Riley Neither - Art
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![digital drawing of an androgynous Asian person striding forward with their head up, eyes closed, and hands outspread; there are gold cracks on their right hand and forearm, left wrist, and their throat; stars spin around their hands and clouds billow in the background](lib/art/gold-protag-small.jpg)
This is a character in my short story Imagine a Thief with Golden Fire in Their Voice. I won't say moreādon't want to spoil anything.
![digital drawing of a young non-binary person sitting under a ceiba tree and looking up, with a large raptor (dinosaur) resting beside zim with its head in zer lap; both are dappled in golden sunlight coming through tree leaves above](lib/art/yeshet-tetziryah-small.jpg)
This is Yeshet and zer raptor Tetziryah. Yeshet's one of the major characters in "What Springs from Bloodied Earth," a non-binary magician with a knack for animals.
![digital drawing of two people; left, an androgynous dark-skinned person in a military uniform holding a saber, in shades of indigo over a white background; right, a woman wearing a dupatta, holding an aruval and a pistol, in shades of orange over a black background](lib/art/sinhi-jaksa-small.jpg)
Sinhi and Jaksa, Sync protagonists, siblings who have crossed paths for the first time in decades and don't know whether they're on the same side. (Technically, half-siblings, but they never really cared about the "half" part except as a means of allaying all the "Wow, you look nothing alike!" comments.)
![digital drawing of two Indigenous characters; one is preparing a turkey for cooking and says, 'You wanna try?' The other says, 'I'm not sticking my hand in that.'](lib/art/preparing-a-turkey-small.jpg)
A couple of the protagonists of Dust and Lightning, ostensibly preparing a meal together.
![digital drawing of a slender Black woman with dreads wearing headphones and typing at a computer](lib/art/corinne-small.jpg)
This is Corinne, a secondary character in Sync. She's autistic, very gay, and almost as obsessed with computers as with obscure audio romances.
![colored pencil sketch of Jaksa, an older woman with curly black hair, a hooked nose, and a prosthetic left arm, with arms crossed, eyes closed, and a relaxed smile](lib/art/jaksa-colored-pencil-small.jpg)
A colored pencil sketch of Jaksa, one of the protagonists in Sync, in a rare calm moment. You can probably tell, I still haven't really got the hang of drawing those ringlet curls, but I'll get it eventually.
![digital drawing of an old glowing Black woman reaching up to the face of a silver titan that blends into the spacy background, heavily stylized](lib/art/name-of-universe-small.jpg)
This was originally an illustration for a flash fiction piece I wrote several years ago, but I rather like it in its own right. It was also originally done in markers; trust me, this digital version is much cleaner.
![pencil and ink drawing of a young Indian woman holding the head of a mechanical dragon perched on the broken wing of a plane](lib/art/dragon-mechanic-small.jpg)
This isn't tied to any specific story, just something I drew for the heck of it. Who needs an excuse for cool dragons and their mechanics?
![digital drawing of two young Black women; at left, Sahar, in white and cream-colored armor, standing in a defensive stance and holding a sword; at right, Asra, sparkly teal dress and rose headdress, smiling as she reaches toward the sun](lib/art/sahar-asra-small.jpg)
Sahar and Asra, from a novellete of mine that starts with a twist on the Sleeping Beauty premise and then leaps off in new directions. I'm not normally much for fairytales, but I'd be lying if I said I don't have a soft spot for some good queer fantasy romance here and there.
![digital drawing of two people sparring; Saeed at left dodges a punch from Jaksa at right; Saeed is a thickly built man with a goatee and a scar on his leg, and Jaksa is an older woman with curly hair and one arm; the scar on the shoulder of her missing arm can be seen](lib/art/jaksa-saeed-small.jpg)
Jaksa, Sync protagonist, sparring with her pilot Saeed. They spar regularly, and she splits it 50/50 whether to spar with or without her prosthetic arm; she likes to be able to hold her own in a fight either way.
![stylized digital drawing of an old Black woman in a neon green dress; at left, a full-body image where she stands smirking with shadowy animals, a monkey, a large cat, and several butterflies; at right, her head and shoulders, with the shadowy monkey perched on her shoulder and fingering her beaded earring; she looks at the monkey and says 'How many times I tell you don't play with my earrings!'](lib/art/demon-catcher-small.jpg)
This is the Demon Catcher! She only makes a brief appearance in one of my short stories, but she's such a good character, I ought to write more with her.
© Riley Neither