This is the art I received for my main character.

In a space-age afterlife where your body (and some relevant aspects of your mind) is determined by what your psyche wants, Chris Foster becomes a very young child again so they can deal with trauma. Here they choose the name “Solemn” and embark on their personal journey of self-discovery, mental health tools, and what it means to have real, loving family for the first time.

But when political activists kill off the seraphs (the afterlife’s demigod social workers and keepers of the peace) it is up to Solemn— who for non-convoluted reasons has become a seraph themself— and their newfound family and others who will fight to restore the compassion and dignity of this afterlife.

My novel is in its third draft and it’s super rich and I love to talk about it any chance I get. Ask questions or offer to look at the public draft, please! 💙

  • renard_roux@beehaw.org
    0·
    8 months ago

    Looks very nice, and story sounds interesting!

    Not that it matters, but it looks like some if the typical generative AI cues are present (looking at eyes, button, fingers, especially).

    Out of curiosity, could you share how much did you pay the artist (ballpark)? And were you expecting something “handmade”, or did you know you were getting AI generated (if that is the case, of course).

    • orphiebaby@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Also, if you want more details on the world or on why I am writing this, I posted a giant wall of text in the replies here. (Plus a list of character diversity, but that’s not the one I mean.)

    • orphiebaby@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Four people suggested this was AI-made, and I’m gonna be honest that it’s frustrating (not that I’m mad at you). I like to keep all stages of commissions; and so I have all dozen or so stages, plus the redline-work I did and sent back to them to help them understand what I was going for.

      The art style in this pic isn’t how I see Solemn in my head; but it gets the broad strokes down, and I find that it looks more like Solemn to me the more I look at it. I do wish it were more accurate to real body and feature shapes and proportions, but there’s only so many edits I can request before it starts being rude/frustrating.

      I paid this person $60 for their work, on Fiverr. They have a nice (and consistent) portfolio, and I told them they could put this pic up on it too!

  • Rin@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    this sounds fascinating!

    I’ve only ever once commissioned art of my characters before (just one, and it was a rough sketch with some canons from a video game) but I know it made me really excited and it’s been my phone’s lock screen for four years. I have no artistic talent so to see one of my creations come to life still makes me smile.

    what made Chris choose the name Solemn? what made you as the writer decide to write this kind of main character? who are the political activists? and lastly, what made you choose the afterlife as a setting?

    those are just some questions that came to me off the top of my head! I know how much I love talking about writing so I wanted to give you the space to gush and chat about yours.

      • memfree@beehaw.orgEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        Why? Because – and while I applaud you paying someone to do the art – the art reminded me of Nazi Propaganda. I was saddened to see another idealized blonde haired, blue-eyed Jugend/baby getting elevated to special reigning status. Most of the world is dark haired and brown-eyed. Why give Nazis yet another piece of fiction to subtly push the zeitgeist into believing the abnormal caucus folk are better than the lower masses?

        Less related, but stylistically similar: https://germangirlinamerica.com/history-hummel-figurines/

        • orphiebaby@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          0·
          8 months ago

          You know, I normally wouldn’t engage people like you, but all you’re doing is making me excited.

          List of some characters in my novel featuring an afterlife with everyone in it, in no particular order:

          Main: Chris Foster / Solemn Oliver. Born in Minnesota, a state which I live in

          Supporting: Chris’s social worker on Earth: African American male, lives in Minnesota

          Senna: Caucasian-looking female angel, “hair like the sun”, psychologist

          Ona: Asian-looking female angel, black hair, program coordinator

          Theeb: Middle-Eastern-looking male angel, black hair, attorney

          All three have stark white irisis, as seraphs do

          Main antagonist: Frank Callous: Caucasian male, born in 1840, fought for women’s rights in the US in 1870+. Is villain duo with his new wife

          Faraji: 11-year-old Tanzanian boy, on “orphan train” with Solemn

          Wai: 4-year-old Chinese girl, on “orphan train” with Solemn

          Callum: 13-month-old Scottish boy, on “orphan train” with Solemn

          All three cared for gently by Ona on the trip, and she speaks to Wai in Mandarin and to Faraji in Swahili

          Main: Lu Montsely. Caucasian female, Chris’s foster mom, strawberry-blonde hair, born in a Southern state (like my parents)

          Tony Oliver: Caucasian husband of Lu

          Kelly Vargas: Caucasian, sister to Lu

          Alejandro Vargas: Mexican-American, husband of Kelly

          Main: Jessi Vargas: Mexican-American 19-year-old, snarky ass-kicker, daughter of Kelly & Alejandro

          Alistair: African American male, best friend of Jessi

          Zoey: Caucasian female, redhead, born male on Earth, best friend of Jessi

          Samuel Salgado: South American man (unknown country), runs pet store on Nemesis, interesting info about vice vs. choice

          Mitzi: German woman, caregiver for regressees at her foster home

          Nikolai: Russian caretaker at Mitzi’s home

          Ms. Zuri: African caregiver at Mitzi’s home

          “Princess”: European, (unknown country), Caucasian girl, 5-year-old regressee

          Kimimila, “Kimmy” for short. Native American girl, intellectual, 12-year-old regressee

          Brandon: Tanned probably-American boy, 10, regressee

          Émeric: French man, liaison for Solemn’s family

          Villagers of Yéva Nol: Many of them proto-humans, as early as 50k to 100k years old. Dark-skinned, smart and awesome

          Enki: One of the villagers of Yéva Nol, Mesopotamian, super charismatic

          Nila: Indian young woman who lives in Yéva Nol, and Jessi’s new romantic interest. Talks about the benefits of both individualistic vs. collectivist social thinking

          Solemn themself is asexual, aromantic, and agender/gender-curious.

          Zoey is MtF trans and is writing a book on the “joys of gradual transitioning” instead of getting the body you want the moment you are reincarnated

          Jessi is lesbian