This is an early concept sketch for #Xena’s South American costume for the Xena Virtual Season 7 ep, Go West Young Warrior Part 2. This costume went through many changes. She would retain the asymmetrical macaw flowers in her hair, but gain painted  animal designs, bright jade & turquoise ornaments,& the strips of her leathers would be replaced by a few skimpy colorful straps. Her hair had red clay highlights, partly to minimize the effects of the hot sun. I’m tempted to create a new drawing of the final version at some point, since I don’t want to repost  others’ work without permission, since it’s quite striking. Unfortunately, I did not have time to submit drawings for this ep at the time, though I did provide research.

Here’s a slightly later concept sketch of Gabrielle from Go West Young Warrior Part 2 (of the #Xena Virtual Season 7). She’s had a makeover by the South American Amazons to make her more relatable to them. Those long hanging black feathers are macaw, I believe, & she wears feathered wings similar to her Valkyrie look in a prior ep.

She has white clay-based makeup to protect her skin from the tropical sun, & the black stripes are in honor of the jaguar, native to the region. She also wears a caiman skin top. Much of this was kept except for the white makeup.

Here’s a model sheet for Gabrielle I did for the 2nd part of Go West Young Warrior, from the #Xena Virtual Season 7. It’s an early concept, the only part finally used was the Shakira bra from her video. It’s made of caiman skin, & resembles Gab’s vest in The Bitter Suite. Her skirt was later changed(not by me) to a tiny belt with a thin loincloth, & Gab hesitates before trying it on.

A concern we have these days when main characters visit another land of indigenous peoples is whether the main characters are appropriating the look, are white saviors, or are in the role of colonizers. And are the tribes portrayed as exotic Others?

These were concerns at the time, & I think they were handled with sensitivity. One of my colleagues was actually from this region, & helped illustrate this episode. The way the ep is written, you’re introduced to the “Amazon” tribe from their point of view, & we get a sense of just how strange #Xena & Gabby look to them. They’re essentially not any different than Greek Amazons, they’re just not familiar with Greek culture, & consider their own superior. It’s actually a lot of fun looking at things through their eyes, which is quite logical. 

Given the extremes of the tropical climate, it’s essential that #Xena & Gab adopt local dress, & it’s necessary socially to establish their association with the tribe. I discovered from my research that for some, hair ornamented with white or yellow clay signified inexperience of youth, & this leads to a comedy of errors as the Amazons assume blonde Gab must be inferior or incompetent. The elaborate designs of the tribe might seem to some like exoticizing, but they’re actually the norm, which #Xena & Gab adopt to blend in. 

Of course, 2 Greeks foreshadowing Columbus might get compared to colonizers,  but we’ll see that this trilogy has more in common with the India eps, in which the characters are transformed by the land, not the other way around.

Before I post sketches from Go West Young Warrior Part 2, from the #Xena Virtual Season 7, I wanted to talk about capturing its atmosphere. In addition to books & image searches, I watched movies set in the region, & made screenshots to work from. I was already a fan of Colombian singer Shakira, & it just so happened she released her 1st English-language hit, Whenever Wherever, shortly before work on this ep began. To me the music, lyrics & attitude fit this trilogy perfectly. It uses the panpipe to recall her homeland’s indigenous culture, which is also the setting of this story. I recommended the video to the creative team, & the outfit she wears inspired the designs we came up with for the Amazons, particularly her top, which gave us an option besides the bare-chested look in my last post! 

Go West Young Warrior Part 1 (of the #Xena Virtual Season) ended with Xena valiantly carrying a dehydrated Gabrielle to the shore of a whole new world to Greece & Rome. I believe they are on the Colombian/Venezuelan shore of South America, surrounded by indigenous Amazons. The Amazons are topless, covered in warpaint & wearing headdresses made from caiman lizards. I did a lot of research into the tribes mentioned in the story, not just online but at the library, until I had some idea of its practical & symbolic nature, so we could adapt it to the story. That said, there’s no way we could fill the next 2 eps with a topless cast, but I was certain that the show would’ve done something like this to signify a dramatically different culture from the Mediterranean, & it was historically accurate, so my plan was to occasionally suggest a clothing optional environment without being explicit. 

The rest of the eps show colorful costumes that gave the Amazon jungle a magical look, & it was probably my favorite time on the season, working on those with the illustration team. Here, the Amazons discover a very sunburnt #Xena & Gabrielle without their metal armor, so they don’t look entirely alien.

The plot thickens in Go West Young Warrior Part 1, of the #Xena Virtual Season 7, as Xena & Gabrielle find themselves surrounded by sharks! Xena decides to take the fight to them, of course. For years afterwards, whenever someone asked if Xena jumped the shark, I’d post this pic in response.

Eventually #Xena & Gabrielle find themselves without a ship, in Go West Young Warrior Part 1, from the final quadrilogy of the Xena Virtual Season, which appeared 21 years ago. For this drawing I was inspired by Titanic, the last scene with Leo & Kate. This story arc was set in the sensuous atmosphere of the Amazon jungle, & as they approached what we now call South America, my drawings took on an increasingly sensual tone. It became looser & focused more on expressing emotions than tight accuracy in depiction. The light implies they are under the heat of the equatorial sun, & you can see Gabrielle’s tattoo on her back. Their metal armor has been tied to the makeshift raft, to prevent them from drowning.

One of the fun things about illustrating a script is bringing to life characters that aren’t otherwise fully described. I designed a crew for the ship that #Xena & Gabrielle sail to South America, pulling them from Spain & Africa, Berbers, etc., & giving each one a personality. That’s how the show did it.

From Go West Young Warrior, part 1, of the #Xena Virtual Season, here’s a close-up of King Gabriel’s map of the Atlantic ocean, based on the best data available to him. When designing this map, I imagined that he commissioned Hispanian cartographers, which is to say, Romans, since Rome is ascendant at this point of in the show. Therefore the most important latitude is Circulus Romanus (a name I made up) which is the latitude that runs through the city of Rome.

I also made up the Roman name for the Tropic of Cancer, Circulus Soltitialis, which was pointless, as it turned  out, because they also called it the Tropic of Cancer! I chose map names like “Khan” to refer to the original pitch for #Xena, as a hero pursued by Khan the warlord. I included Higuchi, since Xena had been there, & it was the easternmost city they knew of. 

Lo Lang is imo the Korean equivalent of Japa (for Japan) & Ch’in, (for China). I was trying to plant the idea that #Xena might go there in a possible future episode. Of course, the show never used naps like this. Anything on a scroll was usually abstract in nature. You didn’t see readable words or recognizable maps.

The only time I recall an accurate map was when #Xena traveled to Ch’in in The Debt, & that was an animated insert, not a physical prop Xena was reading.

So you may ask: why is King Gabriel of all people in this episode? I have a theory, that we’ll learn about in part 2.