ratcreature | how to draw female comic characters (according to Wizard)...

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how to draw female comic characters (according to Wizard)...

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:

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Oh for the love of god. I read a few of the comments here and...a little bit vitriolic, aren't we? Yes, female comic book characters are oversexualized (and become lesbians in amazing numbers). Of course, do you ever see a skinny nerdy guy being the hero of a comic? Comic books are geared toward males of a certain age. That doesn't mean chicks don't dig em (obviously, since I'm bothering to type this). And there's eye candy for girls too (See: any well-drawn issue of Nightwing). But whining about how upset it makes you that some man draws women in oversexualized, posed ways is a waste of time. Grow up, move on, realize that a MAN drew this guide, and therefore, no, there won't be an sultry men, there won't be an sexually appealing men.

I am so sick of feminists whining about how men liking idealized females is horrible for the female population and how its a huge step back and all comic fans should be annoyed. I like comics. I know that female characters will often be shown with large breasts and/or perfect physiques. You know what? I really don't care. I enjoy comics for their stories and characters. If you don't like comic art, don't look at comic art. No one is forcing you.

Thats what I have never understood about people. Why do you feel like you have to post these things on livejournal, just to piss off people and provoke feminist rants? I can't say for certain how many people here actually spend their time reading comics--I really haven't the faintest, because I just stumbled in from google and decided to write a rant--but I would say that most of them obviously wouldn't voluntarily have looked up this material.

But thanks to Livejournal, its presented in a format where they can look and bitch all they want about something /no one/ is forcing them to look at.

So here's a female comic fan saying...just get over it.

See considering that I spend a large amount of money on comics I'm going to bitch about comics just like any other comic geek who also doesn't "get over" whatever s/he doesn't like, as is obvious in every comic forum, blog, zine, whether written by male or female comic geeks. For me to say what I like and don't like is part of being a fan. Nobody finds it odd if comic fans complain about, say, the return of Spidey's black symbiote costume instead of just not bothering to buy the comic anymore as soon as a black costume is on the cover. It's not like anyone is "forcing" them to buy a Spider-Man comic after all. Why should obnoxious, sexist drawing styles be any different? I mean, obviously nobody bothers to complain about things they're not invested in in the first place.

I'm not criticizing you, necessarily (though I tend to get defensive about mediums I like, its true). I have a good laugh about the way they draw chicks in comics all the time, and sure, there are things I whine about disliking in comics I followed.

But mostly I was mocking all the people who weren't bitching, or even complaining, so much as being outright offended or making this into some huge feminist thing in their comments.

Sorry, I know I came on a bit snarly.

For me, what I found offensive in these guides was the assumption that female fans, readers, and wannabe-comic book artists don't exist. The assumption that it's not necessary to worry about the sex appeal of male characters, but that the sex appeal of female characters is their most important element. It makes me really upset, in a way that I can't apologize for. What's more offensive than being treated as if you don't exist? Especially when your group identity is being reduced to a few physical attributes.

I don't see why should women submit to this "Boys Only" mentality, particularly from the "mainstream" comic book culture. The major comic book companies frequently talk about how they'd like to expand their target audience, especially to female readers. So why don't they tone down the T&A, and make an effort to cater to young girls as well as young boys?

But, you know, I think we do agree on the essentials. The images in this post are really funny, even without being an intentional satire. There's a lot of sexism in comics. And we all like to bitch about comics. But what I don't understand is just what, for you, crosses the line between bitching and being outright offended?

And, with all respect, what's wrong with making this into some feminist thing if that's what it is? I mean, I don't think you could call the issue discussed here a race issue. Or a gay rights issue. If it's not a feminist thing, that what is it? And what's wrong with it being a feminist issue?

...Maybe you don't think that the male characters in comics have sex appeal, but that's really an opinion? Without getting into too many details, I find male comic characters VERY sexually appealing and at least in the comics I own, there are a lot of shirtless men or men in VERY tight spandex.

Also, females aren't as responsive to visual stimulation. That's one of those dumb psychological things. We prefer things like character development. I am generalizing, of course, but its true that male readers respond a lot more to very attractive females in comics and are more likely to actually /read/ an issue because of it, than female readers are to read an issue because it necessarily has appealing males.

There is some sexism in comics, still, but there's been a definite effort in the last few years to bring in more and stronger female characters. See Gail Simone's Birds of Prey as an example of a LOT of non-stereotyped, kickass women.

I think that its fine for female comic readers to have an issue with this, but I do suspect, given some of the comments here, that some of the commentors don't actually READ comics. And I don't think most people have a right to get morally outraged about something you're not a fan of/not interested in. If you don't like it, don't read it.

It's not that the male characters aren't sexy. It's not that they can't be objects of desire as they are. It's that any sex appeal they might have is there accidentally. It's that the artists in this how-to-draw guide never talk about portraying sexy men, but they carp on and on about how to draw sultry women. So yeah, we could argue until the cows came home about what is or isn't attractive, but that's not the point. The point is that this guidebook acts as if the only people reading it are male, which is sexist. And it does that by treating women as objects of desire, but not men.

Women may not be -as- responsive to visual stimulation as men are, but that doesn't mean they don't respond at all! It's one of those dumb psychological things that varies widely between individuals, isn't a significant difference except for a minority of men and women, and isn't necessarily an innate trait. Besides, what does it say about men, if the things we expect them to fixate on are trivial and shallow, whereas the things women prefer (en masse, apparently) are indication of literary merit, and have been through the ages? Or was War and Peace beloved by (male) critics solely because it had prodigious amounts of boobies?

And what about women who are less likely to read a comic because it's got a ridiculous amount of T&A on the cover? Women won't even try reading something that panders to men so much. No, no matter how well-done the characterization is.

It's great that the comics industry is changing, or trying to change, but that doesn't stop sexism from existing. I mean, by that logic, good comics would magically make bad comics better. And I think we all agree that that doesn't happen. Birds of Prey doesn't make this how-to-draw book less offensive, it just makes it sadder. If comics can appeal and attract female readers while still selling to male readers, why are there still guide books like this one?

I'm not sure why you assume some of the other commentators aren't comics fans. What comments made you think that? What struck me about the commentators was that most of them are women. And that seems like a pretty good reason for them to be offended by sexism, even if they've never picked up a comic book in their life.

Besides, I'd argue that people have the right to be morally outraged by prejudicial comments, whether those comments are directed at them, at others, or are made in a totally different setting. One is furthermore morally obligated to act in a fashion that does not enable or continue beliefs that foster discrimination. That's why Jim Clark couldn't hold a job after 1966. There are issues which concern everyone; the passing on or proliferation of prejudicial attitudes and beliefs is one of them.

I find that the "don't like, don't read" principle works for things that are basically personal preferences: if you hate sci-fi, don't watch Dr. Who; if you can't stand fantasy why are you trying to read Lord of the Rings; etc. But that principle does not work with sexism precisely because sexism in comics discourages women from reading comics. (In fact, the major problem with the guide in this post is that it assumes its readers are male- thus, shutting out female fans and reinforcing the message that "comics are not for girls.") Telling women not to read comics if sexism offends them just reinforces sexist attitudes. How do you expect anything to change if people aren't allowed to agitate about it? Or if the only people you permit to agitate about it are the ones who won't agitate about it, because they got over their squeamishness and don't pay it any attention at all now?

what do the women here want to see from a female character? it is mentioned that they all look like porn stars. In some cases thats needed. Believe it or not there are very sexy women that exist. I agree that comic book females are exaggerated but it's a comic book! Isn't the basis for superhero comics exaggeration? they are an ideal. I'm not saying that this is right but it's how it is. get out there and create the comics you'd like to see.

The problem is that women are a sex object in that kind of exaggeration while the male superheroes are wish fulfillment for male readers with the exaggerated muscles etc being a power fantasy. I mean, geeky Peter Parker gets to become Spider-Man, geeky Clark Kent is secretly Superman etc. so the nerdy male comic fan gets to identify with the normally hidden heroic exaggeration. The nerdy female comic geek doesn't get such a plethora of characters, not even if you claimed that being "sexy" in that way was "powerful" because it's not as if the female geek in a comic is secretly hiding her DD cup size to fight crime. That is the difference between the exaggerations when on

Somehow I hit post before finishing the last sentence of my reply. That was supposed to say:

That is the difference between the exaggerations when one looks at many superhero comics.

You're not bothered by the fact that sexualization is the default for women; that's your prerogative. But acting like a man can only ever draw women in sexualized poses denigrates the capacity of men to see women as people. I'd like to be able to see women in some of my favourite comics with an expression that isn't sultry/sexy, I find it aggravating that I can't.

People are allowed to be angry about inequality even when it doesn't personally bother you.

True. But then again, if the inequality gets you that mad, if it really steams you up every time you see a woman in a comic drawn in a sexy pose, why do you read the medium? And I personally recommend Birds of Prey, Batgirl and even Astonishing X-men as comics with female protoganists who are shown in a lot of different poses other than 'generic sexy'. In fact, feminism has hit comics bigtimes these days and there are far more female characters who are equal to their male counterparts.

I don't mind comic fans questioning stuff like this, I was just wondering how many of the people who replied in comments actually even read comics.

And yeah, I got too annoyed, I just get tired of seeing people in livejournal finding things to complain about that they wouldn't normally seek out just for the sake of complaining. Sorry about the ranting.

There's something to be said, perhaps, for moderation in complaining, but you make it sound as if you were being forced to read Livejournal and people choosing to post materials/opinions were a direct and personal affront on your browsing time. To paraphrase your words, if you don't like to read a set of complaints on a topic, don't look at them. /No one/ is forcing you.

...No, I was giving a differing opinion on a topic that I found of interest.

I'm not sure I follow your argument. Should I not disagree with things?

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