Caitlin Fairchild in jungle attire by J. Scott Campbell

I talked to J. Scott Campbell at Wondercon 2007 and picked this up at San Diego Comic Con 2010. His preliminary sketch had her with a katana, but I asked for it to be changed into a machete to better fit the jungle theme.

Edit: A couple of people have sent me emails asking for a few more details about this piece.

When Campbell offered to put me on his commission list at Wondercon '08 (because of some wrong doings that happened at Wondercon '07) he asked what character I wanted, and right away I chose Fairchild in her jungle attire from the original/ongoing Gen13 series. And when I told him how this was my favorite design of her, he immediately busted out his portfolio and showed me another commissioned piece of the same outfit that he had just finished for someone else (done on a green colored piece of art paper in a 3/4 drawing). He asked if that was along the lines of what I wanted, and I totally agreed - except that I wanted her in gray tone and not on colored paper. He then asked what pose I wanted, and I got so nervous choosing because of how big of a deal it was to be getting a piece from him. I asked for this front facing pose, with a waterfall behind her that could also be reflecting her back side so I could get both angles. He smiled, and I think (hope) he kinda knew how frantic I was being, and he just said, "I'll make it nice for you." :) He took a down payment from me then and there, and he said that I should expect a long wait before I would get to see anything because of his busy schedule.

So, more than a year would pass until I got to see him again at San Diego Comic Con in '09. He immediately recognized me and, unexpectedly, pulled out an enlarged, isolated photocopy of a prelim sketch he had done for us both to look over (as seen above). He perfectly recreated the original costume design from every other piece he ever did of her, so I asked him to switch her usual katana blade into a machete to better fit the jungle theme and to be a little unique and original with this commission. He liked the idea and we were all set. After that, some more months would pass by when I got a surprise email from him in February '10 that included a scanned image of the final piece you see here. He said that it was all done, but that he wasn't attending my home town show of San Francisco's Wondercon that year. We then planned to make the final purchase and exchange at San Diego Comic Con later on in July. But I had told him that I didn't feel comfortable walking around the convention floor with all the money I still owed him just sitting in my pocket, and he totally understood. He was then absolutely terrific in allowing me to pay half the cost of this commission through Paypal right away (with me taking on the responsibilities of all the fees involved) and the other half when I'd see him again months later. So, after waiting another five months with (extreme!, lol) patience, SDCC finally came and I gave him the second payment in person on the very first day. The piece was so immaculate looking that I then asked if he wouldn't mind holding on to it for me until the last day of the convention because I had nowhere to put it while I was walking around (Lord knows he was just wanting to be done with me at this point, lol). But again, he was great and agreed, and I finally picked it up from him on Sunday when the crowds were dying down towards the end of the night.

Unfortunately, though, I didn't get this home until later in October because I flew to SDCC that year and didn't trust taking it on the airplane with me. So, I left it with some friends who had driven down to San Diego who could make sure this piece wouldn't get damaged when they drove back to SF. But they were very slow in returning it to me because they took their time unpacking their own junk from that trip =/ But all is well, and now I'm on the hunt to find a great framer who can get this up on my walls =)

Note: As far as I know this is the first piece he ever drew with the "ink splatter" effect all over the page, and I think this might be the last gray commission piece he completed for 2010 (but I have no idea about that being fact or fiction really).

Edit2: Added a picture of what it looks like framed, hanging in my office area. 23x29 w/ Museum Glass.

Edit3: This commission has appeared in two books (that I know of): J. Scott Campbell's Shades of Grey volume 2, and the prelim sketch (showing the original katana blade design) in J. Scott Campbell's Ruff Stuff volume 1.

Edit4: 10 years later, J. Scott posted a quick retro-blurb on his Facebook art page talking about this piece again - "Here’s a “Jungle Fairchild” commission from about a decade back. This one was done in Faber-Castell PITT pens and Copic Marker’s. A call back to my original Island adventure version of Caitlin from way back in GEN 13 #5 ‘95, which in itself was pretty much a fan tribute to the legendary Savage Land Rogue!"