Creating Selkie! Bringing a character from written word to illustration.

Selkie Reid is a Lightscaper, created with a boundless ability to reshape the broken world around her. Unaware that she carries an immensely powerful gift, Selkie considers herself just a normal, everyday girl. On her worst day, she would consider herself unlucky or even worse, unloveable.

But from an Author's perspective, Selkie is anything but normal.

I consider Selkie to be a strong, passionate person, who loves quickly and deeply. She carries strong opinions, and is not easily swayed by convention. I see a lot of myself in her, if I am honest.

So beginning the task of bringing Selkie from written word to physical being was both exciting, and challenging.

I wanted to make sure that the character I had grown to love and connect with was not dulled or confused by a physical depiction.

Luckily, I found a fantastic artist who was able to take my physical description of our red headed heroine and bring her to life, in just a few short days.

Above were the first few drafts of Selkie.

In the end we decided to go with a more natural lip, to keep her more youthful.

What do you think? Does she resemble the Selkie in your own imagination?

Much Love,

Emily!