New character sheet for Citlalin! (Patreon)

There had been several design changes since I revised her character sheet last time. The major changes are listed below:

Color

Certain canvas settings on Procreate make the color of the image saturated, which I only noticed last year. Especially Citlalin’s color ended up looking more orange after multiple revisions because of this erroneous setting. Therefore, I used the original 2022 drawing to correct her color.

Flowers

In the previous version, the flowers decorating Citlalin’s hair were not carefully researched. Actually, I can’t even remember which flower I intended to draw back then. Therefore, I picked three specific flowers—sunflower, cempasúchil (Mexican marigold), and Mexican dahlia—that are native to Mexico and attested in historical sources. Also, her hair is now braided on one side rather than simply bound up like before.

Bodypaint

The details of Citlalin’s bodypaints had several inaccuracies. The primary source about ahuiani’s facial makeup is Book 10 of the Florentine Codex. “She paints her face, variously paints her face; her face is covered with rouge, her cheeks are colored, her teeth are darkened—rubbed with cochineal.” It is a bit vague on how exactly they applied red makeup on their cheeks. However, pictorial sources can be used to fill in the gaps.

On the one hand, Xochiquetzal from Codex Borgia is shown a flower design drawn on her cheeks. Xochiquetzal is the goddess of beauty and the patron deity of prostitutes, and in this scene her appearance resembles the real-world ahuiani—body covered with yellow ochre, red paint on her neck, and flowers on her head. So it is not a big stretch to assume that the flower design on her cheek is also intended as a part of this look.

Meanwhile, the Codex Azcatitlan depicts noblewomen with a blush on their cheeks that is absent in other individuals. Ahuianime often imitated the appearance of the noblewomen. For example, in the aforementioned Codex Florentine, the paragraph about the noblewoman’s appearance closely matches with that of the prostitutes. I picked the blush/rouge interpretation over the previous flower design.

The biggest change is the removal of the thigh body paints. For a long time, intricate designs painted on the thighs were an iconic image of an ‘Aztec pleasure woman.’ It was immortalized through the famous mural of Diego Rivera depicting the Tlatelolco market. However, historical sources about the appearance of both ahuianime and noblewomen don’t mention the lower body as being decorated. “The hands and neck were painted with designs—the necks were covered with painting. The stomach and breasts were also painted with designs.” (Codex Florentine Book 8)

So, I applied body paints on the parts that are explicitly mentioned in the Codex Florentine—face, neck, breasts, stomach, and hands. Lastly, I changed and added other designs on her breasts and stomach.

Etc

I added the pawpads to maintain consistency with my other canine OCs. I also made her much thiccer than before!