Representing Spain with a war champion that is still going through a brainstorming process 
https://www.artstation.com/rakskuder
Dec 28, '20
Mar 29, '21
Hi! I’m Rak Skuder and this is my first time taking part in Art War. Very excited about it 😊.
So, I’ve decided to represent a champion from my own country, Spain. Been doing my own research to get some inspirations. As you may know, Spain has a long history with great heroes and legends. Oh Europe, the old continent!
So, I was doing my brainstorming and I kinda went way too back in time until Lusitania, which was, the union of Spain and Portugal, and decided to skip to another recent time. And as I was reading and refreshing my mind with the country’s history, I reached some lines that blew my mind, in a good way. Firstly, let me explain the context:
The Spanish War of Independence (a military conflict fought by Spain against the invading and occupying forces of France for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars), began in Spain with the Dos de Mayo Uprising, on 2nd May, 1808. The episode remains as the bloodiest event in Spain's modern history.
Those lines that touched me were the ones that named not only men, but also women and children, who faced war defending their own beliefs, culture, religion and homes. And all of it, takes me straight to Francisco de Goya to recreate that event through his art.
The legend around her tells that, the 2nd of July 1808, the city of Zaragoza resisted the siege of the French troops. At one of the city gates, known as El Portillo, a young woman of no more than twenty years old caught a linstock, and above the fallen soldiers, she lit the fuse of a cannon. The shot forced the French to retreat. Agustina de Aragón, with this brave gesture, became a myth.
Agustina de Aragón (2012), by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau
Did I need more inspiration references after all of this? Indeed. I researched more about the people in the Spanish Society of the 18th century and trends. I don’t want to extend it too much but my brainstorming made a U turn, from war to the way of living in Spain.
There was a Spanish female urban tribe in the 18th century called “Las Majas”, and the trend is known as “Majismo”.
Las Majas were part of a social protest that arose around 1740s. Their main goal was going against the French tendencies that were introduced from France in the reign of Philip V.
Their presence made a great transformation in the female behavior. But also, and above all, in the human relationships between the men and women of that time.
You may have seen the singer Rosalía performing and imitating this paint as a "maja" in her videoclip "Di mi nombre" (Say my name).
It is true that during the 18th century women continued to act as mothers and wives, while their role in public life had nothing to do with the large male presence. However, these women, made noticeable changes in their outward appearance and also in female social functions and their behavior. They broke with some stereotypes that had marked the lives of women since the Middle Ages.
They were women who belong to middle classes and who began to have a presence in public life as vendors or merchants. Defined as bold, friendly, outspoken, foul-mouthed, outspoken, and mischievous, Las Majas were women who opposed to imposed principles. Their morals were not exactly Catholic. Rather than that, it was more in line with the collective of their community. They were women who could not control their instincts and were opposed to the images of home angel and virtuous woman. Needless to say, in those times society was trying to sell that image as the morally correct.
Just as today's urban tribes use music and culture to spread their ideals, las Majas expressed these behaviors in public spaces and in different theatrical and musical performances.
It all together makes me think that, if I would have lived in those times, it all would have matched with myself! With who I am today, because some things may have changed in a period of 200ish years, but, somehow I feel something still remains. I find it quite curious that I’m able to relate myself with this, with some kind of a freedom feeling in this society that we live in.
And now, after all my references it’s time to have fun designing my champion 😊. The idea is to mix the clothing and outfits of soldiers in the independence war and the majismo trend within the same character. Leaving here some that I have collected too.
Que buena investigación, que ganas de ver cosas ya! jaja
En ello estoy!! Pero me gusta cuidar mucho los posts jeje. Prontito subo cosas!!!
Un background cojonudo! Me quedo por aquí a ver qué sale!!
I wish I knew what was being said, lol, but regardless, I cannot wait to see how this one unfolds!
Haha sorry!! They were just saying that it's a good historical background and research, and I replied that I'm working on it! I'm glad to reply to people in any language as long as I can speak it, but of course I will be posting everything in english . Thanks for your comment! Will show you all that I've been doing these days soon!!
I loved reading your research into the topic. History was always my favorite subject!
Happy new year everyone and here we go! I can start showing some designs.
Thinking about my character La Maja and according to all my research, she has to look powerful, breaking stereotypes related to the “correct morality” for women, and also, being a Spanish independence war’s soldier. I normally hate designs that represent girls as tiny, thin and weak human beings. My image of a perfect woman goes more in the direction of strength and beauty rounded shapes/muscles. When I find the occasion, I tend to exaggerate those shapes a lot. This was one of those moments to let my hand do the anatomy thing.
I started with some gesture drawing, trying some dynamic poses, in order to choose one and develop some designs.
So, what I have focused on this stage has been the mixing outfit. Majismo and soldier´s uniform, with sort of a sexy looking in the end. Tried to use almost all of my references to take the right choices. It hasn’t been that easy to be fair. In fact, I ended up doing clean up linearts that I’m not even gonna use at all in my final designs , but somehow I needed to know what were the shapes I was looking for. I have wasted a bit more of time than expected at first just cleaning lines. Will keep on with volumes, color and light next time, hopefully.
Well, there are many things I would comment about all the accessories that I added. At some point, I stepped back a bit from my screen and analyzed what changes the design needed. I’m going to try another texture for the trousers, as the one I did is from the soldier’s uniform and my idea is pushing it to the majismo trend. Don’t know if it will work yet. And of course, I've got other accessories in mind that I'll add to the design as well.
But the main problem was the Spanish mantilla. I did the shape of a basic one (although in reality there’re many and some are very different!) but it just didn’t fit the way I wanted. So I had to give it another go pushing my imagination forward. Tried a soldier’s hat and half of a cannon wheel.
The cannon wheel mantilla is what convinced me the most, but I would like to know your opinions and feedback!
And this is pretty much it for the time being. Have to do facial expressions with color and light to give her the right personality. Just one thing else, she’s not coming alone on this adventure, but can’t reveal more for now hehe.
PS: La Maja has already an official OST. Been constantly listening to the album El mal querer by Rosalía. Funny the fact that it's inspiring me with this design 
Amazing design going on here! I like a lot that cannon wheel influence, it's SO unusual and iconic! Thanks, I'm very inspired now!)
