Explorer character development sketches (Patreon)

Ive been obsessed on and off with Lara Croft and the original Tomb Raider games as a concept and decided I wanted to try doing my own spin on a character inspired by her. Here's a handful of sketches trying to find a balance between a direct homage and something new, along with some of my early draws of "lara croft" who was really already my own design that wasn't that true to her actual look anyways.

I'm planning a short standalone comic that sort of a meta reflection of Lara Croft as discussed in popular culture, focusing on her complex dichotomy of both a strong female lead and an egregious examples of objectification that devalues her personhood. I have a love for Lara but she is also sort of a blank slate beyond her few defining characteristics that don't really contribute much when you're actually IN the game.

I haven't settled on a name yet and it's not going to quite be as similar to Tomb Raider as you would think, I'm going to drop the guns in favor of a more fantastical idea with some ancient magic at play, a little more like a zelda than a tomb raider. Her design may go through a bit more tweaking as I find more time to work on it (exposure 2 and red muscle are still taking up most of my work time), but the first image is her current working design!

Besides that, the comic is going to be a big focus on environments and BGs, I hope to get a lot better at drawing cool stuff behind the characters with this concept. I don't have too many more backlogged ideas so to all you new patrons: first, thank you! second, let me know how I can best provide content that you feel satisfied with, feel free to suggest some concepts you'd wanna see me explore or some characters you'd want to see me draw. I'm looking for more ideas to make prints and stickers of for the store, so anything you'd want merch of, let me know as well.

thanks yall!