My finished entry to ‘s contest to design a costume for her awesometrically pretty character Dinah.

Done traditionally in ink and white acrylic – time approx. 4 hours drawing time plus 5 research/sketch time.

When I decided to enter this contest the first thing I did was went back and re-read all the Bizenghast books I owned. From this I saw that the only really climbing/running outfit was Dinah’s costume in the last chapter of book one and this seemed to be a cute, feminine version of ‘ye olde’ boys clothes. Next I looked through all the other entries up on DA (to make sure I wasn’t using some one else’s idea) and sat down to research. I settled upon the Edwardian/Elizabethan boy look (as it was pretty and very different from the other entries) and sketched out about half a dozen ideas, from this I narrowed down my design to the essential components – the poofy shorts (for running) wrist length sleeves (for easy climbing) and short decorative tails at the back that wouldn’t get caught up in anything (and flats… of course ).

With these elements in mind I drew out what was to become the basis of the final design (which can be found in my scraps) I incorporated a decorative theme (the card suits) to make the design more interesting and then tried to settle on a hat idea. The end result has two ostrich plumes, roses, a tiny silver skull and a small bow on it to make it more ornate.

Lastly I actually did the final design for Dinah (and a cute matching hat for Edaniel )

I have several other design ideas for Dinah but whether I ever get round to drawing them or not… who knows?