My name is Bethany Culp, and I'm an illustrator.

I started this blog for an ongoing character illustration project, People in Chairs. It was taking up so much space on my personal blog that I decided to set it up with its own place to grow.

Here's the game: I'm going to be posting various chairs as I come across them. I want you to describe the person (or character) whom you would envision sitting in the chair. Use your imagination. Be as specific and detailed as possible. Some things to consider: What do they look like? What is their name? What are they wearing? Where do they live? How old are they? Do they have any hobbies? What kind of music do they listen to? What do they love? What do they hate? What is their family like? Where are they from (nationality/ethnicity)? What are their political or religious views? Do they have any pets? What do they do for a living, if anything? Come up with your own questions to answer...




Please feel free to add your own character descriptions the chairs below, or to add detail to other's characters that have already been posted. Anyone is welcome to play, even if you've just stumbled here randomly.

The objective of all of this is to flesh out as real and detailed a character as possible. Using the information you provide, I will be making a series of character illustrations, People in Chairs. (The final illustrations will be in my typical dimensional style — sculptural illustrations that I've done for other projects can be seen in my 3D gallery, here: http://www.polymediastudio.com/3d/gallery.html) Progress will be posted on this blog as the project develops, so be sure to check back to see your ideas being put to use!

I really appreciate your help with this project. Thank you to everyone who is submitting character ideas!

If you have any questions/comments/suggestions about People in Chairs, comment here! (Or you can e-mail me at polymediastudio@gmail.com)

As always, if you would like to see more of my work, check out my web site: www.polymediastudio.com

I am always available for freelance work.

I started sculpting Big Max:

Here is a first attempt of patching the responses for the rust easy chair into a character. I chose "Big Max," and then added details from other comments that seemed to fit in order to flesh him out a bit more. Please let me know what you think... Add to him, let me know if something doesn't seem to fit...

Big Max

Big Max doesn't know what "ironic" means. Some guy at the bar called his nickname "ironic," and he said it like a smartass, so Big Max punched him in the head. That was a bad night.

Big Max used to be over six-foot-tall, but nowadays he tops out at about 5'10''. He slouches and he slinks, he's always looking for the lowest point in the room so he's not looking over everybody. Even his favorite chair makes him look shorter. He hunkers down in it, cracks a can of beer, and watches NASCAR...

...He could be 40 or 60, the years have been hard on him, making it hard to tell. He's wearing a wife beater, light plaid cotton shirt (maybe open)…and old faded jeans, the jeans patched and well worn, having as much personality as the man wearing them. Work boots extend from the cuffs, boots with a lot of miles on them, worn down in the heal and toe...past their prime with neglect...His metabolism is high, but beer, snacks, and the lack of exercise have given him a small gut that sags ever more as he gets older...He is long used to working with his calloused hands...his hard won muscle starting to turn into fat...He has dirty greasy dark brown/black hair...

...He listens to 70's rock or country, very messy place, probably single, beer drinker, white, probably conservative...

...Big Max usedta. He usedta be a smarter guy, but bar fights and lots of beer made him slow and ill-tempered. He usedta be handsome, but, likewise, beer made him pudgy and slouching has made him short. He used to be vibrant, but the chair, the drink, and the factory has leeched it all away...

...He's got a cigar in his hand, the skin of his fingers so yellowed with age that they're almost as dark as the stogie. It's not lit. It's his last one and he's been chomping on it for days now...

...There's a TV guide on the seat beside him and he's frowning, not sure where the remote went...

...Rottweilers. He happens to have 2 of them, barely housetrained. It makes his...home smell like a kennel...

...This is a TV chair. For someone who's either got nothing else, or doesn’t care for anything else. I'm leaning more towards the latter. It gives me images of poorer - city living. Like something in Goodyear heights or Firestone Park where all the houses are just big enough for one family and crammed in very closely…area of refuge at the end of the day …He sure isn't the happiest person on earth most of the time, but when he's here, the world is turned off and he's finally at rest...His favorite food is steak…He loves fresh corn on the cob and hates gay people...

...But he sits in his chair and watches NASCAR until the station goes off the air, and then he waits for the faces in the static. He's been seeing them since he was a little kid, and sometimes they even talk. He's never told anyone about them, and they're all he has to himself. Millions have NASCAR. Everybody has beer. Lots of people have a dumpy, favorite chair.

Only Big Max has those long, lean, tall, slender figures, made of snow and light and whispers. He loves them so.