Jirel of Joiry. Created by author CL Moore, Jirel of Joiry is a woman with a spirit of pure molten steel. Her fighting determination to accomplish her goals surpasses normal earthly parameters. Beside it all else is secondary. Nothing can prevent Jirel from her aims; not men, not the church, not magic, not demons, not gods, not even death can stop her.

Created in the 1930's, she first appeared in the novel "Black God's Kiss". Jirel predates modern hussies like Wonder Woman and Xena. As a hero (heroine is a bit of a silly word) she has more in common with her contemporaries such as Robert E Howard's Conan, or Burroughs' Tarzan.
A character of early dark fantasy, this light pencil sketch doesn't really do her proper justice. However, I wanted to do a visual tribute to this character and this is what I created, so the pencil sketch will have to suffice until I get around to colouring this image, (if I ever do).