aug 24 2023 update: complete redraw of the ref, just cleaned it up & made it look a lot better! also lowkey featuring her, like, third cutiemark redesign from me butttt i think this one will stick hehe
view old version here: sta.sh/0y4z59t4x63

melody is one of my more written characters. she’s essentially a naive, rich girl who got a huge head start in life & got her cutiemark early. she’s musically gifted and an especially good singer; her voice is known to make the stars shine even brighter during the night! however, living in a rich society has put a lot of pressure on her to always do well & “fit in”, something that her birth defect has hindered. she recently moved out on her “own” (aka still living mostly off of her parent’s money & she’s also living with a friend, haha), looking to escape all the pressure of the high life and settle down somewhere maybe more lowkey or something. i definitely recommend checking out her toyhouse profile below, as i have written out her entire profile there. i’m bad at remembering things off the top of my head so it’s also probably way better written there too haha

design notes:

melody was designed & well-cherished by her previous owner here: toyhou.se/unicorrntears
i believe they are also active on instagram under the same “unicorrntears” handle but i don’t believe they have a deviantart for me to tag :(
she was in their hands for quite a long time - since 2018, at least. i was able to buy her in january of this year and so far i have done my best to show her the same affection <3
she is a lovely design, especially for her hair! really i love any sparkly bat pony :)
i did not keep details from the past ownership. she was a “sona” type character i believe and i didn’t feel comfortable keeping her past storyline, so this story is very different from what she used to be. however, her musical talent & overall visual design have remained the same. as well, i kept the name “starsong”, but edited it a little by making her first name melody. she did come with a different cutiemark, but i felt the urge to design something different. i actually designed two cutiemarks, and settled on this one… if i’m being honest, i’m still not that happy with this cutiemark, but i’m not currently interested in working on it more… it’ll do for now!