Lady Corinne Rhistel – half-elf lore bard
This piece came together in spurts over the course of a couple of weeks. It started with the challenge of making a sitting pose in a dress. Then it was a matter of getting her proportions right and dealing with what a friend dubbed “JJ Watt shoulders” in the armor piece I had chosen. That problem went away when I went ahead with my original idea of draping her shoulders in a cloak, and I try not to think about all the time I spent tweaking stuff that got covered up anyway. Then it was carpentry time building a wagon and figuring out more proportions and angling and I hope it looks at least somewhat realistic. The throwaway peasant wagon-driver turned into a full-fledged little hobbit man, and he cracks me right up. I managed to put together an appropriate backdrop for adventure travel without too much trouble. There’s so much repurposing and cropping in here I don’t even know where to start. (Let’s play “How Many Sleeves Are in That Sleeve?”) The shading came out pretty subtle, but I hope it still adds some depth to the whole thing. Then hey why not throw some textures on there and come up with two hours’ worth of more stuff to change and add and slightly nudge around because hey it’s not like I need sleep or anything. I get punchy when I’m up late. It amuses me that this is basically a portrait painted by a guy sitting backwards on a horse.
Corinne and her older brother were the offspring of a happy marriage between an elven nobleman and the lovely human musician who captured his heart. The family weathered scandal and scorn over their mixed race, maintaining their pride and strong internal ties even after Corinne’s mother’s life was claimed by illness. Corinne faced additional derision because she has always been distinctly chubbier than her svelte peers. While her brother acted as her protector against bullies, she found refuge in solitary learning and recalled her mother’s success with being nice as a defense mechanism. She had also inherited her mother’s musical proclivities, and as her education stretched into decades of advanced learning and travel, music has always been a primary focus. While her brother succeeded their father as lord of the family estate, Corinne has been largely free to pursue her own interests, and as their noble status opened doors for her, there was never really a reason to stop “bettering herself.” However, now in the midst of middle age, Corinne has begun to feel that she should do something practical in the world to make use of her extensive education. When her brother encouraged her to “do something with your music,” she astonished him by deciding to become one of those adventuring bards she’d heard so much about. Having made up her mind, she could not be convinced otherwise, and she has boldly set out despite really having no idea what she’s getting herself into.
