty theme