I was commissioned some time ago by a author to draw their character Raveres in a tarot card inspired image. She be regal and powerful but have the smugest face imaginable. She was to be styled after the emperess card with " I X " and "Emperess" marks and I was given refs regarding the pose. Except for those hardlines I was given a lot of freedome.
In the beginning I gravited towards to the idea of hee sitting on her throne and her true natuer of brutality literally radiating from behind her. As time went on I put more emphasis on the slayed kraken instead. Its an important event in story that Raveres takes pride in. I loved the imagery of it hanging limp above her as a thropey in her throne room.
Altered her pose and face through out the whole thing and got feedback from the author. The trick was to show her power but not make her too serious. Her leaning on her roman-eusq divine gave her such an carefree psychopath vibe. I took the liberty to make the fabric flow around her to give her that sense of queenlyness.
Before the final render I sent three versions for the author to decide on. We both favoured the ones with the burning background. It gave the vibe of Raveres holding back a storm of violence.
A big part of the process was throwing ideas back and forth with the author about what would fit Raveres. It lacks some of the details and technics of my newer stuff but I'm always gonna like this one.
Thanks for reading!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
