Lady Miasma

The Assignment

This was the first Character Design assignment I worked on, and the road was paved with mistakes that I learned a lot from.

The goal of this assignment was to create a wizard, a contender in a grand tournament. I had to include the traits :

Nurgle, Germanic tribes & heavy smoker

Nurgle

Disease, decay, despair, and death,
Grotesque bodies - chained, bound and rotting,
Bells - historically tied to plagues and a grim announcement of death.

Smoker

Warhammer Nurgle characters often have gaping mouths with many tongues hanging from their bellies - a fitting place for a pipe.

Culture

People of germanic tribes were often veiled, decorated with hanging belts and large necklaces - I translated this idea into Nurgle.

Studies and Explorations

Pose and Anatomy Studies

A character's personality is largely defined by the pose the artist presents them in, so I spent a lot of time exploring different poses and models.

Female Nurgle characters are not very common, but I wanted to portray a powerful Wizardress of Decay. I looked into female poses that looked threatening and powerful, but also wizardry.

I wanted her to look like she was flaunting her power with a single gesture.

Cultural Studies

As a Polish woman, I was very happy to get Germanic tribes as a prompt - parts of Western Poland fall into that group.

I drew my inspiration from the Wielbark culture and studied archeological findings and articles.

I was also strongly inspired by large, decorated pipes made from deer antlers and wood.

Thematic Troubles

Originally, I was thrown off by the grotesque of Nurgle. I tried to reinterpret the theme in a way that was more comfortable to me - decay as moss, fungus, dry thorns and cobwebs.

What I Learned

I spent a long time trying to make the theme fit my comfort, instead of embracing the discomfort Nurgle is meant to invoke.

I made sketches aesthetisizing death instead of showing the grim reality of decay.

My teachers pushed me out of my comfort box with their feedback:

more Nurgle!

Back to the drawing board...

Exploration

I was looking for visually interesting ways to portray disease and even more poses.

Studies

I studied elements of decay and defining symbols of Nurgle, as well as censers for smoke.

True Nurgle

I turned to Warhammer - the place in which I should have started all along.

As soon as I embraced the true nature of Nurgle the designs became more visually interesting and the character started to come to life.

I felt very drawn to the image of the smoking pipe sticking out of a smiling gut - the idea felt ridiculous and funny, but in a way that made sense for the character.

I very quickly settled on a pose and character that stood out to me.