I have wanted to do this piece for so long, I've completely lost count of the number of months it's been in my head. Actually, it's probably closer to years by now.

Death of the Endless, part of the Sandman series by Neil Gaimen, though that was not where I first saw her. I was and am an avid Books of Magic fan and the first time I saw Death was in the first BoM trade paperback I picked up. The comicbook store I had just found had itself just moved from a different location and some of the books had gotten water damaged and were on discount. Well, it only took those first few to get me hooked.

Gaimen's Death for anyone who has yet to encounter her (though I think by now she's made guest apprearances in almost every DC and Vertigo comic, so if you read any of them, you've probably seen her), is a carefree and fun loving girl, though that's not to say she doesn't take her job seriously She's compasionate, but realistic.

This particular piece was inspired mostly from that appearance in Books of Magic. The teddy bear there is named Cavendish. I don't know if he pops up in any of her other stories, but I liked the idea of Death having a teddy bear and it really is a very cute name

The concept originally came into my head for a contest that same comicbook store I mentioned would run. One of the guys working there started 'Artist Appreciation Day' where he would get guest artists and writers to come and there would be some contests for customers, too. One of them was to create a piece of art centered on one or more characters from any comicbook, but the catch was it had to be done from start to finish in the store that day. The first time, I wrestled between doing either Death or Catwoman. Catwoman won out and I suppose it's just as well because I ended up winning the contest, too (no, I don't have her up in my gallery because by the time I got out of class and over to the shop, I only had a few hours to work and her knee is a bit out of joint. Maybe I'll put it into scraps one day). I settled on doing Death the next time, but then I had to work and could not attend, then the shop closed and I never got the chance. At any rate, she's done now and I didn't have to rush to meet a deadline

Phew, ok, I'm done prattling on

Media: Line art done with brown Col-erase pencil, Painting done in Painter 8.

The character of Death is copyright Neil Gaimen and Vertigo/DC Comics.