Chryseis is the creator and author of the Amazon Arrow character and the Ms. Kent Librarian Peril stories here on DeviantArt. You can find her sensational work at    I first discovered Chryseis’s galleries a month ago and I was instantly hooked.  The body of work there is amazing!  She is also very supportive of the work of other artists and writers, offering them lots of encouragement and patiently answering questions without hesitation.  

Nine days ago, Chryseis faved another interview I did and jokingly suggested I interview “Chryseis the world famous erotica novelist.”  Well, I thought that was a sensational idea and, after a bit of back and forth messages, we decided to do this interview. I hope you’ll enjoy it and I hope you’ll also check out (and enjoy as much as I do) the galleries at amazonarrow.deviantart.com/gal…

An Interview with Chryseis, the creator of Amazon Arrow

1. Let’s start with some background information about you, the creator of Amazon Arrow and Chryseis Astynome Kent (Ms. Kent). You’ve told me that professionally you are a graphic and multimedia design artist. How did you end up in that field?

I have always liked to draw and sketch things for fun, but I never really considered it to be a viable career option. I enjoy making art, but I also enjoy being able to pay my bills. I also enjoy loitering at bookstores and flipping through the lavishly-produced magazines that are too expensive for me to actually buy. I think I discovered commercial digital illustration by browsing through an issue of HOW magazine or Computer Arts or something like that. It occurred to me that if I could learn how to “draw” with a computer then I might be able to get a commercial client to pay me and perhaps make a realistic living as a graphic designer. I enrolled in a private college that specialized in Digital Design and along the way I learned a little bit of website design, 3D animation, video production and social media marketing as electives. I’ve kept myself employed doing some or all of the above ever since.

2. Do you also have a writing background?

Just advertising writing and a few college English classes. Everything that I have ever written for fun is right here on DA.

3. Do you spend a lot of time planning your art and text in advance of actually creating it?

The image comes first. I see it in my head and then I spend time trying to make a digital version of it that I can live with. Creating 3D Poser art is fairly tedious, so as I am working on the project my mind wanders to how this image came to be. What happened before the image that brought the characters to this point? What might happen to the characters after the image? Is there enough of a backstory that I should make another image to go with it and tell that story first? Is there enough of a follow up story to be worthy of creating a sequel image, or possibly a series of images? Now that I’ve been doing this for almost two years I have TONS of ideas moving both forward and backwards in a timeline that currently exists only in my head. It’s just a matter of finding time to tell all of the stories.

4. Do you start your storylines with a premise and work to an ending or do you start with an ending and then figure out how to get the story there?

As far as I am concerned, there is no beginning and there is no end. Every adventure takes place in the middle as the result of an untold story that happened before, and everything is always “to be continued”.

5.  Do you mind when others take a stab at using your characters?

I really enjoy telling stories using Poser and I am personally drawn to the superheroine fantasies. I am very open about letting others use my characters however they see fit, even if they want to use them commercially. I earn my living via other means, so my creative projects must be 100% about having fun or it just becomes more "work". I think it would be awesome and flattering if someone were to some day make a movie or photoset featuring Ms. Kent or AA stories. I love seeing other artists' interpretations of their designs and reading about them in stories created by other authors. The more people that discover these characters in any medium the happier I will be and the more fantasies we will all have to share.

6.   Will your stories be appearing elsewhere on the Internet?

I am currently exploring the idea of posting my AA and Ms. Kent stories to other sites where I might hopefully expand the audience for these characters beyond DeviantArt. I’ve also been playing around with Second Life so you might encounter me roleplaying as “Ms. Kent” there soon as well.

7. Which is more challenging for you, the art or the writing? And please explain your response.

I guess the writing. I’m very fluent with my art routine at this point. I don’t feel the need to “improve” my art or to achieve anything new or specific with it. My art challenge is just finding the time to do more of it. My writing could be better, especially my grammar and mechanics, but I honestly don’t care enough about grammar to want to fix it. I tend to write conversationally and unconventionally anyway… so it’s not bad grammar, it’s just a dialect.  

8. Who or what were your major influences in creating both Amazon Arrow and Ms. Kent?

I set out to create an OC for myself on DeviantArt and I decided that I wanted to be Wonder Woman, but I couldn’t JUST be Wonder Woman… I needed a new twist to make her my own. The Arrow TV show was just starting at the time (and I am still crushing on Stephen Amell to this day) so I decided that it might be fun to explore the idea of an “Amazon Archer”. What if, instead of sending just one representative to Man’s World (a.k.a. Wonder Woman), the Amazons also sent “specialists” that were experts in specific weapons or artifacts. The world is a big place and Wonder Woman can’t be everywhere. The story began to snowball from there.

Ms. Kent is more down to earth and I find that I can relate to her on a more personal level. While telling stories about AA, I would have ideas and inspirations for more mundane stories or perils or fantasies that would be no problem at all for AA to handle. If I was accosted in a dark alley by a group of frat boys that wanted to tie me up and have their way with me I would find that to be terrifying! Amazon Arrow would just beat the crap out of them and there would be no peril at all. Also Amazon Arrow is a fairly “action-oriented” series and I wanted to tell a few stories that were more erotic in nature. My solution was to create a “secret identity” for AA that stripped away her powers, her skills and even her innate courage and willpower. I used to be an Assistant Librarian. All of the pieces fell into place and Ms. Kent was born.

9. And what led you to create these two particular main characters?

The inspiration to create an OC at all came from discovering the work of DA artists like White0wlsuperheroine, WonderCuria-DD and ladytania when I first joined DeviantArt. I knew that I didn’t want to just make art, I wanted to make stories to accompany my art and I knew that the stories would get bigger and more involved as the “serial” progressed. I noticed that these creators (and several others) balanced this very well and I am really just following in their footsteps. You should interview them! Also I tend to internalize my characters as I tell their stories: What if I was an Amazon Archer? What would I do in this situation? What would I say? What would I think? What would I feel? It’s kind of like roleplaying with myself.

10. Do/did you read comic books? If so, which ones?

Not really. An ex-boyfriend turned me onto Gail Simone when she was writing Birds of Prey. I read that and her early run on Sinister Six and Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman. Then the New 52 thing happened and the prices were always ridiculous and I just gave up on the whole thing. Most of my comics knowledge comes from movies, TV and surfing the net.

11. Let’s talk now about the creation of your characters. You have created a very detailed mythology for Amazon Arrow and now for Ms. Kent. How did you go about creating their history? Was all of it or just some of it planned in advance or do you create it on an evolving basis? And, how long did you spend planning your creations before actually having Amazon Arrow and Ms. Kent make their debuts?

I might have already answered most of this. The details evolved as I went along. I designed my Amazon archer OC and gave her a name (AA was my first Deviant art submission and she really didn’t have a back story at that point). My heroine needed an enemy (Pyrrah was my second submission). From there it became about asking and answering questions. Why are they enemies? What does the enemy want and why? Why is my archer motivated to stop the enemy? Who are my archer’s friends? What other enemies does my archer encounter? The mythology grew from there and continues to grow. The idea for Ms. Kent came about in the middle of my huge Power Quest storyline that turned AA into a “bad guy” for a while. I decided that Ms. Kent would come into existence as “penance” for all of the things that AA did wrong throughout the Power Quest, but that storyline took me almost a year to complete and Ms. Kent sat on the backburner for a very, very long time.

12. You’ve dropped hints throughout your galleries about whether The First Ones, the ancient oracles that rule the Amazons in your stories, are good or bad. At this time, and without giving your storyline away, do you know the answer to that question?

Yes. I didn’t at first, but now I know.

13. You have created a very complex story for both of your main characters as well as for some of the supporting characters. How do you keep track of things to make sure the continuity in the various plots stays consistent?

Is it consistent? Would anyone notice if it wasn’t? If it seems inconsistent, can I come up with a way to explain it? I think I have it all mapped out in my head, but I wonder if I would find continuity errors if I went back and re-read some of my earlier stories. I think I’m in good shape though. I don’t really do anything specific to keep track of it. It’s all in my head. I don’t keep notes or outlines or anything like that.

14. How have you seen your art and writing as well as your approach to art and writing change since you made your very first post on DeviantArt?

For a while my art became increasingly complicated. I started adding more and more figures and characters to fill the space. Now I’m trying to cut back on the number of figures used again. My writing seems to be getting a little longer these days. Maybe I’ll have to trim that back soon as well. My general working method and “style” is pretty much the same as it’s always been though. I don’t think my art will change much unless I upgrade to a newer version of Poser and start using some of the nifty external render engines that are now available.

15. Did you have fantasies about or pretend to be a superheroine when you were growing up? And, if so, who did you pretend to be?

I wanted to be a cowgirl and ride a horse and shoot a pair of six guns. I like Batgirl and Wonder Woman, but I wasn’t very familiar with many other superheroines when I was younger.

16. Your work features a lot of bondage and fetish so I want to talk about that now for a bit. You’ve mentioned to me in the past that you know nothing about the fetish world and yet you write and draw some incredible bondage scenes. How did that happen?

I like romance novels and erotica stories and they can be fairly “fetishy”, but that’s not the same thing as understanding the complexities of BDSM relationships or learning how to tie crazy Japanese bondage rigs. There is a wide canyon between having casual fantasies of submission and choosing to live the lifestyle of a submissive. My imagination likes to play in fantasyland, but I know nothing about the “reality” of bondage, BDSM or any of that. The closest thing I’ve personally ever had to a bondage experience is maybe plastic, fuzzy pink handcuffs. I can’t really take credit for the accuracy of the rigs in my art. I use 3D model rigs that are sold commercially and ready to go right out of the box. I recently purchased a very elaborate full body rig and used it on Ms. Kent. My creative contribution came from hanging the rig from the ceiling while Ms. Kent was forced to listen to a conversation going on below her. I don’t know if the rig is accurate or physically possible, but it looks cool to me and it served the necessary purpose in my story. I’ve learned a lot about the fetish world from reading and exploring for two years here on DA, but I am far from an expert and most of it still baffles me.

17. And I know I promised not to be intrusive, but, on a personal level, do you like bondage?

I have never experienced bondage in any real sort of way. Just the fuzzy handcuffs. Would I like it? I don’t know, but I imagine that I might. I am heterosexual, but many of my fantasies involve other women. Would I enjoy being a lesbian or a bi-sexual or in a threesome? I don’t know, but I imagine that I might. Keep in mind that in my fantasies I have 100% control and nothing unpleasant ever happens. There is no emotional baggage and no one ever gets hurt or impacted in any way shape or form. There are no consequences or regrets. Reality cannot adhere to such impossible standards. I fantasize about things that I would never actually want or do in real life.

18. What do you think is behind the thrill for fans and also for writers/creators when it comes to seeing superheroines (or librarians) dominated?

Honestly, I have no idea. I suspect that it all boils down to power: who has it and who doesn’t. In both cases, the women are perceived as authority figures. They have the power. As someone with a submissive nature, I enjoy the fantasy of someone taking power from me, or someone that is not intimidated by my strength or authority. That would be an obvious display of dominance and I would find that to be attractive. Women usually cannot (or do not) do that to each other, so I am also fascinated by the fantasy of a dominant woman (the villainess). On the flipside, I imagine that someone who is dominant probably likes the idea of taking a powerful woman down a peg or two. Dominating someone strong is probably more satisfying than dominating someone that is already weak, so dominating an Amazon must make a guy feel like a total bad ass. This is an interesting question and I often ponder this myself. Perhaps your readers will share their insights. I’d be curious to hear what others think on this topic.

19. What, if anything, has writing erotica in general and bondage erotica in particular, taught you about yourself and others, i.e., your readers?

I learn from reading related works and research, but I’m not sure that I really learn anything about myself. I consider myself to be relatively self-aware. I guess I might learn something from imagining myself in a specific experience or scenario and “guessing” as to whether or not I’d like it. When I see a crazy bondage rig I tend to ask myself things like: “Would I enjoy being strapped into that? Or would that be painful and terrifying?” I can hazard a guess based on my imagination, but I don’t really know.

20. Let’s talk now about DeviantArt.com. What do you think are the best and worst aspects of DeviantArt?

I like the social aspects. It’s easy to like and share and comment. I dislike that DeviantArt kind of has an identity crisis. Some professional artists use it as a place to display their commercial work. Some children post stuff here that belongs on a refrigerator. Some teens post images of themselves. Some adults post material that is fetishy and mature. Everyone thinks that they are using DA “correctly”. I think kids, teens and adults should not be playing in the same space. I wish that DeviantArt had a more strict age-gate (like maybe enter a credit card number to sign up or something), but on the flip side there is the other half of the community that would prefer to ban all mature content to keep all of it kid-safe. I would happily post at an adults-only DeviantArt though, if such a place existed.

21. With, as of this writing, more than 98,000 page views and 685 Watchers, what do you think it is about your work that makes you so popular here on DeviantArt?

Wow! I have 98,000 views? I had no idea! I also have no idea what makes something popular and what doesn’t, or even if my work qualifies as being popular. I know that there are plenty of others out there with many more watchers and many more views. I recently ran a poll asking if my work was too tame or too sexy. The poll was pretty much split right down the middle, so maybe that is part of my “success”. I think maybe my work is sexy enough to attract people interested in adult content, and yet not so sexy that it turns off people interested in the action and the story. Honestly, I have no idea. I just keep doing my thing.

22. Do your fans/readers on DeviantArt influence you in how you create stories for Amazon Arrow and Ms. Kent? And if so, how?

Not really. I run polls to satisfy my own curiosity and to hear what others have to say, but it doesn’t really affect my general direction. The work that I do is mostly dictated by my mood at the time that I create it, or because it’s part of a pre-planned storyline that I am trying to complete. Occasionally I will be inspired by something that someone else is doing and I’ll want to take a stab at doing something similar. Sometimes people will comment favorably about something and I’ll be inspired to do more of it because there is a perceived demand. I recently posted a design for a character I called “Amazon Shadow” and she is basically my version of Black Widow. I only created her because I was excited to see The Avengers and I didn’t really plan to do anything else with her right away, but she got a very strong reaction so I created four more images of her just for “fan service”. I don’t do commissions, but I try to fit in requests and make gift art when I have the opportunity. I would like to participate in more contests this year.

23. What advice do you have for artists and writers here on DeviantArt?

Just post something! Don’t compare yourself to others or wait until it’s perfect. Post something now, then make something else and post it, then make something else and post it, and just keep going! Over time you will see the quality improve and your audience will share in that journey with you… which I personally think is the point of a social art site like this. You will find that there are a very few people out there that like to be overly critical and/or enjoy tearing your work apart because it makes them feel smarter or stronger or whatever... just ignore them. The vast majority of your followers will be far more friendly and appreciative and the critics will eventually move on to look for something else to criticize. And if you are one of those overly critical jackasses and you are reading this now… bite me.

24. Is there any one story or image that you’ve created here on DeviantArt that you are most proud of?

The entire “Power Quest” story was a labor of love and it was huge and it involved many other DA artists and it was exhausting and I never want to do anything that massive again… but I am proud of the way that it turned out and I’m extremely proud of the fact that I finished it. It’s basically a free comic book with 100+ panels! If I had to choose one image it would be the very last image of that storyline, which is a monstrous collage that foreshadows events that are unfolding now in my current and future stories. I plan to eventually address everything that happens in that collage. It is the largest and most detailed image that I have ever created and you really have to click into the full-sized version of it to appreciate the scale.

Mature Content

25. What else do you want people to know about your work here on DeviantArt?

Forget everything that I said about computers, 3D models and digital art. I do all of it with crayons. I’m that good.