EUTS: Origins

Back in 2006 I had this idea.

I wanted to change my art direction to something more serious and personal. To something original and focused. I wanted to express my passion for science fiction and have my own original characters that I could illustrate in story like scenarios.

It probably comes to no surprise that the concept of the story is based around a personal fantasy. The creation of Neelix was to put things I found attractive, together. Both his physical appearance and personality.

The first concept for Neelix was to make him a loner type. A sad awkward individual, down on his luck, who kept to himself because no one really wanted to be around him. His occupation was a janitor because it fit the stereotype.

I wanted his appearance to reflect all of this, so his eyes are sad, yet hopeful; his torso long and gangly; a tooth that stuck out to make him seem a little awkward. I didn't want him to look ugly, though. I wanted the viewer to feel sorry for him and find him cute. Like he was the underdog you root for.

One inspiration for Neelix comes from Seymour from Ghost World (the movie version). I've always fancied Steve Buscemi's performance and appearance in that movie. Preed from Titan A.E. was also a big inspiration which I know many have noticed. Titan A.E. has a special place in my life because it was the first movie my boyfriend *H-Falcon and I ever watched together. The overall atmosphere of the movie (the grungy sci-fi industrial look and the music), was one thing I wanted for EUTS.

Heather was both a reflection of myself, and intended to be this shell. Self insertion at its finest. However, I didn't want her to be me. She shares some traits, but she is supposed to be her own character, yet have room for anyone viewing the art or reading the story, to step into her shoes and be her if they wished. This obviously works better for a female viewer, but I welcome male readers who can relate to Neelix in any way, to feel something special, too.

Over the months, however, some of these concepts changed quite a lot. By the time I posted "Please Let Me..." later that year, I had decided not to make Neelix such a sad character because I felt it was too extreme.

I was also a little worried by what people would think of this "New Direction" I kept going on about at the time. My gallery was mostly filled with video game fan art and a few anthro characters. I never thought that people would care about these two new characters named Heather and Neelix, let alone ask to see more and to know their story.

I had received such positive feedback that I felt inspired to tell the story through illustrations. However, just like now, back then I jumped around a lot in what I was doing. I've always been very passionate and involved in the video games, movies, and other media that I enjoy a lot, so fanart will always pop up in my gallery. This of course has resulted in long waits between EUTS content for my viewers (months, even years at times).

An important thing to remember with EUTS is that it is an ongoing work in progress story.

Viewers of EUTS have come and gone over the years. My characters have developed. And I have grown a lot, in many ways I never expected to, such as becoming a writer. Or really, just a person telling a story that people wanted to hear.

One extremely special thing about writing out the story, is being able to share the experience with .

When I began working on it again heavily back in 2010, he expressed to me how important it was to him, too because we had spent so much time talking about it - sharing my ideas and concept art with him. I wanted him to have an even deeper involvement, so I created Muora and Ala for him, whom then became an important part of the stories' plot. Later, he came up with the character Sniffs.

And I cannot express enough how important *H-Falcon is in the creation of this story. Every idea. Every rough draft. Every drawing, is shared with and gone over with him. The story went from just something I did on my own, to a full collaboration of ideas we bounce back and forth off of each other. He respects my final say, of course, but it has truly become something special and precious because I was able to share and create something with the one person I love the most in my life. That he also felt so passionate about the story as I did. And those experiences and the final product are something I will always cherish.

The drawing above is the first colored artwork of Neelix and Heather I ever worked on, over 8 years ago...and never finished, because I decided to rework the concept into the drawing that later became:

"Please Let Me..."




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Materials 8.5x11 Paper | Prismacolor colored pencils



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Neelix, Heather, and Everything Under the Stars © *Lady-Owl & *H-Falcon 2013 | story | tumblr