some more Black and White artwork by Barry Windsor-Smith.
I think BWS had the best take on Red Sonja. Her armor makes some sort of sense and she looks like she might be an actual human woman.
Yep. He created her with Roy Thomas. And by that I mean that Roy Thomas wrote the script, and Barry Windsor-Smith created her appearance, her clothing, and her mannerisms. By the end of his run on Conan, BWS was essentially the co-writer of the series.
His version of Conan and his Red Sonja are the definitive takes. Everything is either intentionally derivative, or intentionally going in a different direction.
The chain mail bikini look showed up in Frank Thorne’s Red Sonja # 1, and it quickly became the standard look for the character because of the simple fact that the character cannot support a solo title without a strong element of cheesecake to draw in readership. She wears the bikini because it sells more comics, not because it makes sense.
If you want to read the character as a person, read the BWS stuff and a smattering of issues from her ongoing title.