odonata redesign + lore

man bug aliens are a PAIN to design if your goals are a) not Just a human with a carapace b) must be damselfly/dragonfly inspired and c) fuckable. and fuckable both means attractive and not TOO animal-shaped and weird. i think?? hope?? i've landed somewhere that works with this new design, as seen in the first image. 

i spent a lot of the process thinking about how a damselfly might evolve as it became more intelligent. how it would manipulate its environment, how it would exist in an environment, what sort of clothes it would wear, what social behaviors would develop etc etc etc. a whole lot of overthinking for a series about fucking aliens but if i don't have that foundation for understanding the world it's harder to write and draw!! 

anyway. zygoptids. a damselfly-like species that spend most of their time hovering, grasping, or perching. they basically never touch the floor, preferring to land on designated perches or whatever's convenient. they can't walk upright on their legs, and would need to crawl quadrupedally if prevented from flying. they exhibit sexual dimorphism in the color of their carapaces, but genetic weirdness and variety crops up so frequently in their species that they have several genders outside simply male and female. odonata is physically intersex, having both a phallus and an ovipositor, and a red 'male' carapace. the blue markings on her carapace are a form of makeup as part of her gender expression, along with the style of her "skirt". zygoptids don't generally wear clothes on their thorax, as it just gets too complicated with wings and limbs. "skirts", gloves, and boots are usually all they'll wear, and even then it's mostly just off world. in zygoptid exclusive/majority communities, body paint alone is acceptable dress.

and i'm sure i'll think of more and inevitably tweak but that's probably more than enough info for the bug lady for one day