Health: [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Weapons:
Quarterstaff
Pepper Spray
Taser
Baseball Bat
Equipment/Assets:
Art supplies (canvases, paints, brushes, cleaners, sketchbooks); clothing a few years behind the style curve, mostly foraged from thrift stores and consignment; a good quality long-range camera; carton of American Spirit and a Zippo lighter; high end laptop computer with graphic design software and a good scanner; iPhone; bus pass
Contacts:
From professional training – Pam Endercott, a snarky, laid-back thirty-something blonde that is the events coordinator at the Fremont Abbey. She has shown and promoted Riley’s work at the Abbey Cafe before.
Home:
Degeneration Effects:
N/A
Quote:
Description:
Background: Born and raised in Walla Walla, Washington, Riley is the daughter and eldest child of police sergeant Will Pickman. Will was blessed with three daughters before he and his wife, Cindy, had a boy, so Riley was the one saddled with all the athletic and academic expectations while each successive sibling was allowed to explore their own independent interests. Riley took to sports readily enough, but never much had the head for school, save for her art classes. She spent most of her free time drawing and painting, much to her parents’ dismay — they hoped she would express talent in something more practical — and the tension in the household grew until Riley took up smoking and dropped out of sports. She started hanging out with her friends more and more, and, to work out her pent-up frustrations, she took up martial arts. In the process of learning to fight, she also learned about discipline and focus, and found the Zen practices to be comforting. With the arrival of her little brother timed to the beginning of Riley’s senior year, the spotlight went off of Riley enough for her to really consider what she wanted to do with her life after graduating.
She decided she wanted to get out of Walla Walla and make a living from painting. She set up shop on the internet, taking commissions to do portraits from old photographs or for fanfiction art or even of people’s role-playing or fiction characters. She increased her experience and build up her savings bit by bit, and, after graduating high school as a solid “C” student, she announced to her family that she was leaving home for Seattle. She’d already lined up living arrangements with another girl there, a musician, and had enough saved for a few months’ rent and expenses. Her artist’s shop was slowly growing, and more commissions coming in day by day as her reputation and skill grew. Despite being well-prepared, the conversation didn’t go well; her parents thought she was being irresponsible and reckless, and her sisters thought she was abandoning them. She left with harsh words six years ago, and hasn’t had a very good Christmas ever since.
In Seattle, Riley’s little internet shop has grown up and evolved; she sells prints, bookmarks, buttons, t-shirts, mugs, and just about anything else that can hold a picture. She does mostly portraits, though that stretches to include not just real people, but portraits of storybook characters, game characters, heroes in folklore, and anyone else that strikes an idea in her mind. She has done a full portrait series called the Pantheon, which include some of her most popular works — portraits of Zeus, Artemis, Ares, Poseidon, Hades, Persephone, and more. People actually have to set appointments with her now to determine rates — she’s grown a bit beyond doing RPG commissions, though she’ll still do them occasionally for friends. She’s done portraits for weddings, anniversaries, bar mitzvahs, and other special events, and still does portrait work from old photographs or damaged paintings.
She still lives with the same roommate — Samantha, the struggling musician, who has been through five bands in as many years. They ostensibly live in a two bedroom apartment, but one bedroom has been completely converted into a studio — it’s covered in canvases and paint and Samantha’s recording equipment (she sings). They trade off on who gets to use the bedroom each night and who is stuck on the couch. Riley has enough money saved up to move out, but she would feel guilty for leaving behind Samantha, who is not always able to make rent, and Riley really doesn’t want to live alone.
She has a few friends she has met through Samantha (mostly other musicians or club hoppers) and she has made a few on her own during art classes or through the dojo, but Riley isn’t very close to anyone. She has people she hangs out with, but when she gets into a painting zone, she tends to forget other people exist. She does most of her communication on the internet, and her online social life is hopping — she has an artist’s profile just about everywhere she can and is a regular on several blogs discussing portrait techniques, restoration, and even the martial arts.
When she isn’t painting, dancing, drinking, networking, or sleeping, she’s at a local Fremont dojo, continuing her martial arts training. Through her time in Seattle, it has been her touchstone and has helped her maintain a cool, level-headed perspective in a career not known for its discipline.
