how to draw female comic characters (according to Wizard)...

[ratcreature]

brown_betty asked for examples "to illustrate the exactly how and why female comic characters are illustrated differently than the male." And I thought, really, what's better to illustrate these things than the books teaching the style in the first place?

A while ago I posted some scans from Wizard How To Draw series on drawing female superheroes (here and here), and I thought I'd post a bunch more from the first book of the series on "How To Draw: Heroic Anatomy".


As everything, it starts with the basics, i.e. proportions. First the male superhero


The female example is similar, but slightly different, notice how he stands firm and straight, wheras she stands with her hips cocked a little and the leg thrust forward?


Also notice in the direct torso comparison below, how the male one is ramrod straight, but she curves and leans just a little bit in the same pose?


Now onwards to the chapter "Sultry Women". It even cautions you against overposing! Yes, it's not as if Wizard wasn't aware of the problems! (Their definition and mine of which poses are already overposed might differ slightly though, heh.)





Next, Michael Turner explains "Sex Appeal". (Or what he thinks sex appeal is.) Incidentally it also illustrates the meaning of "overposed" that was brought up in the previous chapter very effectively...





Finally for compare and contrast purpuses the chapters on "Superheroic Men" and "Superheroic Women". For the male superhero it is all about more or less ridiculously enlarged muscles as we learn:





Female superheroes don't have it that easy, they need to worry about tilting their shoulder, nipple and pubic lines attractively at all times, not to mention legs, breast size, eye make-up and hair:

Comments

[430-pm.livejournal.com]

Whoa, hello trolls.

Anyways, thanks for scanning these. The immense irony of putting Mystique in a sexy, sultry, sort-of-submissive pose and then saying that she has a great personality makes me laugh (and kind of want to cry).

[ratcreature]

Yeah, very true. I mean, if someone gets off on out of character Mystique porn that's fine, I have odd porn kinks too, I just wish it wouldn't be done in the comics that are supposed to be primarily action-adventure superhero tales and such. So even besides the whole misogyny issues, I think eye candy and such should be only added where it actually fits unless you do porn where it fits everywhere of course.

I even get annoyed by this when they do it with stuff that I *appreciate* in porn. I mean, e.g. I found it completely annoying when they put a dog collar on Flash in a splash panel when nowhere in the actual story does he wear one, also in another issue far more elaborate chains than there were in the actual story. It was some sort of gratuitous bondage pictures. I was totally WTF? despite finding Flash in chins kind of pretty. Of course I find it worse with things that visually annoy me in the first place.

this whole board

[(Anonymous)]

i'm that muslim male again. i want to start by saying that i love comics. where i live they are a rarity and they are limited to tintin, asterix and archies. i do like superhero comics. i absolutely agree that they are sexist but i do admit that unless they are too unbelievable i actually like them. i liked some of the drawings here - even mystique's one. OTOH i admit that a gratuitous butt-shot doesn't do anything for character, but if i wanted strong female characters i wouldn't be reading superhero comics. sexualized portrayals of women come with the turf. though i agree that you have the right to be offended, you could acknowledge that this is what makes money. it's why movies like 300 was so financially successful. the artists target a large audience that likes this stuff, and while you're free to buy it yourself, if you don't like it, why do so? why pay them to continue something you don't approve of? i don't like manga, so i don't buy it. i don't disagree with anything you said, and i don't have that 'you hate them cos they're hotter than you' thing going on. that's moronic. anyway my point is that while i do agree it's sexist, i try not to take it too seriously, though, yes, as a guy it's different. i gasp or yelp when Lara Croft dies a gruesome death and laugh or swear when Altair or Prince of Persia dies. but you know what, unlike some people i know real women don't look like Lara Croft (even the new female-friendly one) or these comic characters, i know they're objectified portrayals, and i know enough to not treat real women accordingly. saddest fact is some people don't.