The Three Sisters of the Aquarium Tower

So, I wanted to post some illustrations that I have done recently. Growing up I always drew characters and would create little back-stories for them. I did not know until later that this was called making an Original Character, also known around the art community as an O.C. So here are three of the many, many, many characters that I have created. They are from a story I pretend that I am going to write in the future. They are the offspring of different mythological creatures and a mad king who keeps them prisoner and displays their elemental features as art.

This is one of the three sisters. She does not have a name yet nor do any of them. She is half unicorn and half mortal. She has a horn that is only visible when she wants it to be, and any other time all that is noticeable when staring straight at it is a shimmering clear wavy energy, like the distribution of air over a burning flame. She is the most strong willed of the three, the one to take action and also the greatest nuisance to her father due to her unwavering defiance of him. The moment I envisioned her immediately saw her as this swift and energetic being in constant motion, but she is chained to a giant stone by a long silver chain connected to her wrist by a beautiful bracelet. She is weighted down by fantastical ornaments and jewelry and put on display in her father’s gardens as an attraction, like an animal at a zoo. Her motivation and her dream is to be free and to finally have what she has always wanted: room to run.

This is the Halfling born of a nature fairy and the War King. She, unlike her other two sisters, was not deemed extraordinary enough by her father, due to the bright red hair they both share. His red hair is the only feature that the vain king finds unattractive and vile; the one feature he himself has and cannot change. In his one moment of selflessness the king lets her live, even though she is not beautiful enough to put on display. The Red King makes her a slave, because she is so weak and sickly that he does not fear her escaping nor does he think she is smart enough to ever deceive or trick him. He feels she possesses no threat to him whatsoever, because her fairy blood seams to run so slim. Her only fairy-like features are a set of small, frail, dull wings that hang limply from her back. She is kind, caring, cunning and smart. She is the most intellectual of the three sisters, having access to the libraries of the king and a grasp and love of literature.  Her health lessens the higher she goes in the castle, and going a long time without coming back down to the lower levels leaves her weak and sick; however she is forbidden to ever go lower than the second floor by the king, for mysterious reasons.

This is the Halfling of a mermaid and the Red King. She was born and placed in the marine-like tanks that run all throughout the castle. She has never set foot on dry land, but due to her mermaid features she is able to survive in the tanks. Her father views her as the most beautiful of his children. She is his most prized possession, and he goes to great lengths to display her whenever he can, using all of the interconnecting tanks and aquariums he built throughout the castle to have her elegance displayed. She is most times the centerpiece at the grand gatherings that the War King throws in his salacious kingdom. She has a protector’s spirit, but is helpless to interfere in the affairs of others due to her disconnection with the rest of the world. She has no idea what it is like to live a life that does not separate her from the world by a wall of marine glass. She is the watcher, but never is she allowed to influence what she sees. She is very maternal and feels a need to protect her sisters any way that she can. 
Yeah, so that is a little insight into the kind of thoughts that run through my mind whenever I start to sketch something. Lots of times through the act of drawing, a story and a character emerges with a personality and wants and needs and desires a story. The only trick now is writing it all down.