Background: I commissioned several international artists to draw characters from BEACON and CATALYST based upon a few paragraphs of text. I chose a diverse array of styles for this assignment. From comic book to abstract, children’s fairy tale, and hyper-realistic, I wanted each of them to be able to express themselves in their signature styles. 

“Sophie,” she said, giving her old friend a quick kiss on the cheek in the hospital lobby. Sophie was a beautiful woman, with long light blonde hair and sharp, intelligent, deep blue eyes, in her mid-thirties. She’d had a deep, low voice ever since Jo had known her – cigarettes being an addiction that Sophie always said she’d get around to breaking one of these days. They’d been at RAND together and had gone out for several happy hours and pub crawls. Jo had always worked hard and played hard, a mindset that Sophie shared. Sophie had been in the medical side of the house, Jo the behavioral. They’d never been put on any assignment together, but theirs was the kind of relationship where they knew that they could trust the other with her life.

Sophie is Jo's old friend and colleague from RAND, another extremely intelligent woman who chose to pursue medicine instead of strategic intelligence. She is a quick-witted, foul-mouthed friend, ally, and adversary to Jo.

Our artists this week are Diana Nemesu (watercolor artist) and Naveed Anjum (anime). 

Which is your favorite? Tell me in the comments!

​Next week: Lee

Background: I commissioned several international artists to draw characters from BEACON and CATALYST based upon a few paragraphs of text. I chose a diverse array of styles for this assignment. From comic book to abstract, children’s fairy tale, and hyper-realistic, I wanted each of them to be able to express themselves in their signature styles. 

Jo and Cain share a complicated relationship. 

Ben Kinkead shows their adversarial side. Even as lovers, they often find themselves at different ends of all topics. They fight as often as they show love. But they cannot break away from each other, for reasons they cannot understand.

Naveed Anjum captures the wonder both of them feel for the other and the sense of mystery they share. For Jo, Cain looks like a Ginger Jesus and embodies the same sense of faith and mystery that she associates with her Calling. They meet only in the night and they only can see each other.

Diana Nemesu's work brings out the simple joy they have at being together and finding one another. Cain in her work is larger than life, and Jo feels small and unworthy in his presence. Yet she revels in the love they share.

Which is your favorite? Tell me in the comments!
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Next week: Sophie

Background: I commissioned several international artists to draw characters from BEACON and CATALYST based upon a few paragraphs of text. I chose a diverse array of styles for this assignment. From comic book to abstract, children’s fairy tale, and hyper-realistic, I wanted each of them to be able to express themselves in their signature styles. 

"He was squatting down with his back to one of the houses, his feet on the sidewalk, in the shadows of the streetlight. It looked like he had the same clothes on every time. Light blue jeans, knees torn out, black hoodie with the hood up, black sneakers. Nothing remarkable there. Standard street garb. Once she finally looked him fully in the face, it took most of her self-control to stay motionless and school her face to stay neutral. His eyes drew her in immediately. She couldn’t have told you in that moment if they were red or gray, they seemed to flit back and forth between the two colors like fog swirling in a headlight. She wanted to trace the line of his jaw beneath her fingertips, feeling the course texture of his beard and the heat from his skin below it. It was an impulse so outside of her and everything she was that it scared her. He rose from his knees, slowly. Jo went from looking down at him to looking up at him. He slowly removed the hood from his head. His long, red hair spilled out. Oh, he’s lovely, she thought. Like a Ginger Jesus. Cain is a vampire who enjoys killing and drinking the blood of the worst sinners: rapists, murderers, child molesters, and torturers. He believes he is Cain from the Bible, cursed to walk the earth and kill bad people forever. Only Jo and his victims can see him. To everyone else, he is invisible. Vampires in this book series are electromagnetic creatures, there can only be one per territory. They have never met another vampires because their magnetic fields repel each other, like two similar ends of a magnet."

​Cain is the bad boy you love to cheer on. He's the lead vampire protagonist in both BEACON and CATALYST. The reader perceives Cain mostly from Jo's perspective.

Diana Nemesu, the water color children's artist, captures Cain's sense of openness and desire for love and friendship. This is a quality that Cain does not reveal until he decides not to kill Jo and befriends her instead. This Cain invites you to hug him.

​Qzoh captures his wild beauty, wicked heart, and the immortal detachment that comes with being a vampire who has never spoken to another except to kill him or her. Jo wants to touch him instantly, fighting a fierce and inexplicable attraction.

Ben Kinkead captures the brooding nature of the judgment that Cain delivers to his victims. Cain isn't troubled by his purpose, he welcomes the opportunity to ruthlessly murder the worst of sinners. But he weighs their punishment carefully before doling it out.

Naveed Anjum perfectly shows Cain's day-to-day life, a lone creature prowling the streets in the night. When Jo first meets Cain, she cannot even see his face.

Which is your favorite? Tell me in the comments!

Next week: Jo and Cain

Background: I commissioned several international artists to draw characters from BEACON and CATALYST based upon a few paragraphs of text. I chose a diverse array of styles for this assignment. From comic book to abstract, children’s fairy tale, and hyper-realistic, I wanted each of them to be able to express themselves in their signature styles. 

This week, we explore Jo.

"She ran her hands through her long black hair one more time. She was one-quarter Cherokee and looked every bit of it, although she often got mistaken for Italian. She had big brown eyes and a high forehead, which she often joked was so big and shiny to accommodate her giant brain. She was short at 5’ 2” and very petite, but like with most short people – what God had not given her in height, He more than made up for in attitude. When out in the community, she tended to wear a black business suit, black stiletto boots, and her signature white glasses. She believed that her role as a Nazarene pastor required her to be more formal in dress, and as she considered herself married to Christ, she typically adopted all-black as her look. In the books, she struggles to stay moral and follow God's path while tempted with power, sin, and temptation. Jo is a BEACON, and vampires are drawn to her but they cannot kill her. That is a mystery never explained. Jo wants to show the vampires a better path and try and save their souls. For the most part, they aren't interested but love talking to a human like her."

Jo is a beautiful, complex character. She fears the parts inside of her that crave power and the animal part of all that is human. When she looks at you, she stares into your soul and challenges you to be the best version of yourself that you can be. The first artist, Qzoh, captures this look perfectly in his realistic portrait of the protagonist. 

She's also consistently questioning why God put her down the path she's on. This introspective perspective is captured very well by Doan Trang, whose line art matches Jo's black and white perspective on life. 

She also has a sharp wit and a wicked sense of humor, a quality shown in Ben Kincaid's comic book sketch. However, despite her intelligence and sarcasm, she remains vulnerable. The pink background captures this sense of innocence. 

Diana Nemesu, our 4th artist, shows a departure from Jo's human side and focuses instead on her transformation as a Beacon. While none of my works are anything resembling children's literature (all would be rated R), I really enjoy the whimsical nature of Diana's work. 

Finally, Naveed Anjum hits perfectly on the turbulence of Jo's life as she takes on her assignment in Newark, Ohio. Like trying to stand still in a storm, Jo braces herself for whatever comes her way.

Next week: Cain

Which is your favorite? Tell me in the comments!