ratcreature | 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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Sorry you had to create an account, I had to to anonymous commenting off because spam on LJ has gotten really frequent recently.

As for your comments, lots of comic readers would prefer their heroines to look different. I read superhero comics, I pay plenty of money for superhero comics, and I enjoy lots of things about them (otherwise I wouldn't buy them after all), but I'd enjoy them even more if they were less sexist. I have no idea who this "we" is that you speak of, but obviously a lot of people do care or this post wouldn't be the one in my LJ with the most comments.

Also, there are plenty of female comic artists, so many in fact that they have whole organizations, like Friends of Lulu. Not as many as professional male comic artists but far from non-existent.

I have no idea what you mean with your "sexual behavior" comment. I mean, these comics are public and not even rated as adult or anything, and the "sexual preferences" are kind of screamed at me as a reader, but that doesn't seem to bother you, only when people talk about the comics in their blogs? That makes no sense. Unless you think only heterosexual guys have the right to talk about sex or make their preferences visible?

As for useful stuff to improve your drawing skills you could check out some of the other posts with drawing book scans in my LJ, some of which I found actually helpful, or check out some general drawing guides, Andrew Loomis anatomy books for example have been out of print for a while but are available for free online, for example here:
http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1

Hey thanx for answering my comments.Now regarding yours,let's say i created my own comicbook ok? Then i have the right to express whatever i want,and sex and sensuality is a part of human life,so if i want to draw a gorgeous or "sultry" female character what the heck? Im i gonna hold myself back cuz im gonna offend people who obviously dont think in a very "sultry" way about themselves? Of course not. Just like you said,maybe you like your comics to be less bimbo orientated and more "realistic" (i dunno maybe more of a Garth Ennis type for example)
which i also enjoy,but hey I dont want a fat Rogue in my Xmen comicbooks just so they can be "politicly-correct" Do I? As for the sexual behavior thing,what i meant is that i get pissed off that most of the times gay people(who im perfectly ok with) always have to say something like "hey im gay and i im pissed off that men or women are not represented as blah blah blah" for example,I mean the guys making these wizard lessons just think in a different way than they do,but i dont think their trying to offend anyone and those type of discussions belong to real-life situations not fantasy cuz in fantasy you are entitled to create ANYTHING that you want to create,thats whats amazing about it dont you think?
I mean these artists are just expressing themselves and all i see in the majority of the comments is no respect for their opinions whatsoever,and just being bashed for wrong reasons. Uff!! thats all i had to say jajaja Hey thankyou so much for your tips,i left drawing for some time but im more than eager to get it going again.It would be fantastic if i could send you some of my art to see what you think.congrats on your LJ.

No one is attempting to stifle your freedom of expression, and you are perfectly free to attempt to interest whomever you like in your comic, although I recommend an editor.

Likewise, we are free to call it appalling drek.

I realize that this particular LJ entry for some reason crops up among the first search results for queries like "how to draw comics", but my LJ isn't actually about learning or teaching how to draw. I am not drawing professionally or even all that regularly as a hobby, except for the occasional piece of fanart, that often slashy, i.e. m/m art. So I don't really see any overlap in interests here.

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

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