This is my take on Helryx the first Toa.
(All drawn with pencils and colored in with colored pencils )
I will go over some of this drawings features.
For the torso I wanted to look as close to a mata torso as possible without straight up replicating a mata. I made the torso very spindly and in some parts see through, it’s full of pistons and the like. I added some tubing going from the bottom to the top as a nod to the original moc. I enjoy that detail. I also added the weird technic ball some of the Mata had on their chests. Helryxs hands and feet are kept in line with the moc. I just added a few extra details on the back of the mata feet, to invoke more of the water element.
For the armour I made it look as alien as possible why still in line with the Bionicle universe. I took some inspiration from sea shells and the like hence the deep milky purple appearance,
For the background I took some inspiration from the Bionicle Gali 2001 instruction book cover where Gali is climbing a pile of rocks. I thought it would need to have a simple homage to it. I added some glowing rocks around Helryx, as if she’s using her mask to learn about them. (I also added a little “Easter egg” towards the top of the drawing )
For the mask of psychometry I tried to make it invoke the style of a mata mask. The mask takes inspiration from the mask of time, the hau and the kau kau. I chose to include some laments of the hau because the mask of time was one of the first masks ever designed and I thought it would be nice to add some nods to that mask in helryxs mask because she is the first Toa after all. The hau was incorporated because that mask is one of the most iconic so I thought it would be an interesting idea to take some inspiration from it. Finally the kau kau was utilized because it is the first water Toa mask ever released.I also incorporated some “fins” onto the mask to convey more of the water element. I picture the mask being the same color as Gali 2015. Makes it stand out.
The Weapons are fairly different from the base moc. The shield for example is now circular and the mace is slightly shorter and thiner. For the mace I wanted to invoke the idea that it was made out of gears and that it was something that looked alien. For the shield I took some more inspiration from the mata and made helryxs shield similar to kopaka mata. I decided to add the Bionicle logo as an additional detail. It seems very fitting.
Finally I tried to make this drawing a bit dark to invoke some mystery. I wanted to make helryx look very ancient and alien and making her a bit darker achieves that in my opinion. Her colors are pretty sillier to the mocs with exceptions with her shoulder armour chest armour and shin armour as well as mask. I’m pretty happy with how this drawing turned out. It takes lots of details from the mata and looks unique enough while not departing away too much from the original moc.