Ruby Rose/Behind the Scenes

Throughout the production of a series, a lot goes on behind the scenes in regards to planning and design, which often go through multiple stages before resulting in the final version that is seen on screen. Some concepts and ideas can have an effect on the show and characters, and unexpected occurrences during production can also lead to changes and additions to the plans for the show.

Character Basis
Ruby Rose alludes to the character Little Red Riding Hood from the fairy tale of the same name, which follows Team RWBY's theme of fairy tale allusions. This allusion has had the following influences on the character and show:
 * Ruby wears a red, hooded cape, much like Little Red Riding Hood.
 * The "Red" Trailer, which introduces Ruby, features her walking through a forest and being attacked by a pack of Beowolves, which are wolf-like Grimm. Little Red Riding Hood traveled through a forest, followed by a wolf, which later ate her grandmother and attacked her.
 * Roman Torchwick's nickname for her is "Red".

Emblem
Ruby's emblem is a rose, which Monty Oum described as a "scatter" rose. She shares this emblem with her mother, Summer Rose. This emblem appears on some of Ruby's possessions:
 * Original battle outfit - her belt buckle.
 * The ear pieces of her headphones.
 * The cover of her journal, seen in "The Shining Beacon, Pt.2".
 * "Slayer" alternate outfit - on her skirt.
 * Her wallet
 * Timeskip battle outfit - the buckle on her cape.

Original Battle Outfit
Ruby's main appearance for Volumes 1-3 changed multiple times during development, and three of the previous versions of her original "battle outfit" have been shown to the public.

Volume 2 Production Diary 2 shows a colored version of a piece of concept art by Einlee that had been previously released. In this art, her hair is a dark, dull red, and she is wearing an off-white long-sleeved shirt with thin red ribbons around the wrists. She wears a black waist cincher that has shoulder straps that cross in the back, and the front middle of it is red with black criss-crossing laces. Her cape is attached at the shoulders by cross-shaped clips and appears to have a hood. Around her neck is a black collar-like accessory. She is wearing an ammo belt diagonally across her torso. Hanging from her skirt are a few chains on her left side and two metal crosses in the front toward her right. Her boots lack any laces whatsoever.

The lower half of an early 3D model Monty made is almost identical to the final version. Overall, the black color of her clothing and hair appears to be lighter than the final version, and there doesn't appear to be any red coloring in her hair. She wears a black blouse with a thin horizontal strip of red fabric on the chest, possibly the top edge of a pocket, and the ends of her sleeves flay out. The top portion of her cape encircles her neck, resembling a thick scarf, and it appears to have a hood.

In the "Red" Trailer, she is wearing the same outfit as her final version with only two differences:

The end card of the "Red" Trailer, and the subsequent trailers, features a portrait of Ruby that was drawn by Einlee. This portrait uses a design that appears to be a mix of her appearance in the "Red" Trailer and her old concept art. Most of the outfit is the same as in the "Red" Trailer, but it has the following aspects of her old concept art:
 * The metal buckle on her belt is a cross instead of her scatter rose emblem.
 * The top of her cape encircles her neck, narrowing in the front. In the final version, her cape attaches at the shoulders with cross pins.
 * Her cape is attached at the shoulders by cross-shaped clips
 * The middle of the front of her waist cincher is red with black laces

Childhood
Ruby's outfit from the flashback in "Burning the Candle" can be seen more clearly in a piece of concept art by Kristina Nguyen.

Ruby is depicted wearing a red, hooded, zip-up, sleeveless jacket that has a pair of wide pockets. There is a short, red cape hanging from the back of her jacket. Under the jacket, she appears to be wearing a white sleeveless shirt. She is wearing a short black skirt and a pair of small black shoes.

This childhood outfit bears similarities to Ruby's original battle outfit, most notably the color scheme of red and black, the red cape, the hood, and the black skirt.

Volume 1 Pajamas
A piece of concept art by Einlee shows three different designs for Ruby's pajamas.

The first design features Ruby wearing a light pink, short-sleeved, hooded sweater with three large, white buttons down the middle and a pair of small, triangle-shaped ears on the hood. For her bottoms, she is wearing a pair of short, black shorts, and she wears a pair of thigh-high light pink and white striped socks with black patches on the heels and the tips of the toes. With this outfit, she is carrying a Beowolf pillow.

The second design more closely resembles the design that made it into Volume 1, with only one difference: The third design is a pale pink onesie with three large black buttons down the middle, a pair of pockets that each have a black button, and a hood that has a large, white poof ball on top. The onesie has a pattern of light pink clouds, pink scythes, and yellow lightning bolts. On her feet is a pair of dark pink slippers, each of which has a small, white poof ball on top.
 * Instead of the light pink roses in the final version, her pajama pants have light pink hearts and heart-shaped Beowolf heads.

It appears that one possibility that was considered, was for Ruby to simply wear an over-sized short-sleeved shirt.

Concepts With No Change
There is no visible difference between the show and concept art versions of the following outfit.

Production

 * Monty confirmed that Ruby is left-handed because he was left-handed. However, she is seen wielding her weapon with her right hand just as easily. Monty stated that it is "common to switch both hands while fighting, especially to make it interesting."
 * Early designs for Ruby were set aside and later used for Miltiades Malachite.
 * Ruby's lines in the "Yellow" Trailer were recorded after her lines in "Ruby Rose". Her voice sounds different in the "Yellow" Trailer because of the way Lindsay Jones delivered the lines.
 * In order to get into character before recording lines, her voice actress, Lindsay Jones, often yells Yang's name in Ruby's voice multiple times. She also stands in the recording booth barefoot and sometimes listens to Red Like Roses Part II.
 * In the original Volume 1 Opening storyboard, Ruby is first shown in the beginning, walking alone in a forest. She is then shown again at the end, walking in front of a full moon, then looking up to see Weiss, Yang and Blake, before taking Yang's hand.
 * After Volume 3, Rooster Teeth changed animation software from Poser Pro 2013 to Autodesk Maya. With this change, the animation department also made all new models for RWBY. The Ruby Rose model's eyes were given a slightly different shape, and her face has modeled lips. The newer hair model gives her the same hairstyle but slightly longer, which was shown in her Volume 4 concept art.