Mountain Chest

Our Heavenly Space Mom

Recently, I was contacted by some lovely people working on a press anthology on Carrie Fisher which focuses on her role as Princess Leia as well as her writing, her mental health advocacy, and the role of her Leia image in current feminist politics.

They commissioned this lovely piece, inspired by my original portrait Blessed Rebel Queen, to be the cover art for the upcoming anthology Our Blessed Rebel Queen: Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia (Wayne State University Press). Coming out in October 2021.

It was truly an honour to do this piece, to return to the origins of Blessed Rebel Queen and be reminded why I created that piece in the first place. And today, being Carrie’s birthday, seems the right time to share this piece with all of you

‘Cause sometimes the stories of how OCs come to be are just as interesting as the OCs, themselves. Tell me how your virtual kids came into the world.

What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind? 

How did you choose their name? 

In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts? 

Is there any significance behind their hair color? 

Is there any significance behind their eye color? 

Is there any significance behind their height? 

What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story? 

Are they based off of you, in some way? 

If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person? 

Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation? 

What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all? 

If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? 

What is something about your OC can make you laugh? 

What is something about your OC can make you cry? 

Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story? 

What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC? 

there are many young merfolk out there, so i felt the desire to create a badass elder for mermay :) she’s as much derived from as she is dedicated to the vuvalini of MMFR– i also sincerely hope she brings joy to my mutuals older than me who always delight and inspire me, and to all older women in fandom, really, who i continuously thought of while working on her

make a little mitten shape, a bump for the big thumb muscle, a line for where you want to knuckles to be (and where the fingers end), and you can work out how the hand does hand things~

you can make them more simple or more real, however you want! hands are weird, so don’t worry if they keep looking wrong for a while, once you figure out what works for you, it’ll click. If you practice like 10 or-so basic hand shapes, you can make slight variations on all those, and 10 turns into 20 different hand poses~

why should you make a webcomic?

it’s regular drawing practice

you get to draw and develop the universe your OCs live in

you could draw your OCs making out with context

see number 3

how can you make a webcomic?

make a new tumblr

install this theme https://www.tumblr.com/theme/37061

post comics as you would on any other tumblr they show up on their own webcomic site

what if nobody sees my webcomic :(

Wow. Talk about attention to detail.

It’s got an almost endless range of furniture, doors, windows, stairs etc and is easy to use. In addition to that, you don’t have to install anything and if you create an account (which is free) you can save and return to your houses.

Examples (all done by me):

Here’s an example for how you can use it