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Description

I’ve done a lot in terms of reference drawings for Queen Mary! Let me tell you, those eyes of hers are so hard to draw. Yeah, I brought that upon myself, but still. They’re tough.

Design Notes:

-Most of the ships’ human forms have appearances and outfits representing them as they were most recently (with a few exceptions such as Normandie and Majestic), and Queen Mary is no exception. Her outfit here is based on her hotel form, so I gave her a casual, summery look suitable for relaxing on the California coast.

-Southern California isn’t as constantly sunny as the inland regions of the state (trust me, I would know - I live inland in the desert and go to college in the greater LA area), but there’s still plenty of sunshine to go around, so I gave Mary a nice tan and lots of freckles. The tan looks darker and more vibrant in person (as does her skirt), and it’s easier to see the slight pinkish tint I added to her arms and cheeks to evoke a sunburn, but hey, at least you can kinda see it.

-Due to neglect from her various owners, she looks rather frail, with sunken cheeks and bags under her eyes. She has to deal with chronic pain as well, and much of the time she walks with a cane; you’d think her pride would keep her from using the cane or other mobility aids, but thankfully she understands that there is neither shame nor inherent inferiority in needing such things. All this is because A) it made sense, and B) I want more disability rep that isn’t inspiration porn for abled people, y’know?

-Her funnels were painted red semi-recently, but I made her skirt orange anyway. She probably owns a red skirt too, but orange is part of her standard appearance. Originally it was going to have a color gradient, with the spaces between each stripe being faded Cunard orange, normal Cunard orange, and then finally red, but I ultimately decided on solid orange. It matches the band on her hat, too!

-Speaking of hats, I figured she’d need one to keep the sun off her face. Plus she’s from a time when women wore hats a lot of the time, so it’s sort of a more modern interpretation. Originally the hat was supposed to have flowers instead of a simple band, but it looks sleeker and matches better with the skirt this way.

-She has sad eyes. Every time I look at pictures of Queen Mary’s bow I think those hawsepipes look like eyes making some kind of agonized expression, so I used that for her eye shape. Queen Elizabeth and Mauretania (#2) have the same eye shape going on.

-Her hair, of course, fits the Cunard-White Star color scheme. I made the white look like age-related streaks, although they’re really not. Likewise, her eyes are red, but she also has gold flecks in them, a trait which she shares with Queen Elizabeth and maybe also Mauretania 2 (haven’t decided on that one yet lol).

-Her cane telescopes so it can fit into her purse; there’s a locking mechanism at the top. The way it works means that if she so pleased, Queen Mary could open the cane like a toy lightsaber.

-Because she was the first liner to have a Jewish prayer room for passenger use (a poignant statement for a ship built in 1930s Europe!) and also featured kosher kitchens on board, I gave her a Star of David necklace to represent that. Her choker, meanwhile, has a crystal rendition of her ship form, based on the elaborate map in her first-class dining room.

Personality:

Even in her youth, Queen Mary was remarkably mature and intelligent. She handled the hardships of both war and peace with a certain grace and determination, accepting her circumstances and rising to meet them, and despite her young age she was one of the most respected of the “Monsters” in WW2, second only to her mentor figure and hero, Aquitania. Her maturity isn’t infalliable, of course - after all, she doesn’t seem nearly as mature when interacting with her bitter rival, Normandie - but for the most part she is and always has been rational and composed, and she’s only matured further with age and the benefit of hindsight.

She was once highly energetic and competitive, too, and although that competitive streak still rears its head from time to time she’s largely lost that old spark. Her youth is far behind her, after all, and although she does miss her time as queen of the Atlantic she’s mostly content to just relax these days. Much of her lethargy is the result of depression and chronic pain, although now that she’s a human capable of motion she’s getting a bit better on that front. Her fighting spirit hasn’t left her even after nearly a century of life, and even when the going gets tough Queen Mary refuses to give in.

Interestingly, she’s able to see ghosts, a power almost no one else has. When she was younger she didn’t realize nobody else could see Aquitania’s old friends joining wartime convoys or feel deceased passengers walking the decks where they died; in fact, she didn’t know others - aside from Queen Elizabeth, who she thought was unusual in that she couldn’t see the ghosts - didn’t share her connection with the supernatural until the mid-Fifties, when she brought it up in conversation with a few younger liners and was treated like she was completely insane. She hadn’t mentioned it much before, as she’d thought it was normal; in reality, she was the only one who had that ability. This has led her to be fascinated with the supernatural, and she knows an awful lot about ghosts - mainly from talking to them directly!

Of all the ships I've humanized, Queen Mary is one of the few still around today! She's permanently moored in Long Beach, California, where she's a hotel and museum ship. As of posting this, she's still closed for repairs but may reopen again later this year if we're lucky!

RMS Queen Mary
Queen Mary hotel website
RMS Queen Mary - A Narrated Tour

Description

I’ve done a lot in terms of reference drawings for Queen Mary! Let me tell you, those eyes of hers are so hard to draw. Yeah, I brought that upon myself, but still. They’re tough.

Design Notes:

-Most of the ships’ human forms have appearances and outfits representing them as they were most recently (with a few exceptions such as Normandie and Majestic), and Queen Mary is no exception. Her outfit here is based on her hotel form, so I gave her a casual, summery look suitable for relaxing on the California coast.

-Southern California isn’t as constantly sunny as the inland regions of the state (trust me, I would know - I live inland in the desert and go to college in the greater LA area), but there’s still plenty of sunshine to go around, so I gave Mary a nice tan and lots of freckles. The tan looks darker and more vibrant in person (as does her skirt), and it’s easier to see the slight pinkish tint I added to her arms and cheeks to evoke a sunburn, but hey, at least you can kinda see it.

-Due to neglect from her various owners, she looks rather frail, with sunken cheeks and bags under her eyes. She has to deal with chronic pain as well, and much of the time she walks with a cane; you’d think her pride would keep her from using the cane or other mobility aids, but thankfully she understands that there is neither shame nor inherent inferiority in needing such things. All this is because A) it made sense, and B) I want more disability rep that isn’t inspiration porn for abled people, y’know?

-Her funnels were painted red semi-recently, but I made her skirt orange anyway. She probably owns a red skirt too, but orange is part of her standard appearance. Originally it was going to have a color gradient, with the spaces between each stripe being faded Cunard orange, normal Cunard orange, and then finally red, but I ultimately decided on solid orange. It matches the band on her hat, too!

-Speaking of hats, I figured she’d need one to keep the sun off her face. Plus she’s from a time when women wore hats a lot of the time, so it’s sort of a more modern interpretation. Originally the hat was supposed to have flowers instead of a simple band, but it looks sleeker and matches better with the skirt this way.

-She has sad eyes. Every time I look at pictures of Queen Mary’s bow I think those hawsepipes look like eyes making some kind of agonized expression, so I used that for her eye shape. Queen Elizabeth and Mauretania (#2) have the same eye shape going on.

-Her hair, of course, fits the Cunard-White Star color scheme. I made the white look like age-related streaks, although they’re really not. Likewise, her eyes are red, but she also has gold flecks in them, a trait which she shares with Queen Elizabeth and maybe also Mauretania 2 (haven’t decided on that one yet lol).

-Her cane telescopes so it can fit into her purse; there’s a locking mechanism at the top. The way it works means that if she so pleased, Queen Mary could open the cane like a toy lightsaber.

-Because she was the first liner to have a Jewish prayer room for passenger use (a poignant statement for a ship built in 1930s Europe!) and also featured kosher kitchens on board, I gave her a Star of David necklace to represent that. Her choker, meanwhile, has a crystal rendition of her ship form, based on the elaborate map in her first-class dining room.

Personality:

Even in her youth, Queen Mary was remarkably mature and intelligent. She handled the hardships of both war and peace with a certain grace and determination, accepting her circumstances and rising to meet them, and despite her young age she was one of the most respected of the “Monsters” in WW2, second only to her mentor figure and hero, Aquitania. Her maturity isn’t infalliable, of course - after all, she doesn’t seem nearly as mature when interacting with her bitter rival, Normandie - but for the most part she is and always has been rational and composed, and she’s only matured further with age and the benefit of hindsight.

She was once highly energetic and competitive, too, and although that competitive streak still rears its head from time to time she’s largely lost that old spark. Her youth is far behind her, after all, and although she does miss her time as queen of the Atlantic she’s mostly content to just relax these days. Much of her lethargy is the result of depression and chronic pain, although now that she’s a human capable of motion she’s getting a bit better on that front. Her fighting spirit hasn’t left her even after nearly a century of life, and even when the going gets tough Queen Mary refuses to give in.

Interestingly, she’s able to see ghosts, a power almost no one else has. When she was younger she didn’t realize nobody else could see Aquitania’s old friends joining wartime convoys or feel deceased passengers walking the decks where they died; in fact, she didn’t know others - aside from Queen Elizabeth, who she thought was unusual in that she couldn’t see the ghosts - didn’t share her connection with the supernatural until the mid-Fifties, when she brought it up in conversation with a few younger liners and was treated like she was completely insane. She hadn’t mentioned it much before, as she’d thought it was normal; in reality, she was the only one who had that ability. This has led her to be fascinated with the supernatural, and she knows an awful lot about ghosts - mainly from talking to them directly!

Of all the ships I've humanized, Queen Mary is one of the few still around today! She's permanently moored in Long Beach, California, where she's a hotel and museum ship. As of posting this, she's still closed for repairs but may reopen again later this year if we're lucky!

RMS Queen Mary
Queen Mary hotel website
RMS Queen Mary - A Narrated Tour