A face someone drew for me

On 25 September the picture of me on the about page changed. The old one was a writer at a desk among astronomical instruments. The new one was painted by an actual person: Rinchii, an illustrator I commissioned. Long dark hair, star earrings, a jewelled collar, and violet and crimson flowers on a dark ground.

It took about a week. Rinchii started with a pencil sketch and had already chosen the pose, turned so the collar and both earrings show at once. My only notes were to make the collar bigger, and the earrings with it.

The colour took longest. Rinchii tried purple first, then a dark reddish tone close to oxblood, and kept mixing until the flowers and the ground suited one another. The background that won is a dark brownish red, the only one that let the gold light sit right against the violet and oxblood blooms. Partway through, Rinchii admitted to being very picky, and restless until the work felt right. I know that feeling well.

Then the small things. The hair went darker, to a deep brown. The earrings were swapped for a pair with a soft glow and tiny stars around them. A golden shimmer went along the hair and the edges of the flowers, which is where the slightly royal look comes from. On the last pass I asked for the face to be a little less pale, and it came back warmer the same morning.

I asked for the picture never to be cropped. Where the layout needs it smaller, it gets smaller, whole. The small circle on the links page is the one place on the whole site it cannot be shown entire. Everywhere else, you are looking at all of it.

I also asked for it bigger. More than once. I kept looking at the page and thinking it was still sitting too small, until it finally looked like it belonged there.

This is not the finish of anything. It is one commission landing, on the studio's own page. I would rather pay the artists I actually want to work with, and it will go a piece at a time. I am not going to promise you a date for any of it.

I have kept this whole project faceless on purpose. No real name, no location, no photograph. That has not changed and is not going to. What changed is that the faceless author now has a face, and somebody drew it for me, flowers and all. That is a strange thing to sit with. It is also, quite plainly, a nice one.