Elyssa, the light switcher

I created the story of Elyssa—known as the light switcher—as my entry for the bright character challenge.
Elyssa’s story takes place in the year 3020, a future where AI machines have replaced almost all human jobs. In this world, giant corporations fight for dominance in the AI industry. One company, Helios, takes over with a groundbreaking invention: heliovines, special cables that absorb sunlight directly to power AI cores.
But this so-called innovation comes with devastating consequences. As sunlight is drained, Earth’s ecosystems fall apart—plants die, animals disappear, and humanity is left in ruins. Helios expands ruthlessly, destroying entire communities and turning humans into slaves to feed its hunger for power.
Elyssa was born into this chaos in Felindria, a peaceful village of half-cat, half-human inhabitants. On the day of her birth, the village was destroyed to make room for a massive AI core. Growing up as the only survivor, Elyssa was shaped by stories of her lost community and the destruction caused by Helios. Now, 20 years later, she’s ready to fight back.
Armed with her invention—the aquashear, a blade designed to cut the heliovines—Elyssa sets out on a dangerous mission to bring sunlight back to the world and free humanity from Helios’ grip. Along the way, she meets Axo, the last surviving animal species. Axo has the unique ability to sense energy, making him the perfect partner for Elyssa to find and cut heliovines and so reclaim Earth’s light.

I created Elyssa because I wanted to express my growing concern about AI taking over and replacing human creativity, especially in artistic fields. As an artist, this topic feels deeply personal, and I wanted to explore it in a way that’s both meaningful and engaging. Elyssa’s story reflects a world where technology has gone too far, where corporations prioritize profit and innovation at the expense of humanity, creativity, and the natural world.
Through her journey, I wanted to emphasize the importance of fighting for what makes us human—our creativity, our emotions, and our ability to connect with each other. By making Elyssa a symbol of hope and resilience, I’m trying to show that even in a world dominated by machines, there’s still room for humanity to rise up and take back what truly matters.

Here’s the final illustration, set in Neuropolia, showing Elyssa riding her hoverboard after successfully cutting a heliovine and releasing the sunlight back into the world.

I used an ipad with Procreate.

I wanted to create a character set in a dystopian future to make her stand out even more as a bright and hopeful figure. I started by gathering inspiration from anime, video games, movies and amazing artists that I love and that really spark my creativity. From the beginning, I knew I wanted her to be a “half-and-half” character, someone who bridges two worlds. At first, I imagined her as half-machine and half-human, but later I switched to half-cat and half-human to create a bigger contrast with the cold, mechanical world she’s fighting against (plus, I just really love cats!).

The story was super important to me—I wanted her mission, motivations, and even her weaknesses to make her relatable and connect with people who discover her. As the plot developed, I realized it was starting to feel a bit too dark for a “bright” character, so I decided to give Elyssa a fun companion to balance things out. That’s how Axo was born—a playful little sidekick inspired by the axolotl, which felt like the perfect fit for the story. Axo brought a lighter, more cheerful energy to her journey and gave her someone to laugh and interact with along the way.

Here you find a moodboard with the preliminary sketches, as well as the first texts I wrote about the story. Even thought the character and story evolved since these sketches, I wanted to show the process since the beginning and the importance of writing down all the thoughts as an essential part of the character development.

Here’s what makes Elyssa who she is:
- Mission: Elyssa is on a quest to cut the heliovines and destroy the AI cores, determined to bring sunlight back to Earth and free humanity from Helios’ grip.
- Motivation: She’s driven by the need to save the planet and give people a chance to live freely again. It’s not just about revenge—it’s about hope for a brighter future.
- Weakness: Her rage. Helios destroyed her village, and that anger fuels her fight, but it also makes her reckless at times. She’ll have to find a way to balance her emotions to succeed.

Here the character development and her accessories, plus the secondary characters. Afterwards you will find a timelapse video on youtube of the character creation process.

Elyssa is approaching a heliovine cable and I wanted to take the occasion to create a funny interaction with Axo.