The MMA Four Horsewomen: Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke
Ink and watercolor on 18″ x 24″ watercolor paper
I wanted to give this more of an illustrative feel and approach it as a nod to Frank Miller’s Sin City. Every year I do a new Four Horsewomen painting, of the NXT version. Now that Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir are all under the WWE banner I felt this was the time to finally do one of the MMA Four Horsewomen. So I had that, but then how to approach it? And that’s when I thought of Sin City, of some bad ass broads who would be the absolute last people you’d want to run into in a dark alley.
These four are definitely bad asses and that approach to thinking gave me the chance to play with some heavy inks and a fun color palette used as a design element to frame the characters. That spot of orange makes them pop out, but makes you ask some questions. Questions like is that a spotlight, or something else? Are they cornered or was it a trap? Who is it that they’re about to face off against in that alleyway?
I think we all have an idea of who’d ideally be about to throw down with them, right?