shes done!

i finished her idol design :)

I wanted to share a few thoughts that went into this.

I'll abbreviate normal girl echo as NG and magical girl echo as MG so i dont have to type it out lmao
you'll get her name very very soon, i already have everything ready

Anyways
From the beginning on, I had a very specific dynamic in my head between NG and MG, and I had sketches of it reaching back to 2022. MG is an ideal, while NG is more grounded, in terms of design at least. I intended to have a bit of gap moe for NG, since she wore pastells despite looking very very tired lmao
The reason this changed is simply because my own personal style developed. I love pastells still, but it's easier to put together darker colours, and they also just look better on me. In 2023, the more modern idea of NG was born, and I created some first designs that haven't really changed as much. I just kept elaborating on them.

This specific version is her idol outfit. She is intended to be a more bust-heavy girl (although her size is nothing in anime standarts lmao), and her regular clothes just wouldn't convey that very well. So while drawing the more updated version, I ended up adding a toggable idol outfit underneath, so that I can truly provide the best of both worlds.

Her entire colour pallete is a direct contrast to MG, and I think I really managed to pull through on that. She's mainly black and red with silver accents, while MG is white and blue, with gold (and purple) accents. Even their eyes mirror each other, although that wasn't intentional lmao

Additionally to specific clothing pieces I own or saw and liked, there are quite a few references put into it.

I got the main idea for this sillouette and outfit style from the phantom rocket adventure guilty kiss outfits, although her skirt is more based on traditional idol plait designs that can be found a lot in the early 2000s and 2010s, especially popularized by AKB48. I'm a sucker for anything 2000s/2010s so I knew I had to add it to her lmao

Her gloves are references to µ's Bokura wa ima no naka de outfits. Anju Inami (leader of aqours) has adapted them for her CYaRon Genki Zenkai outfit as a tribute to them, and I always loved that idea so much, so I adopted the design for NG as well.
The chains on her skirt and the leg accessoire is also a reference to those costumes. The image of Emi Nitta and the µ's first live poster just had such a huge impact on me.....

The long ribbons that are attached to her glove will work better irl and in 3d than 2d, but I still wanted to add them. They're inspired by the Cheongsam set from school idol festival, and mostly by that one Nozomi scale figure that had the ribbons float really nicely lmao

The necklace thing that connects to her top is inspired by a shirt i preordered, her belts are inspired by a dress i have that has similar ones, the ribbons are based on some that I own, and her shoes are simply accessoriced mary janes lol

Her hair length isn't entirely real life accurate, but I'm so salty over my hairdresser incident that I didn't want to give her shorter hair LMAOOO

Down below are links to all references!!

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/love-live/images/2/21/Love_Live%21_Sunshine%21%21_Guilty_Kiss_2nd_LoveLive%21_%EF%BD%9EReturn_To_Love_%E2%99%A1_Kiss_Kiss_Kiss%EF%BD%9E.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20210716091254 guilty kiss outfits

https://www.reddit.com/r/AKB48/comments/17lhuds/what_are_you_favourite_outfits_of_akb48_and_their/ (plenty of akb plaid designs in the post here lmao)

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/love-live/images/d/d9/BushiroadCardGameLIVE2013_Emitsun2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150226180022 legendary emitsun

https://x.com/LL_Wikia/status/821589248390397952/photo/1 µ's first live memorial poster

https://x.com/makinozoniconii/status/1849160688171716849 Anju glove reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlAh7q8P3a0 Ribbon reference
https://schoolido.lu/collection/China%20Dress/ Full Outfits
https://myfigurecollection.net/item/317823 that really cool nozomi scale lmao

https://www.spreenow.com/taobao-agent/taobao/736542466590?option=com_jumi&fileid=27&shop=taobao&i=736542466590&url= Neck part reference ( I love this shirt SO much)

https://www.devilinspired.com/idol-dresses/hot-girl-lolita-idol-dress-jsk-by-alice-girl.html Belts and Corset inspiration