The hum of insects and distant calls of birds in the canopy fill your ears as you traverse the jungle terrain. The air is thick with humidity and your clothing is drenched in sweat, but still you push forward, unable to resist this strange but undeniable magic that beckons you. Soon enough, the rhythmic thumping of drums can be heard, and it grows louder with every step you take. Laughter and music joins the beat, and you realize at last what this mysterious trek through the underbrush has brought you to. A party! As you brush past a clump of ferns, you trip on a root and stumble right into a clearing, and that is where your eyes first meet the colorful, boisterous, dancing creatures known as the Faeries of the Summer Court. They are as diverse as the butterflies of the rainforest, adorned from head to toe in leaves, flowers, or long feathers of every imaginable hue. They study you for a moment, seemingly unfazed by your intrusion, and then go back to dancing, a whirlwind of color and movement enough to make anybody dizzy. Only one seems to take any real notice of you, and she approaches now with a slight grin, her eyes locked on yours so intensely you find it impossible to look away. You hear her laughter somehow inside your head, and a voice clear as a bell even though she does not open her mouth to speak.
"Welcome to the celebration, dear Traveler. I'm so very glad you got our invitation, we were starting to worry you wouldn't show up. Come, share a dance with us now and perhaps later, I'll show you what else we do for fun around here."

For this month's themed YCH, I wanted to play around some more with the Samba dancer inspired costumes often seen at Carnival celebrations around the world. I drew Maraschino in one last year and even though it was tons of work, it was a also a ton of fun and I loved the result. This year I'm at it again, this time giving five pretty ladies the chance to dress up and star in the little story snippet above as the dancer who invites the viewer to join in. She will be given a pair of wings (if she doesn't already have her own) based on a tropical species of butterfly, with the colors chosen for her costume matching or complimenting those of the character and the butterfly.

These are proving to be just as much, if not more so, work as I expected they'd be, as the feathers themselves take quite a long time to color. The challenge is well worth it though as I think these girls are turning out simply stunning! ^_^

The first of our five dancers is 's Mylah and she brought her own wings, so I decided to include her butterfly as a companion instead. Species is a Richmond Birdwing.



Mylah ©
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