Rawhide

This is a Character Illustration for the "Serenity Role Playing Game", published by Margaret Weis Productions. The RPG is derived from Joss Whedon's movie "Serenity", based on the TV Series "Firefly". This character is one of the crew from the ship "Aces and Eights", a cast of characters created for the book.

Painted in oils on gesso board in 2005.

Character Decription from the Serenity RPG:

The pilot of Aces and Eights is Ross Macintosh, known to all as Rawhide. One of eight children of a struggling rancher, he never went to school, but had to work on the ranch to help support his family, as did all his brothers and sisters. When his parents died--worn down by their hard life--he and his siblings sold the ranch and split the proceeds. Rawhide used his share to put himself through flight school, figuring this was the only way off the moon that had killed his parents.

He had a tough time in school, for at age twenty-three the only book he'd ever even read was his mother's tattered Bible. Learning doesn't come easy for Rawhide. By working twice as hard as anyone else, he managed to graduate, though at the bottom of the class.

When the war broke out, Rawhide joined the Independents as a bomber pilot. He was wounded several times and taken prisoner once. He never talks about his experiences during the war.

Rawhide is a tall man, lanky and bony. He is all muscle, no gristle. He is thirty years old, but his leathery skin and a perpetually sad look in his blue eyes make him appear older. He is generally solemn, for he takes life seriously, and rarely smiles. When he does, his smile is wide and generous and seems to warm even the cold black of space.

Rawhide wears denim jeans, cowboy boots, serviceable shirts, and a leather vest. His most treasured possession is his mother's Bible. If he has religious beliefs, he never shares them.