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

[kashira.livejournal.com]

Lol at all the trolls here. I like how people think because -they're- not offended -nobody- has a right to be, omg! If we say there's no sexism here there's clearly not, and anyone who objects is just a fatty!!1

I can't say I'm enraged, but the blatant sexism in this is rather unsettling. Someone will probably chalk that opinion up to the fact that I "probably don't have a wasp-waist or an enormous chest", which is expected. (Also amusing that the guide says "size doesn't matter" but give ALL the women fairly large breasts that stay perky, even without a bra.) My opinion comes more from the presentation of the characters, though that's already been discussed in many earlier comments... women being presented as only sex objects, etc.
I'm not of the opinion there should be NO fan service, since most people like at least a little eye candy, but I don't particularly like how the women are portrayed ONLY as eye candy. There could stand to be more variance in body type on both sides, at least just from what I've observed in this guide. More lean, athletic looking men and more women who actually look like they could be superHEROES rather than supermodels would be nice.

Also props to whoever it was who said the fat Scarlet Witch makes an interesting character. I have to agree. :)