Today, I thought I’d introduce the cousins of Samantha. This upcoming story will mark their debut so let’s meet them.
Here she is, Rachel Macgregor! She’s nineteen years old and resides in the seaside resort town of Solton.
Rachel is a student at the Oak City Academy of Art and Design, an art college over in Oak City. She commutes daily back and forth between school and her home in Solton.
She is very close with her cousin, Samantha. In fact, they look similar enough that they could be mistaken for twins instead of cousins!
I had a very clear image in mind when I was designing Rachel. She looks a lot like Sam so I had to keep that in mind when drawing the character. Then, a dilemma presented itself and it was the same one I faced when I designed Sam’s mom. Rachel and Sam need to look like they’re related but they can’t look TOO similar. They are cousins and not identical twins. I struggled for awhile and then decided on something that would work. Rachel’s eyes are a darker shade of blue and she’s taller than Sam.
Eddie Macgregor is fourteen years old and the younger brother of Rachel. He also lives in Solton and frequently helps out around the family business, a video arcade.
Eddie is the bookish type, knowing a lot about computers and electronics. He gets very high grades in school as well and is expected to eventually take over the family business.
Like with Rachel, I had a clear image for what I wanted with Eddie. Unfortunately, drawing him did not come easy. The final image you see above took time. I made numerous sketches that had to be thrown out as they just did not work. The first concept was drawn while I was still living in North Carolina but Eddie was much too scrawny. He also had tabby stripes on his head, not unlike Rusty. Those I didn’t like either and after some thought, I came up with a design that actually required more erasing before it was considered complete.
Eddie won’t be playing much of a role in the upcoming story; this one is just meant to introduce and Rachel’s role will be more prominent. Eddie however will have a more significant role to play in Sunnyville #13 and some of the future stories.
Sunnyville Stories Vol. 1 (ISBN 9780615653921) is still for sale on Amazon. Copies of Sunnyville Stories Volume 2 and Von Herling, Vampire Hunter are for sale right now at Great Stories. Check out Direct Textbook too for more details on my books!
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Different Mousetrap Press LLC, 1100 19th Avenue N, #108, Unit J, Fargo ND 58102-2269
