CC and DD Before and After

Here's something just for fun. ^^

Above is the very first concept sketch of Daybreak Dazer (<=not a typo) and Sarsaparilla Sancoche (<=yep, you read that right). This was still WAY before I scripted any of the future strips (I have a total of 95 pre-scripted and we're only up to 13), so I was only just getting a feel for the characters.

By this time I knew I wanted them to be removed from the MLP universe, and thus have a a more chibified appearance -- large head, small bodies, big hair, no cutie marks. But they were still going to go by the their full names, Daybreak Dazer being a way to avoid using "Daybreak Dazzle" (an inversion of "Twilight Sparkle", as well as a brand of glasses or something) and Sarsaparilla Sancoche being intentionally ridiculous food reference. XD

Daybreak was originally meant to have "megane"-style glasses (later switched to CC), a sharp flip on her front hair, a ponytail (but no tousle), and overall had a savant air to her that made her more Rarity-like. Our current DD is still technically the smartest of the two, but it's not as in-your-face obvious.

Sarsaparilla was more visibly Pinkie Pike-like with an overtly bubbly personality; her hair was also more bowl-shaped, giving her a toe-headed, baby-like appearance. She was also intended to use different colours (although the red hair stayed the same). And interestingly-enough, even though she did have a cowlick, it was her tail that was meant to be more of the living appendage (her cowlick being more decorational).

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Hop on over to the "After" section, and you'll see the "final" vector sketches I made a few days later, which finalized their appearance and overall personality.

Now "Daybreak Dazzler", or better known as "DD", her glasses are gone, her character is given a healthy dose of sass, and the introduction of the yellow tousle offers a competing point of interest to CC's cowlick (in addition to making her hair dual-tone).

She also swaps hair styles with CC, inheriting the bowl shape while CC inherited the forward flip.

Now "Cherry Churro", or better known as "CC", her personality is toned down a ton, making her more subtle and circumstantially (rather than forcibly) cute, and her colour was ultimately settled on orange-yellow. Also, her cowlick was made sentient and is now her most identifiable feature. ^^

But not to let a good name go, I did at least cameo Sarsaparilla Sancoche for a bit....

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And there you have it, a quick look into a facet of SDC history. I'm still amazed by how well it's done in the past 3 weeks, especially given this comic was conceived just as quickly as well, no more than 10 days prior to the Pilot.

I guess if inspiration strikes and its not too much trouble, just take seize it and see where it takes you.