Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: ecstatic
  • Music: Seanan McGuire, "Sycamore Tree."

Meet Sarah Zellaby. She is not impressed.

I really, really love commissioning artwork to go with my books. Having something to look at helps me focus in a weird way that's difficult to explain without maddened waving of my hands and possibly a few declarations of "Ice worms, dammit!" One of my favorite artists to commission is the ever-lovely Amy Mebberson, who did the art for my 2008 thank you card. She has since gone on to better and brighter things, becoming an artist for Boom! Studios, which doesn't leave her much time for private commissions...so when she opened briefly for specialized commissions to be picked up at the San Diego International Comic Convention, I jumped on it with both feet. Victory!

...of course, now I had to decide what to ask her for. I settled, after much deliberation, on the lovely Miss Sarah Zellaby, arguably the oddest of the current crop of Healy girls. She was adopted by the Bakers (Evelyn Price-Healy's parents) after being orphaned at an early age—if you can call "losing the host family your biological parents brood parasitized you to" being "orphaned." Sarah would. She was too young to know what she was at the time, and she still misses her human family.

Sarah's a cuckoo. A telepathic, ectothermic (cold-blooded) mammalian parasitic wasp with a decentralized circulatory system (she has no heart). She's also a mathematician, and a bit embarrassed about her species, so her cousins try not to give her too much grief about it. Verity would be dead a dozen times over if not for Sarah. This has not helped Sarah in her quest to get a life that doesn't involve textbooks, tomato milkshakes, and apologies.

I give you...Sarah:



Squee.
Tags: art, good things, incryptid, people make things
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  • 52 comments

herewiss13

July 6 2010, 15:21:49 UTC 7 years ago

Just when I think your stories can't get more amazingly weird! :-D

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 15:42:29 UTC 7 years ago

I love the cuckoos sooooooooooooo much.

dormouse_in_tea

7 years ago

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black_faery

July 6 2010, 15:27:30 UTC 7 years ago

That's an awesome illustration! I wish I could draw my characters, but for some reason I have a bit of a failure when it comes to drawing people from imagination still...

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 15:42:41 UTC 7 years ago

I understand your pain.

vixyish

July 6 2010, 15:39:04 UTC 7 years ago

The little bee emblem on her laptop bag is just the best thing ever.

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 15:42:56 UTC 7 years ago

Isn't it? It's like a happy warning.

marziek

July 6 2010, 15:39:20 UTC 7 years ago

Gorgeous illustration. I want more Sarah. I presume that there is a difference between having no heart and being heartless, n'est-ce pas?

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 15:43:35 UTC 7 years ago

Sadly true. Sarah sometimes thinks heartless would be easier.

ravenclawed

July 6 2010, 15:44:06 UTC 7 years ago

Fascinating character, and gorgeous pic. She has really lovely/haunting eyes.

One minor quibble -- I thought "endothermic" meant "warm-blooded" and "ectothermic" meant "cold-blooded."

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 16:09:39 UTC 7 years ago

You're right. I thought the right one and typed the wrong one!

Deleted comment

ravenclawed

7 years ago

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manynames

July 6 2010, 15:54:12 UTC 7 years ago

That's a lovely picture. She looks seriously intense.

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 16:11:31 UTC 7 years ago

She generally does!

ladymondegreen

July 6 2010, 15:55:57 UTC 7 years ago

She looks fabulous. I love the socks and shoes and the way she was clearly reading before Amy interrupted her for the drawing.

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 16:11:47 UTC 7 years ago

OH ALL RIGHT GET IT OVER WITH SKETCHMONKEY.

ladymondegreen

7 years ago

  • New comment

snowcoma

July 6 2010, 16:39:09 UTC 7 years ago

YAAAAAY! This is exactly how I pictured Sarah in my head! I love her, even if her eating habits make me queasy.

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 17:14:00 UTC 7 years ago

Hee hee hee.

aliciaaudrey

July 6 2010, 16:46:57 UTC 7 years ago

beautiful picture. I like how her eyes are blue but the rest of the picture's in black and white.

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 17:14:20 UTC 7 years ago

Me, too.

maverick_weirdo

July 6 2010, 17:10:56 UTC 7 years ago

Zellaby?

I thought her last name started with a T.

seanan_mcguire

July 6 2010, 17:14:31 UTC 7 years ago

These are not the droids you're looking for.

maverick_weirdo

7 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

  • New comment

bearhand

July 6 2010, 17:18:43 UTC 7 years ago

Do you know any one else that also does commission work? I'm looking at doing another mini Matt and Charlie comic.

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:32:58 UTC 7 years ago

You may want to check with Bill Mudron.

netpositive

July 6 2010, 17:43:06 UTC 7 years ago

Very cool. I really look forward to this universe. :)

Don't know if you've been forwarded this yet, but looks like viruses are not just for plushy cuddles anymore: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-06/huge-hiv-flu-virus-made-of-glass-put-world-plague-in-your-face.html

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:33:07 UTC 7 years ago

Oooooooooooooooooo.

eevieivy

July 6 2010, 17:55:36 UTC 7 years ago

That is so very full of awesome. :)

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:33:49 UTC 7 years ago

I love it.

azurelunatic

July 6 2010, 19:50:43 UTC 7 years ago

EEE CUCKOOS

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:33:59 UTC 7 years ago

YES!

lilrongal

July 6 2010, 21:21:31 UTC 7 years ago

I LOVE it!!

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:34:07 UTC 7 years ago

Me, too.

professor

July 6 2010, 21:45:56 UTC 7 years ago

Dear DAW,

Please buy the first 15 novels of the InCrytid series from Seanan.

Thank you, that is all.

-- Caitlin

dormouse_in_tea

July 7 2010, 03:28:13 UTC 7 years ago

Dear DAW,

Please listen to Caitlin. We will love you forever, and also make you cookies.

-- Olna Jenn

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

  • New comment

kvtaylor

July 6 2010, 22:50:11 UTC 7 years ago

I love commissioning artwork for similar purposes. And good god, she is just adorable.

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:34:29 UTC 7 years ago

I'm really super-pleased.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:34:37 UTC 7 years ago

Yes!

manwe_iluvendil

July 7 2010, 00:52:43 UTC 7 years ago

I totally understand the art thing. I used to just sketch the characters myself, but I'm only so good, certainly not professional quality. I love your artist. Who does your commissioned art and what are his/her rates?

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:35:16 UTC 7 years ago

I get commissions from a bunch of different artists, usually Bill Mudron and Amy Mebberson. Their rates vary by piece; your best bet is to check their websites for availability and price scale.

fayanora

July 7 2010, 04:50:35 UTC 7 years ago

You... you have a character that is a parasitic wasp.

Are you by any chance related to Wednesday Addams?

Hmm... well, I had a character once whose species reproduce by viruses that take over and transform the host body.

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:35:48 UTC 7 years ago

Telepathic parasitic wasps.

And no, I'm related to Marilyn Munster.

jawastew

July 7 2010, 06:57:13 UTC 7 years ago

I love it!!!

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:35:59 UTC 7 years ago

Me, too. :)

swevene

July 7 2010, 08:34:15 UTC 7 years ago

This has somehow totally cheered up my night. Awesome!

She's so cute.

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2010, 14:36:06 UTC 7 years ago

Yay!

slayground

February 17 2013, 03:27:30 UTC 4 years ago

Amy Mebberson is awesome.

seanan_mcguire

February 17 2013, 17:47:24 UTC 4 years ago

Agreed.