This my first drawing of Rafi, then a Puerto Rican named "Rafaela", who is Anna's best friend and neighbor. Her looks, and even part of her nationality, have changed a little when she joined the strip. Also originally supposed to be second-banana to Anna, Rafi has since became the strip's central figure.

The art, by the way, was the first done with three sizes of Sakura's "Micron" archival ink markers, which is best to get the lines the way I want it. The shading of the dots is done with a mechanical pencil.

Of course, I didn't like Rafi's shorts, or feet, or shirt, or hair (my original vision of Rafi had her with curly hair, but it made her more like an African-American (no offense, but I wanted her to be white)). Also, her ears were too big. And I was much more familiar with Quebec (which I visited 4 times in the past 6 years) than Puerto Rico (where I never been at all). Soon after, Rafi was already starting to change into the gouine that we know and love today...

This is another version of Rafi -- my first drawing of Rafi in her present look. She's practically the same as above, except that she now wears sandals, and, if you look closely, she has a nose ring. I've also drawn her breasts with a regular Sharpie marker, as the other markers mix the breasts up with the tie-dye patterns.