This is the art I received for my main character.
In a space-age afterlife where your body (and some relevant aspects of your mind) is determined by what your psyche wants, Chris Foster becomes a very young child again so they can deal with trauma. Here they choose the name “Solemn” and embark on their personal journey of self-discovery, mental health tools, and what it means to have real, loving family for the first time.
But when political activists kill off the seraphs (the afterlife’s demigod social workers and keepers of the peace) it is up to Solemn— who for non-convoluted reasons has become a seraph themself— and their newfound family and others who will fight to restore the compassion and dignity of this afterlife.
My novel is in its third draft and it’s super rich and I love to talk about it any chance I get. Ask questions or offer to look at the public draft, please! 💙
Why? Because – and while I applaud you paying someone to do the art – the art reminded me of Nazi Propaganda. I was saddened to see another idealized blonde haired, blue-eyed Jugend/baby getting elevated to special reigning status. Most of the world is dark haired and brown-eyed. Why give Nazis yet another piece of fiction to subtly push the zeitgeist into believing the abnormal caucus folk are better than the lower masses?
Less related, but stylistically similar: https://germangirlinamerica.com/history-hummel-figurines/
You know, I normally wouldn’t engage people like you, but all you’re doing is making me excited.
List of some characters in my novel featuring an afterlife with everyone in it, in no particular order:
Main: Chris Foster / Solemn Oliver. Born in Minnesota, a state which I live in
Supporting: Chris’s social worker on Earth: African American male, lives in Minnesota
Senna: Caucasian-looking female angel, “hair like the sun”, psychologist
Ona: Asian-looking female angel, black hair, program coordinator
Theeb: Middle-Eastern-looking male angel, black hair, attorney
All three have stark white irisis, as seraphs do
Main antagonist: Frank Callous: Caucasian male, born in 1840, fought for women’s rights in the US in 1870+. Is villain duo with his new wife
Faraji: 11-year-old Tanzanian boy, on “orphan train” with Solemn
Wai: 4-year-old Chinese girl, on “orphan train” with Solemn
Callum: 13-month-old Scottish boy, on “orphan train” with Solemn
All three cared for gently by Ona on the trip, and she speaks to Wai in Mandarin and to Faraji in Swahili
Main: Lu Montsely. Caucasian female, Chris’s foster mom, strawberry-blonde hair, born in a Southern state (like my parents)
Tony Oliver: Caucasian husband of Lu
Kelly Vargas: Caucasian, sister to Lu
Alejandro Vargas: Mexican-American, husband of Kelly
Main: Jessi Vargas: Mexican-American 19-year-old, snarky ass-kicker, daughter of Kelly & Alejandro
Alistair: African American male, best friend of Jessi
Zoey: Caucasian female, redhead, born male on Earth, best friend of Jessi
Samuel Salgado: South American man (unknown country), runs pet store on Nemesis, interesting info about vice vs. choice
Mitzi: German woman, caregiver for regressees at her foster home
Nikolai: Russian caretaker at Mitzi’s home
Ms. Zuri: African caregiver at Mitzi’s home
“Princess”: European, (unknown country), Caucasian girl, 5-year-old regressee
Kimimila, “Kimmy” for short. Native American girl, intellectual, 12-year-old regressee
Brandon: Tanned probably-American boy, 10, regressee
Émeric: French man, liaison for Solemn’s family
Villagers of Yéva Nol: Many of them proto-humans, as early as 50k to 100k years old. Dark-skinned, smart and awesome
Enki: One of the villagers of Yéva Nol, Mesopotamian, super charismatic
Nila: Indian young woman who lives in Yéva Nol, and Jessi’s new romantic interest. Talks about the benefits of both individualistic vs. collectivist social thinking
Solemn themself is asexual, aromantic, and agender/gender-curious.
Zoey is MtF trans and is writing a book on the “joys of gradual transitioning” instead of getting the body you want the moment you are reincarnated
Jessi is lesbian, Nila is at the least into girls (Jessi)
It is good to hear that there are some non-whites in your story. Since there was no detail in your initial post, the art of an Aryan Angel did not inspire me to ask any question except, “Yet another blonde hero?” I get very tired of “white man’s burden” stories featuring white men picking themselves up and solving problems that ‘others’ could not overcome.
It sounds like your hero strays from the archetype enough to be atypical, so hopefully s/he realizes some reliance on the vital contributions of ‘others’ along their journey, too. All I’m saying is that the initial art didn’t speak to of any of that. The only thing it said to me was ‘racist agitprop’ (though not of the historic/Russian variety).