Behind the scenes (Lineart, concept art)

This girl's name is Svenje, and she's cool :3

When I first sketched this character, I was faced with the task of creating a Valkyrie, the embodiment of the brutal northern beauty. 

I didn't want to make her realistic - muscular, and lose the recognizable female attributes 

Svenje had to look "tough" but still be sexy. 

So I left her figure with an hourglass silhouette, balancing her broad shoulders with a feminine hip shape. There was a great temptation to leave her arms thin, but such arms would not hold a spear or a sword. So I added more muscle to her shoulders and forearms. 

Within reason - I know that many artists, when they draw sports girls, get carried away by the beauty of muscle anatomy, and the characters end up turning into silicone bodybuilders with size five breasts. That's what I was most afraid of.))

"Hmm, what should I put you in? So I can undress you at the same time?"  

According to the story, Svenje was bewitched centuries ago. And her clothes, her appearance, must be something from another era. The world of "Artel" contains many Slavic elements. But Svenje is not a Slav. She is a girl from a time when Yavia was inhabited by Germanic tribes. 

So I made her costume less eastern and more western. Of course it's hard to imagine a girl dressed like that in the Middle Ages. But it's a fantasy. Fantasy is very forgiving and encourages imagination. 

In the past, this girl was a "volhv," which is the local equivalent of wizards-they make a pact with spirits who leave a tattoo pattern on their skin. Therefore, in places where they are, the clothes are open (Svenje is used to showing off her status) 

She also has the jewelry typical of a Slavic, or Scandinavian sorceress - amulets on a dialed warrior's belt.

The belt should not remain on its own, and its form is duplicated by the ornament on the girl's head. 

The final touch is the scramasax knife on the belt. I chose it because it is a very utilitarian object - it is both a sword and a knife in one 

Ughhhh... Sometimes working on a character design takes as much time as drawing and painting it 

I didn't color this concept art because I already knew what colors I was going to use in the comic. But I outlined it with a pencil liner to see that the lines were concise and clear enough. A pencil sketch always leaves a lot of unnecessary lines, which is often confusing.