This is the interior illustration for the story 'Queen of Frost and Darkness' by Christine Pope from the winter issue of Dark Valentine Magazine. I loved illustrating for this story - its a Russian-style fairytale with an additional modern, narrative bent and is absolutely lovely.
What an interesting character. I'm getting a lot of superiority, daintiness, and possibly evil. I think it's the way her nose is shaped and her eyes are pointed. You can kind of see that their something about her that makes woman nervous and men swoon. That's kind o what I'm getting when seeing this picture. Overall, it's a beautiful piece.
beautiful!!! it all feels so Georgian and traditional, very fairytale-ish. the mirror frames and the candlesticks are simply gorgeous, as are the dresses and the figures. all beautiful!