Akalini: Warrior Monk

I always wanted to do a female warrior inspired by Sikh aesthetics. I have painted several Akali-inspired males in a fantasy setting so I thought my next one should be a female. Luckily everything here just fell into place, the colours, pose, armour and everything. The male ones did not turn out as well as this one, which is why I did not upload them. However, they became a source of ideas and inspiration for me.

Inspired by Akali Snake Charmer piece, the idea came from a painting of one of those male Akalis, in whose background I had drawn a silhouette of an Akali with a really tall turban and armour spikes. So I cropped out the silhouette, enlarged it and started working on it.

This piece was obviously inspired by Akalis but Akali women never dress like this nor are they ever monks. This made it really exciting for me to work on it. I intended to push the fantasy style and context of this piece by adding armour pieces that are clearly unreal. It is not possible to fight in such large turbans either. (Hint: This is a fantasy piece NOT a historical one.)

This was a nice break from my Hari Singh Nalwa painting.

ENJOY!

EDIT: Changed name to Akalini, the female of Akali.