The monkey miraculous is already based on Sun Wukong, so I tried to figure out how to incorporate that in the design. Wukong’s iconic elements are the Jingu-Quan golden band (金箍圈) and the Ruyi-Jingu-Bang staff (如意金箍棒), however both of those are already parts of the miraculous; so it’d feel strange if the Kwami wore mini-replicas. I decided to style the hair strands like the Phoenix-Crown, and added the Fiery-Golden Gaze (火眼金睛) that sees truth.
I used Shenlong (神龍) as inspiration; a Celestial Dragon (usually dark blue/black) that can command winds, rainfall, and thunderstorms. The mystical pearl that Shenlong carries is a tool for controlling the weather— I colored it gold, as I thought it’d look better with the color palette. Something interesting I learned while researching, was the phrase “Shenlong falls into disgrace” (神龍失勢) which is a metaphor for a capable person losing status/power. Apparently this saying arose from a cultural shift after the fall of dynasties in China, and the focus shifted from appeasing nature to human resilience.