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

[ratcreature]

I love comics. The medium is awesome. I love them better than books, better than tv, and I think that some comics are sexist or racist or whatever is no more a reason not to read comics than that some tv is is to watch no tv. I even love superhero comics, but I've read comics for two decades without reading more than half a dozen superhero comics (I then caved to fan pimping *g*), so even if that genre isn't your thing, there's still plenty of comics. Serious comics, funny comics, autobiographical comics. Fantasy, mystery, western, humor...

I have thousands of comics and overall I don't find them any more misogynist than books or tv. I mean, look at your average crime drama and what the female cop or FBI agent is wearing and what the male ones are wearing, or at sf shows.

Also, as you may have noticed, each of these chapters are by a different author. There are more in the book, some which aren't offensive at all, just as some superhero comics aren't offensive.