Thanks, everyone.
I know I haven't shared the ninth character studies with you yet but I must jump forward to the tenth - partly in the hope that you will also appreciate it.
I remember going home on a hot summer day this year when something suddenly struck my eyes. It was nothing special, only the noticeboard of the local transport company. However, the reason I suddenly became aware of it was that they used a very different colour combination from what they normally do. It was purple, it was pinkish and it was mingled with some grey and some pale blue. Very unusual for a transport company that normally only uses the different shades of blue - and basically the more boring ones. But it stuck with me. So I came home, started playing around with my image-making programme and I suddenly caught myself using those colours from the noticeboard.
The more I was messing around, the better I started to like the outcome. Since my best creations are usually the ones that I don't make in one go but give them a rest and revisit them, I did so on several occasions this time. And the end result was getting better and better too … at least in my eyes. Ultimately, I got rid of pale blue - it just didn't fit with the overall design. But I fell in love with the end product to the extent that this time I did not stop on the main characters but carried on with some of the recurring ones.
And I have never regretted it. I hope you will also like the tenth set of characters, starting with - who else of course? - my favourite Captain and my favourite character of all times: CAPTAIN KATHRYN JANEWAY. Enjoy.