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

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

Victoria's Secret has just come out with some new commercials, and, as always, I was stunned by the truly odd poses they place the models in.

Most of them resemble those drawings.

VS models seem to have uniformly very thin bodies, large chests, and very long torsos, with the lack of natural curves being obscured by exaggerated twists and turns of the pose (so that, rather than having hips that curve out, they jut their bones outward to make that S shape).

Right now, I'm in the middle of watching Season 2 of Queer as Folk, and it's funny to see that and read the advice on drawing, particularly watching Justin's drawings and QaF's discussion of the queer aesthetic in comics.

[ratcreature]

Maybe the comic artists use VS models as reference? I mean, in the chapter on photo reference in book two swimsuit magazine are mentioned as useful, and I guess those might not be too different from underwear ads?

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen QAF, but the bit about needing to spend a lot of time on a superhero's muscles and show how cut he is? Definitely pinged my gaydar. *g*

[lord-dingsi.livejournal.com]

Right now, I'm in the middle of watching Season 2 of Queer as Folk, and it's funny to see that and read the advice on drawing, particularly watching Justin's drawings and QaF's discussion of the queer aesthetic in comics.

Ooooooh. I'm afraid I haven't seen the episode(s?) in question... :( Could you tell me a bit more about it? (If you think it doesn't fit here, you can also email me at lord_dingsi at yahoo dot de.) I mean, I can imagine that the tight spandex suits and six-packs etc. are seen as sexy, I just think it's quite funny because the larger comic companies often try really hard to make clear they aren't targeting the gay audience.

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

Note: This might be a spoiler if you haven't seen the series, so I'll just link to the recap:
http://www.tv.com/queer-as-folk/episode-206/episode/118342/summary.html

If you're interested in comic representation of the male body and a queer reading of it, season 2 of the US QaF is great, especially Ep 6, as well as the eps leading up to and including the Rage party (Season 2, episode 20.)

[lord-dingsi.livejournal.com]

Thank you! -- Hey, I think I remember that episode! But unfortunately, I've only seen some bits and pieces of it because I tried to finish an essay and was heavily distracted. Damn. (The show's airtime over here is quite unfortunate, too... if not to say homophobic (http://lord-dingsi.livejournal.com/22419.html). I really should start recording it.)

I'm definitely looking forward to the Eps you mentioned :)

[crimsonsenya.livejournal.com]

QaF's discussion of the queer aesthetic in comics
Could you tell a bit more about this? I'm interested to know if Nightwing's visual representation can be related to it. :)

[raptorinblack.livejournal.com]

"VS models seem to have uniformly very thin bodies, large chests, and very long torsos, with the lack of natural curves being obscured by exaggerated twists and turns of the pose (so that, rather than having hips that curve out, they jut their bones outward to make that S shape)."

Thats a VERY GOOD point, i never thought of that before! and would of course explain why someone like me with a normal weight for my height suddenly looks like a beached elephant seal when trying to do the same poses. TOO MUCH curve! ;D

[opaleyes.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I lost a lot of weight recently, so I decided to "treat" myself with a nice fancy VS Swimsuit instead of going to Target as per usual. I put that thing on and Jesus. It made me feel 30 pounds heavier. Even though it was my size.

[opaleyes.livejournal.com]

Honestly, as someone who does photo retouching for a living, I think the length of their torsos, legs, etc is highly modified before reaching the catalogue. But I definitely remember one where I looked at the model and went "Christ! What is wrong with you?" She looked like she shouldn't be able to survive.