Queen of the Underworld: Medusa's Secret Hideout

[Klaymoor]

Thanks Sunny-Zee!
You might be happy to know that I kept working on it and I gotta say I'm loving how it's going so far! https://imgur.com/gallery/MeVJ4Gq I might even upload this to dA and Instagram once it's finished.
It still needs a TON of work and IDK when it'll be finished, though. I'll try to keep you guys updated from time to time! Also, I think the scales on her arm, near the elbow, should be bigger, mmm...

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Do what you have to do, we’ll be waiting for you.
As for my two cents, maybe make the elbow scales, not just larger, but also less numerous, if that makes sense.

 

[Klaymoor]

As for my two cents, maybe make the elbow scales, not just larger, but also less numerous, if that makes sense.

That's pretty much the same thing, if the scales are larger, there's less of them.
While the ones on her hands and wrists have to be small and numerous, the ones on her arms and elbows not so much, as there is less movement there. The thing was, I was working SO ZOOMED IN, that I didn't realize they were so small, gonna fix that tomorrow at work

Weekly update! (sorry for double posting!)
Still slowly working on this, between commissions and my job XD
https://imgur.com/gallery/aEj088H
Had to do a TON of changes, but I think it's going fine, I can't really give an ETA, since I haven't even finished all the base colors, now I know doing lines first heps a LOT xDu
While looking at different pictures for references (dialogue sprites, 3D models and promotional material), I noticed several inconsistencies in her design, so I picked things from each of them and sort of 'frankesteined' a design I liked/felt comfortable with. I was thinking about shortening her dress a bit more, because she'd still drag it a bit at the curret length. (also, I have to give her some kind of underwear, that cut is 'dangerous' if you know what I mean) Opinions?

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Hey, if she has a floating dash like Palutena and Rosalina, I think we could get away with a dress that reaches the ground. Also, with a dress cut like that, some shorts are necessary, Wonder Woman style length at least, “Pretty Cure” style length at most. But all in all, It’s looking very good.
I think I should’ve posted sooner. In gaming news, an indie’s doing a Zelda spinoff, thoughts?

 

[Erotic&Heretic]

Hi! Sorry if I can't come by often recently. Klaymoor this look really great so far, keep up the good work!

While looking at different pictures for references (dialogue sprites, 3D models and promotional material), I noticed several inconsistencies in her design

Do you have some examples? This seems interesting to know actually!

In gaming news, an indie’s doing a Zelda spinoff, thoughts?

Considering I love both Zelda and Crypt of the Necrodancer, this is more than good news. I really need a release date ASAP. The gameplay of that game is as astonishing as it's soundtrack.
I especially love Aria's tracks (basically the really hard mode tracks, that are Metal Covers of the main OST).
Some examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-fHEZWxWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am05YeWW-Mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFABhkjao7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7fPfPBgfRU (this one's rhythm is a nightmare while playing)

 

[Klaymoor]

Sunny-Zee : If I'm not mistaken, Palutena has some kind of shorts in her Smash Bros model, I could use that as a reference. And about the dress length, I could show you guys what kind of length I have in mind, it'll still touch the ground, but it won't be as long as it is now.
And I'm super hyped about Cadence of Hyrule, just like E&H I love Crypt of the Necrodancer and TLoZ, it's only natural that I love the idea of mixing 'em both

Erotic&Heretic : Thanks! I'll list some of the discrepancies I found:
1- Number of snakes on her head. It varies between 10 and 12, this is something I caught on when I started playing the game years ago. I always drew her with 11 snakes, since it's the average, it's the number her 3D model uses IIRC, and it's also my lucky number! :D
2- Skin color. She's generally depicted as purply-pale-skinned, but it varies a lot, going as far as being paper white to near-Thanos levels of purple.
3- The red bridal gauntlet in her right arm. Usually hideen, most of the time you can see a small part of it. In some pictures it is long and covers most of, if not all, her arm. But in some other pictures, it's actually very short, barely going past the wrist.
4- Shape of her face. In Hirooka Masaki's (character designer of KIU) art, she has a somehow rounded face, but in her in-game dialogue art she has a more angular one (don't know if those were drawn by Hirooka himself, I'm guessing not because they don't match his style). Hirooka's drawings usually have a ton more of detail, too.
5- Size/shape of too many things to list. Medusa has a ton of adornments: necklace, bracelet, earrings, you name it. Most of them are highly inconsistent, like her necklace that chances size, shape and sometimes it's not even a necklace. Even some of her body parts change between pictures. In most of them her arms are basically cylinders, while in others they are slightly toned. Even the shape/size of her breasts change, especially in her dialogue sprites, it's very noticeable.

Honestly, the only things I found to be consistent are the overall color of her dress and adornments, the placement of her grey hair (yes, that orange snake is actually a grey hair, she's old) and the design of her eye tatoo (which, BTW, I have never seen complete in any artwork, it's always obscured by her hair or something else. Furthermore, in Hirooka's design it seems to continue to the side of her face)
Good goddess, I'm such a nerd >.>

OK, totally my fault.
https://www.deviantart.com/klaymoor/art/Choose-your-words-790597834

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Yeah, that streak is more for the gothic stylings of our girl more than anything.
Also, I like the sweater and ponytail that she’s sporting in that comic. Sells the casual mood of it all.

 

[Klaymoor]

It IS a grey hair, science says so
See that orange snake? That's an albino snake. They can come in a variety of colors, ironically. White, orange, yellow, even purple, and any combination of those colors. Some of those colors can be found on non-albino snakes too, so it's important to point out something: the eyes. Albinism causes reddish/pinkish eyes, and that snake is the only one amongst them that has red eyes, the others have yellowish orange eyes.
Albinism itself is caused by the lack of melanin, making living beings lose their coloration, giving them red eyes and a lot more of issues.
You know what else is caused by lack of melanin? Grey hairs! (or better said, loss of melanin due to aging)

This could also be one of the reasons while Palutena didn't want to say how old she was in KIU.

 

[Sunny-Zee]

That, and Palutena is basically an Olympian God (or the closest equivalent there of). Medusa, on the other hand, is often presented as just a monster, or a human-turned-monster, in classical mythology, and one with a very messy history at that.
Besides that, monster-face!Medusa has all orange snakes in her hair, so a melanin imbalance isn’t the sole reason for that ONE orange snake. But no matter what, gods are weird, in more ways than one.

 

[Klaymoor]

Mythological gods are like comic book characters, with ton of versions, retcons and stuff. x'D
Medusa has SO MANY iterations that many people get confused. Those stories haven't aged well, or better said, I don't know how the f*ck people thought that was OK in first place (it's also sad that things like that sort of happen in this day and age).
I see KIU as it's own version of mythology, basing its characters on Athena, Medusa, etc., picking things from here and there, giving them a twist, adding comedy and running with it. Not very different from what others have done in the past if you think about it. altough I wish everyone stopped using Medusa as a villain since she was clearly a victim
Palutena is like a "low tier goddess" in KIU, IIRC, often being looked down upon by other gods such as Viridi or Poseidon. IDK if that has some basis on greek mythology, I'm not very familiar with Athena TBH.
And yeah, monster Medusa has orange/yellow snakes, with glowing eyes n' stuff, IDK what's that about. And we also have to consider her "human" face is just a magical mask, there are many variables. x.x We should ask Sakurai or Hirooka. XD

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Well, stories in mythology and all their variations are very much driven by personal preference and social values. Heck, the lore details mentioned in the KI:U idol descriptions and the Smash "Guidance" segments aren't exactly reliable, based on observation and fact checking (Viridi flubbing on her "Ganon Canon" in Sm4sh, anyone?). That being said, at least Kid Icarus' take on Medusa being portrayed as a villain, by way of being a vindictive Goddess of Darkness, helps ease the pain of seeing ANOTHER antagonistic take on Medusa (any Freudian excuses not withstanding).
Back to the topic of Cadence of Hyrule, the fact that Nintendo is working with an indie dev could set a precedent for more "Nindie" collaborations. maybe we could get a new Kid Icarus game that way? (crosses fingers) Make it so, make it so, make it so!

 

[Klaymoor]

I see that as a possibility. They obviously started with TLoZ because it's a guaranteed success, maybe later they'll try new things with some other franchises that need some love (KI, F-Zero, Punch Out, etc).

I can't say anything about Smash guidances because I didn't take the time to do them, so I'll take your word for that. XD
I don't mind this Medusa being a villain because she's sort of a strong and serious female villain, which is something Nintendo lacks in almost it's entirety. She has her own motivations and plans, she doesn't give a f*ck about her 'superior' to the point of rebellion, she's not the flirty/sexy type of female villain (except for a little bit of sideboob), she's threatening and powerful in the game's universe. Sure, her initial motivation to hate humans is weak, but her hatred for Palutena is justified, and at least she's not being punished for being a victim (which she isn't in this version). I will say this though, there is one issue with all her revenge towards Palutena thing, and that's the Rewind Spring. What stopped Medusa from using it and going back to her normal self? :/ With that thing being turned into something else would be like a prank amongst gods and other divine beings in KI.
I also have a problem with how 'unclear' some of the characters' power levels are, but that's a whole different thing and maybe it doesn't belong here

 

[meleebrawler]

I see that as a possibility. They obviously started with TLoZ because it's a guaranteed success, maybe later they'll try new things with some other franchises that need some love (KI, F-Zero, Punch Out, etc).

I can't say anything about Smash guidances because I didn't take the time to do them, so I'll take your word for that. XD
I don't mind this Medusa being a villain because she's sort of a strong and serious female villain, which is something Nintendo lacks in almost it's entirety. She has her own motivations and plans, she doesn't give a f*ck about her 'superior' to the point of rebellion, she's not the flirty/sexy type of female villain (except for a little bit of sideboob), she's threatening and powerful in the game's universe. Sure, her initial motivation to hate humans is weak, but her hatred for Palutena is justified, and at least she's not being punished for being a victim (which she isn't in this version). I will say this though, there is one issue with all her revenge towards Palutena thing, and that's the Rewind Spring. What stopped Medusa from using it and going back to her normal self? :/ With that thing being turned into something else would be like a prank amongst gods and other divine beings in KI.
I also have a problem with how 'unclear' some of the characters' power levels are, but that's a whole different thing and maybe it doesn't belong here

Except, it's implied Hades was manipulating Medusa from the very beginning. The way I see it he planted her as a figurehead ruler of the Underworld to take the heat for the atrocities Underworld forces commited under his orders behind her back. Only once he's sufficiently riled Medusa enough with his engineered scorn of her by humanity does he tell his forces to follow her orders for war. After her first defeat he resurrects her, carefully cherry-picking the memories she has to manipulate her a second time. But then at some unspecified point in time he resurrects her again, but this time isn't as careful and Medusa somehow gets wind of how Hades has been playing her for a fool, possibly for longer than she can even remember. It's telling how at the end of the game, even though she has one of her supposed arch-nemeses at her complete mercy (heck, she doesn't even need to lift a finger since Hades is about to finish him for her), she goes out of her way to save Pit with her attack. It's not a case of her wanting to be the one to finish Pit personally because her boast of not playing the puppet anymore implies she realizes her past resentment towards him and Palutena is likely fake. It's tough to say if she'd stay a villain after all of this... they may have some lingering trust issues at worst, but they all now realize they have no real reason to be enemies anymore. And I think they have good reason to bring her back since, machinations aside, she was likely the kindest ruler the Underworld ever had and right now there currently is none, leaving a huge power vacuum and loads of mindlessly rampaging monsters.

 

[Klaymoor]

Excuse me dude, but that's looking at it with rose-tinted glasses. Gigantic ones.
Her resurrection at the beginning of KIU was nothing more than a distraction to hide Hades' true plans, using "a pinch of her memories and a ton of souls". She lacks a lot of memories "I... I don't remember what happened. My memories aren't what they were." Makes it sound like that Medusa was some sort of fake/puppet quickly put together for this purpose. But her hatred towards Palutena, Pit and humanity was already there, Hades didn't create it, it's never implied he had a hand at the events prior ro KIU.
Here's one of her idol descriptions:
Hades reconstructed Medusa from countless souls woven around a core of pure hatred for Palutena. Oblivious to the true cause of her resurrection, Medusa sets out to take revenge and conquer the three worlds completely.
At the end of the game she was SO fed up with Hades, she resurrected herself (IDK how that works and why she didn't do that before) from within him (I assume hers was another of the countless souls he absorbed) just to exact revenge on him: "Hades keeps reviving me, but I won't play the puppet anymore!" At that point her hatred towards Hades was stronger than that towards Palutena and Pit, so she crushed his head ignoring everything else. Her whole schtick is anger and revenge, and these actions perfectly fit her.
I doubt she was a kind underworld ruler, especially after seeing how she throws a bunch of petrified underworld troops at Pit during her boss battle. (maybe she's kinder than Hades, I'll give you that, but she's nowhere near being nice)

 

[meleebrawler]

Excuse me dude, but that's looking at it with rose-tinted glasses. Gigantic ones.
Her resurrection at the beginning of KIU was nothing more than a distraction to hide Hades' true plans, using "a pinch of her memories and a ton of souls". She lacks a lot of memories "I... I don't remember what happened. My memories aren't what they were." Makes it sound like that Medusa was some sort of fake/puppet quickly put together for this purpose. But her hatred towards Palutena, Pit and humanity was already there, Hades didn't create it, it's never implied he had a hand at the events prior ro KIU.
Here's one of her idol descriptions:
Hades reconstructed Medusa from countless souls woven around a core of pure hatred for Palutena. Oblivious to the true cause of her resurrection, Medusa sets out to take revenge and conquer the three worlds completely.
At the end of the game she was SO fed up with Hades, she resurrected herself (IDK how that works and why she didn't do that before) from within him (I assume hers was another of the countless souls he absorbed) just to exact revenge on him: "Hades keeps reviving me, but I won't play the puppet anymore!" At that point her hatred towards Hades was stronger than that towards Palutena and Pit, so she crushed his head ignoring everything else. Her whole schtick is anger and revenge, and these actions perfectly fit her.
I doubt she was a kind underworld ruler, especially after seeing how she throws a bunch of petrified underworld troops at Pit during her boss battle. (maybe she's kinder than Hades, I'll give you that, but she's nowhere near being nice)

How do you explain Pandora remembering Hades when everyone else failed to recognize her old body (Hades didn't either, but he is a sociopath). Or really any Underworld commander following his command after Medusa's defeat without batting an eye?

I don't know where you got that Medusa resurected herself the third time when you bring up a quote that suggests otherwise. How does he "keep" resurrecting her when he's only done so once according to you? And I'm not saying he directly influenced her thinking the first time, merely set up events to make her more likely to do so. Her hatred is "genuine" in the sense that she came up with by her own will, but if you believe Hades had nothing to with that at all, it makes her look really stupid. The cause of her hostility was not understanding why Palutena got all the admiration of humans; in what world does she expect to get that with Underworld monsters causing trouble? More likely she tried to be benevolent at first, but her minions went against her orders behind her back by Hades's command, and not knowing this, gets pissed and THEN declares war.

 

[HYRULESHERO42]

Man, I really need to get around to playing this game. I am so lost in this discussion

 

[Klaymoor]

I was very sleepy last night, maybe I didn't make myself very clear, sorry

When I said Hades not being involved in events prior to KIU I meant him not being involved in Palutena's and Medusa's falling-out (is that the correct expresion?) or the latter's hatred towards humankind. If anything, he saw an opportunity to further his plans and took it. He already had his army and generals (Pandora, Thanatos, etc.), so he "recruited" Medusa after she was banished to the Underworld, just to use her as a scapegoat. She wasn't ruler of the Underworld prior to this, she ruled Angel Land along with Palutena in the Palace in the Sky (it's worth noting that the english dub of KIU refers to Angel Land as the world as a whole -Underworld, Overworld and Skyworld- while the JP version Angel Land is just what we know as Skyworld, so there's a variable there).

She was resurrected twice as far as we know (died at the end of the original KI, resurrected by Hades at the start of KIU, died in chapter 9 and finally she was resurrected once again in chapter 25, she died seconds after, sadly :I). Maybe the "keeps" was an expression, mistranslation or just poor writing. I'll admit I might remember this wrong, but I always had the impression she resurrected herself, maybe it was the japanese version (I'm looking for a subbed version, no luck so far, might have been removed after all these years), or the 'Medusa vs Hades' idol description which lead me to think that: "Medusa saves the day! Medusa's surviving spirit stops Hades before he can deliver the finishing blow to Pit."

Medusa gives her reasons to kill humans in the manga, and it's pretty weak, IMO: https://mangapark.net/manga/kid-icarus-the-mirror-of-pathena/i1112131/v1/c1/27?zoom=2 (can we post links to this kind of sites?)

I'd love to know where you got all your theories from, because no source ever mentions anything about Hades setting up anything to make Medusa hate humans, or her being "jealous" of Palutena of getting all the attention. At least I'm giving you sources for my claims, dude.

EDIT:

Man, I really need to get around to playing this game. I am so lost in this discussion

DO EET, it's a great game! Altough I wish we could get a remake or something on Switch, that'd be awesome. (plus the graphics in the 3DS haven't aged well :/ )

Today's wednesday and you know what that means! Weekly update! (sorry for double posting, AGAIN)
Sadly, I haven't been able to work on this for the last couple of days, but the good news is that I'm almost done with the basic stuff and I'll be moving onto shadows soon! YAY!
Some details:
1-Shadows and lines currently shown are just as visual aids, they'll most likely change in the final product
2-Needs MOAR hair
3-Hair needs more work
4-Dress needs more work, length will be shortened
5-Belts are missing
6-Right arm may be re-done from scratch)
7-Not entirely happy with the adornment on her leg, might change drastically
https://imgur.com/gallery/qZsHCLT
I'm going to die working on this :'D

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Looking good so far, dude! But please, don’t work yourself ragged on a project like this. Take a break every now and then, maybe work on other smaller projects, and save your energy for more pressing projects. Overextending yourself doesn’t do anyone any favors in the long run.

 

[ZenythSmash]

I'm with ZenythSmash, the KIU model would be neat.
On a side note, here're some updates:
1-I'm going back to work after a couple of months of inactivity due to my surgery, and that actually means more time dedicated to drawing n' stuff, because my job is kinda relaxed. Just today I dedicated some time to coloring Medusa's Smash Bros design concept, while also trying something new, going directly into colors and shadows without using lines, and honestly I'm not entirely sure if I'm ready for such kind of stuff https://imgur.com/gallery/ti1sF9J
I can always draw the lines later. What do you guys think?
2-Finally had the chance to actually play SMBU last weekend (it was my b-day! :D), it took me a while to get the hang of it, but in the end I loved the game, Simon is so much fun, and I love this iteration of Link! :D

lookin swell!
and i hope you had a great birthday!!

 

[Klaymoor]

Sunny-Zee: Don't worry about that! I do work on other things to relax, may it be commissions or just random memes. If anything I need more time in my life to sleep. Also it doesn't help that random troubles appear every day, making me waste more and more time.
My tiredness comes from 2 things:
1-Medusa has a LOT of details and things to work with. BUT, while tiresome, I really don't mind working on her.
2-The method I'm using isn't optimal, actually making things more difficult and taking more time than before. Maybe I'm doing it wrong and there's a better technique to it. YT might help with that.
None of this is helped by my cruddy tablet that barely works. Right now I'm saving for a better tablet so I can draw better and faster. *0* Commissions can't come fast enough~
ZenythSmash: Thanks, dude! I had a blast on my b-day, I finally got together with my friends after a long time and I really needed it XD

 

[AwesomeAussie27]

Now that Medusa looks simply amazing, even for a WIP. Keep up the good work.

You now have my interest.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

comment deleted.

Wrong thread.

 

[Freduardo]

Man, I really need to get around to playing this game. I am so lost in this discussion

Fun fact, still has fairly common online games going. So you can still play online if you play now.

The streetpass bonus is pretty much never going to happen anymore though. And I don’t know if the AR cards were real or I’m misremembering.

 

[HYRULESHERO42]

Fun fact, still has fairly common online games going. So you can still play online if you play now.

The streetpass bonus is pretty much never going to happen anymore though. And I don’t know if the AR cards were real or I’m misremembering.

I own the AR cards. My sister got the game so I’m borrowing it from her to play haha

 

[Klaymoor]

Thanks AwesomeAussie27! :D

It's wednesday, so here's another weekly update!
https://www.deviantart.com/klaymoor/art/Medusa-Smash-Design-WIP-3-4-2019-792333668
I wasn't able to work on this for the past 4 days, so I rushed things a little bit today xDu
1- Wasted a lot of time working on things that aren't visible or ended up scraping. Realized she doesn't have anything on her left thigh in her animated short, so she shouldn't have any in this design either. I still have someof the adornments I worked on, but they seriously look weird.
2- Shortened her dress as previously mentioned, looks better IMO, but it could be a tiny bit shorter.
3- Made some makeshift shadows. They are visual aids to see if anything's wrong. Helped a lot in some regards. They also are the base for the final shadows, so you guys can have an idea of how she'll end up looking. Also, they will be darker in many areas.

Things to do:
1- She's still missing her belts and corresponding adornments.
2- Just realized her nose is a little "short" and kinda crooked, gotta fix that.
3- Her lips need better shadows, they don't look "round" enough.
4- Her dress needs still needs some work.
5- Gotta give her some underwear, just in case. It'll be barely visible, right behind her right hand.
6- I'm not completely sold on her skin color, honestly I like Hirooka's super pale design, but it's sort of hard to work with (at least to me XD)

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Don’t forget about that little red gradient near the bottom of the dress.
In all seriousness though, this is looking very great so far.

 

[Klaymoor]

Ah! Good call dude, I totally forgot about that! XD

 

[AwesomeAussie27]

That Medusa looks amazing. You really did go all out and she’s just how I imagined for a more Smash friendly appearance.

 

[ZenythSmash]

Thanks AwesomeAussie27! :D

It's wednesday, so here's another weekly update!
https://www.deviantart.com/klaymoor/art/Medusa-Smash-Design-WIP-3-4-2019-792333668
I wasn't able to work on this for the past 4 days, so I rushed things a little bit today xDu
1- Wasted a lot of time working on things that aren't visible or ended up scraping. Realized she doesn't have anything on her left thigh in her animated short, so she shouldn't have any in this design either. I still have someof the adornments I worked on, but they seriously look weird.
2- Shortened her dress as previously mentioned, looks better IMO, but it could be a tiny bit shorter.
3- Made some makeshift shadows. They are visual aids to see if anything's wrong. Helped a lot in some regards. They also are the base for the final shadows, so you guys can have an idea of how she'll end up looking. Also, they will be darker in many areas.

Things to do:
1- She's still missing her belts and corresponding adornments.
2- Just realized her nose is a little "short" and kinda crooked, gotta fix that.
3- Her lips need better shadows, they don't look "round" enough.
4- Her dress needs still needs some work.
5- Gotta give her some underwear, just in case. It'll be barely visible, right behind her right hand.
6- I'm not completely sold on her skin color, honestly I like Hirooka's super pale design, but it's sort of hard to work with (at least to me XD)

its super amazing :D

 

[Klaymoor]

Hey guys! It's weekly update time!
Did some stuff between yesterday and today, and while the changes aren't HUGE, I really like how it's coming up!
https://www.deviantart.com/klaymoor/art/Medusa-Smash-Bros-Design-WIP-10-4-2019-793258688
Checked everything in the list from the last update, except her lips, I think shadows are the way to fix them and I haven't started working on those yet. Also, shoutout to Sunny-Zee for reminding me of the gradient of her dress, it looks so goooooood!
There are some little things I still have to work on, but I'm almost done, yay!
EDIT: THANK YOU DeviantART for ruining the picture's quality, very nice >:I

BTW! Do you guys think they used Eris as an inspiration for Medusa? She's very similar!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ppyu8H7Xbs

 

[Sunny-Zee]

First off, thank you for the shout-out. I don’t need to tell you it’s looking great so far, on account of the possibility of repeating myself.
Second of all, I don’t think it was intentional on Sakurai’s part to make Medusa look similar to Eris in Sinbad, but the resemblance is pretty noteworthy nonetheless (also, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is always a win *ding*).

 

[Klaymoor]

I didn't mean intentional, but more as an inspiration. But it could also be some kind of "evil goddess" trope we don't know about, too.
BTW, by any crazy chances, does anyone have this ( https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net...ceptart.png/revision/latest?cb=20160422044313 ) but in a higher resolution? I kinda REALLY want to see all the details of the back of her dress.

 

[Sunny-Zee]

From the looks of where I searched (what little I did), that IS a higher resolution than normal. Kind of discouraging, I know, but you can still make out some important details (like how the trinkets along her back are, for the most part, reused from the ones seen from the front).
On another note, what other alternate colors do you want to have as alternates? Personally, color palettes inspired by "Dread Bowsette" and a handful of official Nintendo bad girls like Hilda and Captain Syrup would be very welcome. Hey, if you can reference (or be reminiscent of) things like adaptations (Anime), characters from other series (Koopa Troopa), and/or characters from other mediums (G Gundam's Domon Kasshu and Berserk's Guts) in your alternate color schemes, I don't see how we can't reference a meme character/scrapped concept design (Dread Bowsette/Bowser Peach is complicated like that) for Medusa. Maybe this could be a cursed idea, or an absolutely brilliant one, but I am throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks.

 

[Klaymoor]

I did notice that the belt adornments are mostly the same as the front. But the necklace is kinda weird, it looks similar to the front but different at the same time. It also has some other inconcistencies in her design: some pictures show that her necklace doesn't go all around her neck (as in a "C" shape), and the hook-thingy in her shoulder is pointing to the side while every other picture (even the front view of this one) shows both of them pointing upward.
But what I was really interested in is the pattern in her sleeve, since I needed that for the drawing, and it's different from the front.

And for alternate colors, I only thought of her NES colors, kinda boring but it's almost obligatory. Other than that, nothing comes to mind. Some typical colors could be OK, such as black, green, blue, etc. Maybe Palutena and Virid based ones, but those seem a little redundant. I remember someone saying a Pandora themed one, IDK how that would look, those are very light colors and would look kinda bland with Medusa's pale skin.
IDK why Zelda doesn't have Hilda as an alternate color, it's such an obvious thing!
I try to stay as far from Bowsette as I can, sorry. :v

 

[Sunny-Zee]

I understand, I called her Dread Bowsette for a reason, after all. Those are all good points, things to consider when working on character art.
Also, a “Link Between Worlds” Zelda with no Hilda in any way shape or form? Inherited grey hair Zelda with a purple dress a la Cia isn’t enough, really.
Update: Guys. Version 3.0 is upon us.

 

[Klaymoor]

You all know what day is it! Weekly update! (I'm seriously considering moving them to friday, but it's almost done so there's no point )
https://www.deviantart.com/klaymoor/art/Medusa-Smash-Bros-Design-WIP-17-4-2019-794183668
As the description says, I wasted a looooot of time on stuff that didn't matter in the end, plus I had to rework some stuff. That being said, I THINK I'm done with all the details and I can finally move on to lights and shadows (I'm skipping the seashell thingy on her waist). Oh, boy, I'm not looking forward to work on them snakes xDu

On a side note: I usually show screenshots of my progress to a friend who likes to see WIPs of artists and so on. When I showed him the golden spirally thing on Medusa's left arm, he said it looked like a donut. That gave me an idea for a not-so-Smashy skin that could be fun.
Candy Medusa/Sweet Tooth Medusa! The hooks on the left side of her dress could be croissants, the belts could be Red Vines, the bracelet an ice cream cone, and her hair could be made of gummy snakes. :D She would also have cookies and candy as adornments. XD

Aaaaand also, I realized Sedusa from PPGZ has a ton of similarities with this Medusa :v

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Oh man, a dress that looks like it was made from Candy Land scenery sounds like one heck of a joke skin, perhaps a “holiday” one at that.
Well, Sedusa is a portmanteau of “Seduction” and “Medusa,” so some resemblance is kind of a given, even in the original Powerpuff Girls series.

 

[Klaymoor]

I'll give Candy Medusa a try after I finish this one, but using my cartoon Medusa for simplicity's sake.

I mean, the overall color scheme and the "hairstyle" are very similar. Character-wise they are very different.

Early weekly update!
https://www.deviantart.com/klaymoor/art/Medusa-Smash-Bros-Design-WIP-24-4-2019-795094295
Wasted 2 days trying to fix a problem with my notebook, couldn't do it but found a workaround for the time being xDu
As you can see, I removed the old shadows and started working on the real ones. Her hair is more complicated than I initially thought, I felt lost for a while until I started seeing it's shape in my mind and it all makes sense now.
In the upcoming days I'll be working on the rest of her hair and the snakes, which might be very painful TBH xDu (damned scales!)
I want to finish this so baaaaaad ;_;

 

[Sunny-Zee]

A creator’s harshest critic is the creator himself. I am familiar with this problem myself. Try to keep calm, focus on what you need to get done.
In terms of actual critiques, I liked the flow and shading of the dress in the last update, but I like the skintone and shading on Medusa herself. You lose some, you gain some, I guess...

 

[Klaymoor]

The layers with the shadows of the dress are still there, but hidden so people don't get confused with the new ones. I was planning on using them as a reference for the real ones once when I get to the dress.