Hello friends and community members,
I am joining the Dress Up A Bug contest of 
To start here is the finished look of the character that I designed. For my entry I chose this beautiful moth character made by
This is Lysandra she is known as the Velvet Monarch of the Gilded Sands. Lore says she was once a simple moth of the desert but she was blessed by the sun spirits to guard the oasis of life. She wears a flowing purple cape made from enchanted petals and her golden antennae are so sensitive they can pick signals even from the outer space. She loves attending a royal ball with her fancy boots and sash. If anyone tries to harm the rare flowers of the oasis she uses her extra arms to weave a silken web that is as strong and tough. I had such a fun and great time designing her outfit and transforming the original bug into this desert queen.
Here is how I made my drawing
For my rough sketch I always want to use symmetry to make the drawing process and conceptualization a little faster since the bug itself is symmetrical and I did not intend to put it into some action or specific pose. Just a static new character looking you in the face. From the reference image I used my color picker to determine the color palette of my new character like the purples, orange and blacks.
This is the reference image of a bug made by Kylin this is the one that called my attention of all the beautiful creations she made I especially love the purple color
Let us move on to the finished line drawing after the rough sketch
I want to make the antennae look more fluffy like they are part of her costume or outfit. They are like equivalent to a mink fur coat that is my idea. Initially I gave her a neat standing collar to give her that nice clean appearance and it props her head well. For the eyes I want them darker and bigger with white feather like lashes. The two rows of buttons on her abdomen are a nice touch they could look like eyes if that is the direction I prefer or they could simply be buttons. At this stage everythying is looking symmetrical but later on that will change a bit. The shoes I got no specific plan but they came out like this and they look good for me.
Now time to tweak the line drawing a bit by making it a little asymmetrical. First I thought she needs a tiny mouth to complete the look then added a few lines to define her antennae. I then changed the positions of some of her legs to break that symmetry and give her that illusion of dancing.
I then drew this big coat to complete the look. I kept the shape of her wings from the reference image to function like a velvet cape.
Time to apply the colors that I picked from the reference drawing like orange, purple and black. This is the easiest part you are just putting in the colors on the bug. The overall look is dark because of the purple and black, the moth's body is black but I had to make it a little lighter so she does not disappear in the purple coat. I had to pick a color that is lighter for the shirt and pants. I was thinking I needed another color but not too much different and overpowering so I pick this shade of blue for the tip of her shoes. Looking at it now I could have made them black instead. That is a minor detail but what do you guys think?
This part is just adding more depth and definition to the moth. I added a layer for the shadows and on top another layer for the highlights to make it pop even more.
The last part for me is give it a background. Options are endless and sometimes you get stuck choosing the background color alone. I do not want to give it much time and thought and I picked something that is darker. Hope it works.
Thank you for taking time to read about my process...Thank you to allyson and kylin for this wonderful contest.
If you guys think you are up for this contest please give it a go or simply support it with your likes. Let us appreciate the art made by our fellow creatives. Thank you for stopping by
Please be a part of the Draw A Day Community you are all welcome 🤗🤗🤗