i was so excited to do this one lucy is my absolute favorite out of the main cast of characters i just LOVE HER SO MUCH
same as with natsu's design ref i'll be putting my headcanons down below! i've noticed tumblr kind of eats up all the details/quality of the images i upload but zooming in helps if you want to see!
around age 4-5: baby lu! so the timeline for lucy in the series is a little odd, it's hard to tell how old she's supposed to be and when, but i figure around the time she got michelle and was painted into that family portrait this is how old she would be! sweet baby giiiiirl
around 9-10: how old our girl is when the main group of characters in the guild were joining fairy tail! so around when happy was hatched. of course lucy wasn't in the guild yet herself, but this is also around when she would have first learned about fairy tail and decided she wanted to join someday! don't worry lu, you only have to wait a little longer AHH
age 18: lucy when we meet her! at the start of the series she is just less than a year out from running away from home. imagined her as less physically strong than she is later, not much muscle, a little skinny. she lived a very sheltered, high society life before running away from home, even if she hated it, so i think she wouldn't really be very physically strong at this time. this is when she meets natsu and happy! our girl finally has a family nobody talk to me im gonna CRY
age 21: post alvarez war/pre 100 year quest! oh how the years have changed you baby girl!! lucy is much more physically fit, she's not as ripped as someone like erza by any means, but she's a lot stronger and has more visible muscle definition. she's also got a lot of physical reminders of the trials she's been through; the biggest/most notable of which is the scars from when she rewrote the book of e.n.d. to save natsu's life. gray used his magic to put out the demonic fire that was burning her, but i think that's something that would have left a permanent mark. other things that have changed, her right eye now has an orange tinge to it, a remnant of her fusing with the infinity clock. lastly, the mark from aquarius gifting lucy the use of her magic. i've always wished that the times when magic leaves a mark on the characters (lucy with aquarius' magic, cana with fairy glitter, gray with silver's magic, etc.) were permanent, so i made it that way! she's also got a few other scars, bumps, and bruises, just part of the job of a wizard!
thanks for reading this if you did! i could ramble about my favorite characters forever uuuuuugh i love them so bad
i'll be doing erza next i think! either her or gray! im excited to do wendy but i feel like i have to do the first 4 members of team natsu first or it just feels wrong lol