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

Seriously?

[(Anonymous)]

are you guys all retarded? like have you seriously ever read a comic in your life?

- first off if you have read a comic, why are you all arguing about how "unreal" they appear to make their women? i mean c'mon how real is it for people to shoot lazer beams from their eyes, but thats just the point, ITS NOT REAL! so what if she is contorted into an unusual pose, its not real life.

-secondly, not a single one of you have the kind of reputation in comic art as these fine artists in the book.

- not to mention that if you don't like their art, then pay them no mind, who are you to judge them?

personally i enjoyed this book and i believe that it has helped me become a better artist... before reading this book i couldn't draw women worth a crap, they all looked like men with mullets, but now when i over exaggerate their feminine side they actually appear like women on the paper. EVER NOTICE HOW UNREAL ANIME LOOKS? these kind of styles are *ABSTRACT* forms of art

*Abstract- thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea