PLEASE FULL VIEW!!!

So, guess what my favorite anime is (hint: no, it's not Sailor Moon, and yes, it's obvious in this image)

My entry for 's contest here: [link]

I wasn't going to enter this contest, but my muse decided that my idea was too good to pass up. Basically, I realized from this ( [link] ) image that the Moon Kingdom in Sailor Moon is a blatant rip-off of the Taj Mahal. It all went downhill from there...

So the idea became to draw Silver's past queens including Queen Serenity with the Moon Kingdom in the background, and using Islamic architecture as a reference point (specifically the Taj Mahal and the Alhambra). Well, for those not familiar with a lot of Islamic architecture, it's highly decorative. Like every surface covered.

Oh, did I mention that I got this idea a week before the contest deadline? Well, I realized that drawing the level of detail wasn't going to happen, so I thought using stock textures would help me get the effect I wanted. It would...but then I realized that my background now had the same effect as if I was doing Gankutsuou coloring. Being a huge Gankutsuou fan, I took it one step further and textured all the clothing as well.

The other five characters happened when doing some thumbnail sketches, and I realized my composition felt too empty. Normally I like a lot of negative space (and I still have a fair amount that's not people), but it needed more. So the other 5 happened.

There's a fair bit of symbolism involved with that. Neo Serenity sits on the wall with the others, but she sits with her legs on the other side of the wall looking back to Crystal Tokyo, symbolizing her ties to both. Usagi Luna, the one with the double odango, is supposed to be very close to her grandmother, so I drew her specifically looking more longingly towards her. I'm actually quite happy with how she came out. The rest were all poses that I thought fit the ideas I had of their personalities.

I think that's it drawing wise. Lots of sparkleys to help tie everything together, plus let's look at the facts: Sailor Moon, Gankutsuou coloring, Silver's characters, my obsession with shoujo sparkles. It kinda HAD to be shiny.

Hand-drawn (mostly) with rapidograph pens, coloring in photoshop. Time taken--dear god don't ask. O.o;;; My muse is a sadistic thing.

Stock list (be warned, it's long)
Pose stock:

[link] - Diana
[link] - Selene
[link] - Serenity I
[link] - Neo Serenity II/Usagi
[link] - Usagi Luna
[link] - Helia
[link] - Serenity Nyx

Texture and brush stock (I'm not going to try to match everything up)

[link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link] , [link]

Brushes downloaded off of dA
Obsidian Dawn: [link]
Other: [link] [link]

EDIT: How do I keep forgetting stuff in the description? Anyway, related drawings, for the curious:
[link] Initial sketch
[link] Lineart
[link] CG in progress
[link] Detail view of the 4 future queens/1 princess