There were two immediate responses when I first put out a call for help sketching up a hybridized Dahlia. While I immediately made a beeline for Ciraeon to put together a face, I brought the results to Bayte so that we could get the rest of her body sketched together. He went right to work, and much like the last two people that did Dahlia R&D, Bayte hammered this out in record time.

With her face already understood, most of the changes to her figure were fairly straightforward. Her paws were replaced with tiny little hooves, her legs stretched a little further because I had an excuse to make her even taller. With her clothes out of the way, we could show the mass of fluff on her neck, and see the attachment points of the arms. The arms themselves were changed slightly, as discussing those sockets made us both come to the extremely obvious-in-hindsight idea of making her arms doll-jointed. That may have been the point that finally sold me on calling her Dahlia (Dollia?), as well.

I had a bit of a moment when I saw this face the first time; that little squeeze in the heart that tells you that you've got something special on your hands. I love her design, I love the character that's slowly starting to emerge as I write this.

Art: Bayte (original)