Condesa Karin DOrleans

I have been writing and drawing since my adolescence. During my school years, I filled notebooks with characters, stories, and character profiles, developing narrative worlds long before I imagined they would one day become a published work. My primary literary influences do not come from the fantasy genre, but rather from historical and adventure novels. Works such as The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings were fundamental to my development as a storyteller. Fantasy came later as a medium to express a quest that had always been present within me: the exploration of consciousness, spirituality, divinity, and the profound meaning of existence. The characters that now make up Corazón Esmeralda began to take shape in my drawings around 2014, emerging from stories that remained personal for years until they finally found their definitive form in this work. My writing is also influenced by the study of Hermetic philosophy, alchemy, symbology, the psychology of the subconscious, and the Jungian interpretation of the tarot. These interests converge in a narrative where external adventure serves as a reflection of the characters' inner awakening. Regarding aesthetics, my visual imagination has been shaped by anime from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s—particularly works such as Rurouni Kenshin, Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac), Lady Oscar (The Rose of Versailles), Candy Candy, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, and The Vision of Escaflowne. The latter two, in particular, influenced the visual and atmospheric construction of Corazón Esmeralda, alongside references drawn from the Final Fantasy universe. Corazón Esmeralda represents the convergence of all these paths: adventure literature, history, drawing, symbolism, philosophy, and the spiritual quest. It is, in essence, a narrative expression of my own awakening of consciousness and my search for the divine.