May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Not many people know this, but I redesigned the character Chrissy about 6 years ago. Originally her hair was brown, her clothes were blue, and only her wings (which were rarely seen) were green.
In October 2014, my sister ended her life. It was hard to find motivation to continue my art after that. Then, I decided to use my character to bring awareness to mental health and the heartbreak of suicide.
So, I secretly changed Chrissy's hair color and costume to green and gave her a Suicide Prevention Ribbon as a belt. I went back and re-uploaded and overwrote all previous work with her to change her hair across all the art platforms I had posted on. Since most of my fans had dropped away I didn't think anyone would notice. And, I really didn't intend to call attention to it unless people asked about her.
Recently, some of my older fans popped up and a few voiced their opinion over the new look. One of the fans was unimpressed and said she looked like Disgust from Inside Out. So, I decided to confess my actions on this change and let it be known why I did it.
Her green hair is here to stay! There are two different versions of the Suicide Prevention and Suicide Awareness ribbons online. I chose the yellow one as it was one of my sister's favorite colors, while green is my own, so it was a perfect fit. This is why my character was changed. Mental Health is very serious to me.
Thank you.
Chrissy