You said sandwings were your favorite, so would you be willing to do Queen Thorn?
of course! I'm aware this design takes some explaining to do, but trust me... this IS Queen Thorn.
I think of all the times I've made a post that starts with 'this might be the time I take too much liberty,' THIS really takes the cake.
Thinking about Thorn as a character, I really wanted to bring out her more scorpion-den side, even if the redesign is set after she becomes queen. I feel that Thorn's most admirable quality as a ruler is her strong sense of identity and belonging among the citizens of the sandwing kingdom, and thought it unreasonable that she would make any real effort to dress/appear different after becoming queen (even if it caused a little uproar among sandwing nobles.)
Because of this, I decided to incorporate a lot of punk design aspects (for any new readers, my last post is about the scorpion den being punk.) She has a lot of spikes sewn/fastened directly to her under scales, as well as a little vest and tail bracelet with the outclaw patch sewn in. I wanted to give her some kind of royal-leaning attire without losing the vibe, so I added these leather-ish, chain-ish back piece meant to resemble a cape. Kind of. Onto her scales: Thorn's design is very on the nose: with thorn patterns (based on the name) and swirl patterns (reminded me of sand.) Finally, her frills are dyed! I imagine Thorn probably uses a blend of papaya or prickly pear cactus to get the job done, but the ends fade with time. That kind of makes me wonder if sandwing frills grow like hair..
As always, thank you all so much for your support and continued appreciation of this blog! If you're interested in making a request or viewing which characters are on the redesign waitlist, check my pinned post! I'm still working on determining my art comp prizes, but I can confidently tell you all it will probably be a redesign or draw in your style challenge!
