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".
( There's 19 large page scans behind the cut...Collapse )
ETA (11 April 2010): Thanks to LJ's new comment option I can now freeze the post without deleting previous comments. I'm sorry I'll be missing out on some interesting comments, but I'm sick of getting offensive, sexist drivel dumped in my journal in a years old post.
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Pretty Awesome
Anonymous
December 14 2009, 00:00:12 UTC 9 years ago
Blind Ignorance
Anonymous
January 4 2010, 11:24:14 UTC 9 years ago
The sheer stupidy is just to much to bear that I'm hoping I manage to leave something coherent because I seriously want to hit all of you in the face with a brick repeatedly... Okay I'm ready deep breath.
I like to say this, it's fantasy things are exagerrated. I'm aspiring artist more accurately a comicbook artist I own about 10 'How To' comic anotomy books similar to these. What I can't take is the hypocrasy and man hating feminist that know nothing of the genre, in all seriousnes what is with the constant spamming of basically "OMG it's NOT REALISTIC". No way!? Did Superman tell you that after his battle with Lex Luthor of coarse it isn't! It's targeted at hormonal social recluses/ that nerd you turned down in highschool.
But I'm not reaching you am I? I'm not nailing the spike of what I'm trying to say through this rage into your forhead? Comics with plain looking girls vise versa like the one's you leave out of your little social circles don't work not action comics anyway. Because superheroe comics are not about real life, real life sucks that's why most of you have a facebook/myspace and pretend your opinion matters. Their windows into a world where losers are givin an opportunity of greatness.
If reality ever made it's dirty contradicting fingers into comics Batman would be your typical celebutant rich boy, Superman a mass mudering dictator of earth and Wonderwoman would of stayed in her feminest paradise.
It's like your treating this as real world guide to female anotomy!
Re: Blind Ignorance
Anonymous
April 11 2010, 06:16:29 UTC 8 years ago
i full heartidly agree with you, ITS A COMIC!!!! REAL LIFE IS BORING!!!! THESE ARTISTS PULLED THESE STORIES FROM THEIR FANTASIES AND DREAMS
Anonymous
January 11 2010, 13:05:21 UTC 9 years ago
OTOH, it is upsetting, yes. But it's nothing to go crazy over. The comic people are targeting their main fan base by drawing women like that: men.
Though a lot of those women are fairly boring clones...and Jim Balent? When has any person ever rolled with their legs and arms pointed out??
As an artist I also have to wonder why they all wear high heels...doesn't seem like it would be easy to fight anything in those.
Seriously
Anonymous
January 12 2010, 23:40:53 UTC 9 years ago
I don't either want to make assumptions but I don't think a lot of the people who flamed this article actually ever lifted a pen to draw. This guide is really helpful as tips for proportions. They are obviously exaggerated but the real proportions are there...7 and a half head for a female 8 and a half for a guy...the rest is just sprinkles...And as someone else stated, this is about superheroes with supposedly superpowers so it is normal that they look over exaggerated in every way possible, big breasts, accentuated curves for the back, the "S" shaped back...We know nobody can stay like this for hours in real life but that is the point. It is not real. Nor realistic.
Also, the article and the artists as well are clearly not trying to put this as "A guide on how the perfect Man and Woman should look like". It is clearly on a drawing and art state of mind, not reality. It frustrates me to see that even a drawing on a piece of paper can cause that many reactions. Most of us a confronted with violence in the media, at work, in schools, school shootings, racism, exclusion, poverty and the list could be long about the flaws of society.
And don't get me wrong, I am definitely not defending the hypersexualisation (sorry if the word is wrong but I am french) of women in our society, I participate in an anti-rape group and activism towards equality between men and women but this, is really least of a concern...You will agree with me that the majority of comic readers, I am sorry if I offend anyone, are majorily masculine, in between the age of 13 to 35 probably still living in their parents basement and don't really take those kind of figures as models...Plus, besides the look, comics actually give sort of good values(except some cases obviously), by example, justice, equality, not to steal, not to be violent (even though more than never, violence is the way of resolving the problems), acceptance etc.
The looks are just shiny...recreating on paper what can't be done in real life...The point is to dream, step out of the ordinary.
There is no man flying in between buildings in red and blue stockings nor a woman flying in an invisble airplane or a guy with metal claws at the tip of his hands. It's food for thought. Fantasising. And don't try to take this out on me, everyone fantasise. It's part of the human being...
I'm sorry for the book but these were my two cents...I draw an awful lot and this guide was really helpful. Too bad people can't see past the images and see the technique and the work involved in this.
Last thing, this is my angry comment: If you hate those comics and the image of woman displayed like this so bad, go out and take actions on parents that dress their little girls like street workers, people who horribly display their child as meat for the eye in shows like "Toddlers and Tiaras" on TLC. THIS is disgusting. Live images of REAL little girls and parents showing them off as they were meat on the market.
Go burn down magazine buildings like Cosmo and such that try to dictate how thin a woman should be. These are drawings FFS. Not tengible stuff that is in your face every freaking day.
This culture (i.e. comics and such) are relatively marginal compared to what we are shown everyday in publicity and in the media.
Like I said earlier, I am for the equality of men and woman and against the abuse of sexual image of woman in society but geez...calm down, those are only drawings.
Piece of Art
January 21 2010, 01:06:36 UTC 9 years ago
Female figures
Anonymous
January 22 2010, 22:43:22 UTC 9 years ago
The Book?
Anonymous
January 27 2010, 21:09:49 UTC 9 years ago
Re: The Book?
January 27 2010, 21:19:15 UTC 9 years ago
good stuff
Anonymous
February 4 2010, 14:53:16 UTC 9 years ago
Anonymous
February 12 2010, 22:15:42 UTC 9 years ago
If anyone becomes offended with the guide, then they have to be offended with american culture. Because for the most part this is how a mass majority view women, why do you think its done that way? Because its appealing. If it wasn't aimed towards a majority then it would never had been done this way.
Truth be told, the last time I seen art that really captures women is the renaissance era. Women consists of more than just big breasts and unrealistic S shapes. Most artists can't capture the essence of a woman because they believe that breasts = woman. Nothing really to get offended about, its absurd. I guess men should get offended how marvel draws men too. Since they are usually super muscular.
None the less, if you want a change to how women are viewed then it has to be changed in society first. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have women captured in the proper manner but until things are changed they'll keep doing art work that appeals to the multitude.
Anonymous
February 24 2010, 20:27:08 UTC 8 years ago
Eyeliner and everything.
February 25 2010, 13:32:48 UTC 8 years ago
It never would have occurred to me that four fucking years later people would still be commenting to it saying that there's nothing wrong with any of this and that women are man-haters and stupid for being offended. I just, really? Part of me is seriously hoping that you've attracted one actually mentally ill person who can't stop commenting.
In any case, I wanted to throw my two cents into the arena: thank you for posting this. I recently got back into comics (*shakes fist at Adventure Comics and Red Robin*) and have been devouring back issues of Birds of Prey and Catwoman. It's utterly sickening to me that even in these titles with awesome, well rounded characters who happen to be women, they're still all about the ballon-boobs, pouty lips, and cookie-cutter faces. I've had to walk away from more than one issue because I just couldn't stand to see one more panel drawn like that.
This shit matters. Thank you for posting.
February 25 2010, 13:49:57 UTC 8 years ago
8 years ago
Women commenting here should read this
Anonymous
March 9 2010, 17:28:55 UTC 8 years ago
http://comicsworthreading.com/2006/09/28/girls-discover-wizard-sexist/
Re: Women commenting here should read this
March 18 2010, 22:37:57 UTC 8 years ago
She says in the article that "The core of this argument seems to be whether or not superhero comics being for boys is a bad thing," which is so completely missing the point that it's not even funny. This has nothing to do with that; it's about fucking artistic integrity and the incredibly negative nature of modern societal norms. The view that teenaged boys see females as nothing more than sex objects is incredibly harmful to both women and men; it turns both sexes into nothing more than one-dimensional, animalistic beasts -- as if humans are completely controlled by their "instincts." How can anyone who lives in the real world believe that?
And why, exactly, should comics that are "aimed at men" be drawn any differently than those "aimed at women"? Gender is not a goddamn dichotomy; it's a spectrum, or, perhaps, a pool -- undefined, undefinable. -- But no matter what our identity is, we all visually see the world in the same way, don't we? A square is a square is a square, no matter who looks at it, no matter what label people give it. And that's the thing: the figurative art of most comics is based in reality -- it's based in accurately portraying the human body -- so how the fuck can you say that any of the above illustrations are accurate? They're caricatures and exaggerations; women who look like that are one-in-a-billion in the real world, just as those male illustrations are unreal, also.
THESE COMICS ARE PROMOTING UNHEALTHY EXPECTATIONS OF SELF-IMAGE -- period. No argument.
And can I just say? WE'RE NOT UPSET ABOUT THIS BECAUSE "THIS ISSUE IS NEW TO US." IT'S NOT FUCKING NEW. We all grew up with this shit. We're upset because IT'S WRONG. And saying that "for me, it’s a part of the scenery I can’t get too worked up over" -- that you're desensitized to this issue -- IS NOT AN EXCUSE. IT MEANS YOU'VE LOST SIGHT OF REALITY, OR GIVEN UP ON IT.
It just -- oh my god, I'm so overcome with rage at the moment that I can't form coherent thoughts.
Seriously?
Anonymous
April 11 2010, 05:54:21 UTC 8 years ago
- first off if you have read a comic, why are you all arguing about how "unreal" they appear to make their women? i mean c'mon how real is it for people to shoot lazer beams from their eyes, but thats just the point, ITS NOT REAL! so what if she is contorted into an unusual pose, its not real life.
-secondly, not a single one of you have the kind of reputation in comic art as these fine artists in the book.
- not to mention that if you don't like their art, then pay them no mind, who are you to judge them?
personally i enjoyed this book and i believe that it has helped me become a better artist... before reading this book i couldn't draw women worth a crap, they all looked like men with mullets, but now when i over exaggerate their feminine side they actually appear like women on the paper. EVER NOTICE HOW UNREAL ANIME LOOKS? these kind of styles are *ABSTRACT* forms of art
*Abstract- thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea
why beat down the great artists?
Anonymous
April 11 2010, 06:06:06 UTC 8 years ago
so going off that statistic almost 7 out of 10 comic heroes would be overweight, and that does not mean muscle mass by the way lol, who wants to read about a couple of chunckers dueling it out?
my gratitude to you boys who have enough sense to understand that comic books are not supposed to portray real life, duh
(statistics found at:http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm)
Re: why beat down the great artists?
April 11 2010, 07:34:46 UTC 8 years ago
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