My Characters As Inspiration

A few weeks back, I was contacted by one of my readers and asked if I minded if she did a piece of fan art for my character, Tricia Miles.  Whoa!  That was a surprise, and very flattering.

Last week, Alyssa White "presented" me with the finished art.

I like it, but I think this is more how Tricia must have looked when she was a bit younger.  (She's 40 in the first book.)  So I think of this as "Single-In-Manhattan Tricia."

The thing is, I really DON'T have an exact picture in my mind of what she looks like.  I know she has short brown hair, is slim (she works at it), and his shorter than her sister. (I know exactly what Angelica looks like--I found a picture in a magazine that screamed:  "I'm Angelica!" (except maybe 10 years older than she is in the books.)

This isn't the first time I've had artwork made for my characters.  I wrote a novella using Richard Albert and Brenda Stanley and fan artist Pam Loomis drew them.  I knew what Brenda looked like (I supplied her with a picture), but she drew Richard as she saw him, and in my mind--that's him!

It's very nearly perfect, except for one thing:  Brenda is at least nine inches shorter than Richard.

And of course, there's Jeff--the star of the Jeff Resnick series.  I commissioned a piece of artwork by the amazing Karen River, who is well known for her pen-and-ink illustrations.  I also supplied a  photo for it, but she gave him longer hair (which I asked for) and make a few other minor alterations.  Both these pieces of fan art hang over my computer desk.

Will I ever receive another piece of fan artwork?  I don't know -- but it sure is nice to think someone is inspired by something I created.