Futuristic Ancient Roman

Here's another character concept sketch from the same science fictional world as the Welsh brother and sister of the previous post. "Julia" is a woman commander in a futuristic civilization that has retained its origins in the Roman Empire. That is, imagine imperial Rome of the first couple of centuries A.D. (or C.E.) upgraded to a modern, gender-neutral, technological society. I'll  never know what relationship Julia had to the Welsh family ship  -  enemy? ally? imperial overlord? but what counted for me was the gender-neutral concept, where a woman could be an imperial commander, and of course the fashions, which had to convey authority and elegance but not brass-bra female dominance. I borrowed the outfit from an Art Deco movie of the 1930s. Needless to say, an outfit like this would not make it in modern movies, illustrations, or comic books. She would have to be wearing a skin-tight bodysuit with scale-patterned armor pads, plus a few fearsome-looking hand weapons. Not a bad concept, but Julia wouldn't wear it.

Character study is watercolor and inks on illustration board, 8" x 10", June 1990.