WATCH ECCC: Afua Richardson draws a Dora Milaje live

We got a little closer to Wakanda at ECCC 2019 when SYFY WIRE's Marc Berardin interviewed Black Panther artist Afua Richardson.

Richardson, a diehard fan of Captain Marvel (who she also draws even though she shockingly hasn't seen the movie yet), has also been into comics since she was 9. When someone has a double of a Wolverine #1 and is dying to give it away, you just take it. She has a thing for characters who are outcasts and weirdos because she has always felt like something of an outsider herself.

But you're definitely not an outsider at a huge comic con when you're a Marvel artist cosplaying as Captain Marvel.

"Marvel characters are humans who get godlike powers and DC [characters] are gods who have to remember their humanity," said Richardson. "They're these iconic forces of nature who kind of have to dial it back a little bit."

(Whether Marvel characters are more relatable than DC is always up for debate, but you can't deny that Batman is anything but a born deity.)

So what took Richardson from reading comics to actually drawing them? She was always drawing as a kid, and though she's gone from running track to playing the flute to singing, the thing that pushed her into going pro as an artist was the posters she drew for the bands she sang backup for.

It can't be easy to draw on an unstable easel while standing up, but that must be Richardson's hidden superpower, because she makes it look way too easy — she keeps her cool even though that will not stop shaking. You really do see a Wakandan warrior woman coming to life.

Anyway, the kid who grew up reading about the X-Men eventually got to draw them. After Richardson had started drawing for Marvel, you know exactly what she said when they asked her what project she wanted to work on next.

Watch on to see one of the Dora Milaje jump out at you from the screen.

This article was contributed to by Elizabeth Rayne.