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

Re: My apologies for the late reply...

[inaurolillium.livejournal.com]

That's all terrific stuff, just what I was looking for. Thanks!
I know there's a good chance I won't be able to change his mind, or even get him to see that I have a point, but I feel I have to try. Perhaps, at the very least, I can get him to see that this is a big deal to me, whether or not he understands it.
I actually don't have a problem with big tits and pouty lips in and of themselves -- I've got G-cups and full lips myself -- it's that I object to them in such poor context -- there's no way Vampy has those; I weigh more than 200lbs. They don't look real, they just look stupid. I'm attracted to women, yes, but I'm attracted to real women, not pneumatic blow-up dolls. Ditto the men; even bodybuilders don't look that way all the time, just for shows.
I haven't seen Jack Phantom, but I'm with you on Peregrine.
Oh, and the Latin plural of penis is penes, which is why it's usually just penises in English, except for when it refers to critters who have a pair of hemipenes or "half-penises" (yes, they exist).