Thank you very much! Peony was originally made for a "blind date" challenge that got popular on Tumblr back in 2016. Two people would create characters completely from scratch, and then pair them up together no matter what. Unfortunately, the person I made Peony for ended up being of the pro-censorship sort so Peony ended up being single relatively soon after that.

I actually managed to find my original concept sketches from back in 2016, and from the looks of it her face shape was something I was set on from the get-go. I don't know if something back then inspired it, but I know most people were giving their monsters and aliens human faces with big kissy face lips and I probably went the opposite direction intentionally haha.

Her initial color concept was very different from her current design. It was green, yellow, and red, and she initially had some sort of symbiote/nano-prosthetics that replaced legs that she'd lost (according to my notes anyways, I don't actually remember). Kind of funny because Venom didn't come out until a couple years after that, so it wasn't a direct inspiration, but I did end up repurposing the idea for another character who I still need to finish and post.

I think Peony's colors/markings were me trying to force myself to do something simpler? I'm kind of known for my complicated designs but I can also do "less is more". I don't know if that was why I did it but the end result is the same I guess. I do really love "black/dark, white/light, third color" designs though, the contrast pleases my lizard brain lmao.

I wish I could remember more about her design process, but alas, it was 8 years ago and my memory is just not that good x)