I started planning and drawing concepts for "Apparent Secrets" back in 2014, and started writing the actual story in earnest for the "True Love on Tapas" contest. Early drafts of the novel featured only Zayzann as a roommate, but eventually evolved to include Byxx and Khazmine as well. Here are some early turnsheets of the roommates:

Iris was designed first, as I knew early on roughly how she would look. Iris is always wearing slightly oversized clothing in the novel, with special care taken to cover as much skin as possible, especially around her neck and shoulders. Later iterations of Iris's clothes are much baggier than this, giving Iris the look of a little kid playing "dress up" in their older sibling's clothes. Even this early on, she's got Amaranth's earrings, and her worry stone on a necklace (though it's usually in her faux leather bag in the novel).

Khazmine went through several iterations before I landed on the final look, with this turnsheet being the closest to her final design. The hardest part was designing each layer of clothing that went into her daily wear. Khazmine has the most complicated outfit of the roommates, but it's pretty standard day wear for adventurers on Chromaldus. Khazmine's hair got a bit more wild in later versions, but everything else is largely the same about her. Early sketches of her have the electrified charging cable coming out of her wrist, while the novel's cable is nestled midway down her forearm. 

Zayzann's the only one who got colored pencils back in my concepting days. This guy went through over a dozen versions before I got him where he needed to be. He's largely based off a fusion of multiple birds (stellar's jay, cockatoo, cassowary, macaw, and an eagle). He originally had zygodactyl feet like an owl's, but I dropped that idea in favor of more ostrich/cassowary feet. I have more sketches of Zay than any other roommate by far, as it took ages to figure out how he moved, made facial expressions, and how his crest of cranial feathers worked. 

Poor Byxx never did get a proper turnsheet, but he did get the most sketches of his younger days, all the way down to wee baby Byxx. I have a drawing of his armor around here somewhere, but for the time being, here he is in capri pants. The archfiend would go around in a T-shirt and shorts full-time, if he could get away with it. Otherwise, he's in his gambeson, pants, and armor back on Chromaldus. Later versions of Byxx filled out a bit, and he became much more broad-shouldered than Zayzann.

Promo time! To kickstart our first update after Inksgiving, feel free to ask me (or my characters) anything. I'm happy to answer questions you have about Apparent Secrets (without giving away too many spoilers), so feel free to drop your questions in the comments below, and I'll have responses in next week's update, along with our regularly-scheduled bonus!

Thank you so much for your kind attention and support.