Blackbeard and Ching Shih

For this project I was assigned to illustrate two historical characters and I chose the two pirates Ching Shih and Blackbeard. They didn't live at exactly the same time but for the purpose of this assignment I cheated a little and imagined what their interaction might have been like if they had lived at the same time. I did do research though on which clothing would be historically accurate for the time periods in which they were alive and I had a lot of fun reading up on the history of Chinese fashion and the backstories of these two characters.

Ching Shih was a super powerful woman who had an estimated 80 000 pirates working under her command while Blackbeard was only in charge of roughly 300. I wanted to exaggerate the size difference between the two and show the more calculated and strategic side of Ching Shih which granted her her success rather than physical strength. This is why I chose a scene in which Ching Shih is explaining a battle plan to Blackbeard.