Ubisoft Character: Tribal Shaman

I have confirmed my decision to go for a African shaman on this project. I am aware that it isn't precisely a warrior at first glance as the brief requested, but in a sense they are not entirely useless in the event of combat, I mean after all the brief did state the work 'mythical' hint hint.

I really wanted to have a tribal mask to cover her face; they are seldom seen in real life images so I feel it would be a good way to define her status. It would be removable so in the final renders I could have ones with/without the mask. As for a 'weapon' inside of a classic spear 'n' shield I'm going for a staff, heavily adorned of course. 

While I haven't based my character from any specific African tribe, I have researched facts about certain tribes and taken the into consideration and tried to apply them to the design. For example in the Zulu society a women's martial status is known by the amount of clothing she wears. Mine is wearing clothing over her breasts and has let her hair grown long, this indicates that she is engaged and is showing respect to her future relatives. Furthermore it seems only men wear leopard hides and the amount they wear shows their social status. So straight away you can tell I'm being rebellious in this sense!

I want to emphasis the heavy use of hides, skulls and feathers

Above is my chosen final design. I am aware that at this point I have not experimented with faces and hairstyles, however I would like to begin building my base mesh and when I get round to it I can come up with a final facial expression. I have chosen a youthful figure so this character will be in their 30's ideally. Now to commence the modelling.