Less Tits n' Ass, More Kickin' Ass

May 9

reftastic:

swegener:

Speaking of different body shapes. These are all basically peak human bodies.

How come 99% of them don’t conform to what the entertainment industry tells us is the perfect body?

This is a FABULOUS set of body refs. So glad this came back across my dash so I could reblog it here :D

Totally reblogging it too cuz I lost it the last 3294 times I saw it on the interbutts. GJ!

I know you probably have seen this before, but here it is again. I love that this includes males bodies as well, and is a great reference for anyone wanting to design a various cast of characters. The mere size difference between some neighbours on some photos should give you artists great pointers on how to portray height variation in a believable way to your viewers!

(Also that way I have it in a place I’l remember and will be able to get it whenever I need it so there.)

Reblogged 1 month ago from dawnbest

35,641 notes

reblog, reference, body variations,

Apr 19

eschergirls:

ghostarin submitted:

Redrew this

I’m certainly not the best at stuff like this, but at least she’s not broken anymore.I could have spread the legs a -little- more to make it more dynamic though.

I also fixed her top/collar cause I couldn’t figure out how they made sense in the other picture. I also gave her shorts under her… kimono-thing. I figured if you knew your dress would constantly give you panty shots, I’d wear shorts under. I think most would do that.

Reblogged 2 months ago from eschergirls

94 notes

reblog, redo,

Dec 12

nechayano:

Ok I was recently reminded that this exists (i-I think someone DA-famous linked it or something because WHAT) and I think this may be relevant to tumblr’s interests so here’s my~female body variation tutorial~ whoo~

This came from some things I scribbled down when I was trying to keep my character designs consistent, and I realised that it kinda made me see bodies/proportions somewhat differently so I pasted it into this smarmy old tutorial, now cut up into (I hope) tumblr-friendly chunks so right-click for full size I think? (disclaimer: I don’t know anything and it is so far past my bedtime that it’s been tomorrow for a whole day so I’m going to nap and then maybe regret posting this.)

I’m posting this because it addresses every single reply I get about asking for body variation and being told “I don’t want muffin-top in my videogames/comics”. Body variation does NOT automatically mean “make the women fat”. This reminds me of that Dove beauty commercial, especially that last lineup. I have it somewhere, I’ll have to post it.

KARINE GET BACK TO YOUR STORYBOARDS *whipcrack*

Reblogged 6 months ago from nechayano

25,712 notes

reblog, tutorial, how to,

Jul 20

Sure, let’s give this a shot.

eschergirls:

muffinfarming asked you:

Hey, first time poster here! Selkiesiun’s post, specifically the part about “nobody wants to read a comic with a fat female protagonist” made me think: would it be possible to come up with a list of people who WOULD like to see a ‘fat’ superheroine or at least a ‘normal’ one? How cool would it be to pull that list out the next time such a ‘critique’ was given? It probably wouldn’t change anything, but the artists seem so disconnected from the fans that it might at least be an eye-opener.

Okay, sure let’s give this a shot. :) (And feel free to spread this around as much as you want so more people can throw in their hat)

Who would read a comic with a (well written, not for laughs) fat female protagonist?

Signal boost! I put my vote in!

Reblogged 11 months ago from eschergirls

1,286 notes

reblog, commentary,

Jul 8

More insight on the ever galling subject of B&B poses

keyboardsmashwriters:

I’ve seen a lot of valid arguements circulating tumblr, both for and against the boobs and butt poses. On the “for” side, there are times where it makes sense for both genders. I saw the baseball bat example used, which is a very legitimate reason for both ends being visible to the camera.

But, there are facts that need to be considered.

I’ve studied different forms of martial arts, and what I’ve learned is that power comes from pivoting — not twisting the spine, which is often confused as the same thing. My instructor(s) taught me to gain power from the hips, even when simply punching. Power comes from the entire body.

Here’s an inherent problem:

(source: Escher Girls)

The tension in her body is simply in her shoulders and arm. It’s easy to recognize someone who hasn’t been thoroughly trained when an attack consists simply of throwing the fist forward.

The foreshortening sort of killed me, which is why it’s so sketchy. But mostly it’s for the idea and the shapes (and I didn’t draw with any references, so I apologize again if these aren’t a hundred percent anatomically accurate).

The point here was to highlight tension — to accentuate force and momentum. Because her hips and ribcage tilt at these particular angles, and because the camera is positioned at a higher level, we CAN see the B&B. It’s not impossible and not improbable, as I’ve demonstrated before.

But the problem is that we see a LOT of it.

I mean, A LOT.

I sketched this as an alternative (although it would look much more believable if the two of them were close to the same plane ~~but I won’t point that out~~). I tried to give her the sense of exhaling, because shouting when attacking provides additional strength from the solar plexus. The twisting of the body is to give the sense of movement.

The foreshortening isn’t as obvious here, though…………. :{ sorry.

So, yes, B&B can be practical and make sense, and it can be a believable pose if made believable. But it’s not often made believable, and it’s done in such excess that it’s become a device for subtle sexualization of women that many people accept.

That’s not good.

A B&B pose for the sake of consumption means that it’s okay to portray women as objects for sexual satisfaction in the public sphere. It’s to the point where I’ve read that redrawing a B&B pose into something more sensible makes the pose less “dynamic”.

(Source: Escher Girls)

This pose is mostly believable, but is it necessary? Does it need to be this way?

I imagined her swinging her leg around to brace herself. If something jumps at me, I naturally step back and block with the opposite arm. A body will balance itself naturally, as described in this much more in-depth post.

In an alternate version, I tried to make her look more surprised and less prepared by varying her hips and legs only slightly:

She’s leaning back more, less twisted. In photography, a pose is interesting if the model grants as many different levels and shapes as possible — that’s what makes a pose dynamic, not if you can get both breasts and cheeks to face the camera.

So, in essence, yes: a B&B pose can make sense. But it’s done so excessively that women can’t seem to do anything except show their assets to the camera, and instilling this idea into minds who are sensitive to their bodies can be damaging and cause people to develop unreleastic expectations of themselves and others.

I MEAN COME ON.

(Source: Escher Girls)

Batman and Super Man are facing the camera, ready to slap some bitches. What the heck is Wonder Woman doing over there? Why is this okay?

Would it be okay if Super Man and Wonder Woman were switched?

Of course not. Men don’t generally ~~and can’t~~ pose like that.

So why is it female superheroes and villains are expected to?

This is a very well thought out and well illustrated commentary that pretty much complements and adds to the one I did. Excellent.

Reblogged 11 months ago from keyboardsmashwriters

679 notes

reblog, boobs and butt, commentary,

Jul 8

sephiramy:

Enough of you seemed interested, or at least curious!, about this, so I gave it a shot! It is rather short and condenses lots of information, but I think it manages to get its points across, especially if someone is a beginner and needs to learn the very bare (no pun intended - well, maybe a little) basics.

Like I said, someday maybe I will do a more detailed version with more on clothes and how it can affect shape, but that would also require me to conquer my fear of tutorials for a second time. WE’LL SEE.

ALSO. It wouldn’t be a proper tutorial on anatomical structure, if I didn’t put a disclaimer down here and say that there is never a good substitute for life drawing or real study of the human body if you want to learn the correct way something works. Even the examples shown here are stylized, so ENJOY but bear this warning in mind!

I cannot stress how much truth there is to all of the above. And I personally hope, Sephiramy, that you do tackle and beat your fear of tutorials again, because this is very well done. Thank you for this!

Reblogged 11 months ago from sephiramy

14,161 notes

tutorials, boobs, reblog,

Jun 17

eschergirls:

lesstitsnass:

Supergirl #1, huh?

[correction snipped]

That’s Ian Churchill… and unfortunately he has much experience drawing women (whether he draws them well however, is another question). Also, that’s actually issue #0 not #1. I was a HUGE HUGE HUGE Supergirl fan at the time and so psyched that they had brought Kara back to the DCU, and Ian Churchill (and the terrible writing by Loeb and Kelly) just ruined the entire thing for me. If you look at my Supergirl comic reviews at the time you can read all about it.

Churchill drew her REALLY thin (especially her arms and calves/ankles), and within the comic book, she was bra-less and underwear-less and her costume was vacuum sealed onto her breasts. It was really annoying. I avoid posting just every singe picture Churchill ever did of that series simply because a lot of the times the complaint would just be “Supergirl’s too thin and has muscles so therefore her bones must be pipe cleaners”. He also can only draw one female face.

Ian Churchill’s art on Supergirl really is what started my realization about the ways artists were drawing women in comic books, and who they were drawing them for, that Supergirl, who, to me, is the heroic, female avatar representation of the Superman S symbol and all it represents, her reboot was not for me. Having Turner and Churchill on the art and how they drew her made it pretty clear, it was meant for something else, and she wasn’t there to be heroic (and during the Turner/Loeb/Churchill/Kelly run, she wasn’t) she was there to be somebody’s blonde 16 year old fantasy girl.

In many ways, you can thank Ian Churchill, more than any other artist (even Rob Liefeld) for starting the thought process which eventually led to me creating this blog. xD

Anyway, sorry for the tangent, I just wanted to fill you in on the artist that you were re-drawing. I agree with you that there’s nothing really “wrong” to redraw, but what you did made me smile huge because it’s Supergirl and I think you made her look awesome, so I wanted to reblog it and tell you. :)

Holy crap, and there I was thinking this was just a bad drawing due to inexperience… Well, I was partly right: it’s due to inexperience at drawing real women.

And thanks Ami! I’m glad you like my (messy) redraw!

Part of me thought I should be looking up WHO drew the image before I decided whether this was a T&A case or not, but then I thought knowing who did the art (and whether they already have a history of liberally bending the rules of anatomy in order to cater to horny straight males) might make me biased against them. That, or it was so late in the evening and I was tired. Or something.

Knowing now what Churchill’s been up to (and recognising the art you’ve linked as things I’ve been shocked by before, eek, ow, and on my list of possible corrections), I’m definitely seeing the pattern here. This illustration above is weak, as I’d stated before, because of its poor construction, and because of the bad habits Churchill’s taken, like putting the belt on Supergirl pretty much at the pubic bone, if not lower, while the hem of the skirt barely covers the buttocks; like making the torso way too skinny and super long; like making the arms and legs unrealistically thin, likely because he has learned drawing from looking at other comics rather than drawing from life. It’s a pattern, it’s bad habits he would need to break.

When I see patterns like that, it makes me wonder if anyone mentions these things (or make similar comments) to artists. I’m of the opinion that unless you are told there’s a problem., chances are you won’t know about it, or that you have to fix it. If no one’s edited Churchill’s work or told him, “Put some flesh on that woman, man, she’s too skinny to look good”, or even mentioned something like, “Are you sure this is right?”, how can he possibly change the way he works? If he’s getting hired to draw books, maybe he doesn’t see that he can up his game and how he can become better. Maybe doing the same old thing keeps him employed, and that’s enough for him.

Too bad it’s not enough for us.

Reblogged 1 year ago from eschergirls

165 notes

redo, reblog, eschergirls, Ian Churchill,

Jun 12

And the Catwoman #0 parodies continue

dcwomenkickingass:

This one is by Cameron Stewart, who given that he was an artist on the last volume of Catwoman, does know a little about the character. He tweeted today, “I really don’t know about this new Catwoman design”

This completely wins. Cameron Stewart, you rock.

(Source: yfrog.com)

Reblogged 1 year ago from yamino

1,436 notes

redo, reblog, catwoman, Cameron Stewart,

May 12

eschergirls:

roxannameta submitted:

I thought y’all might be interested in the new video by my (extremely talented) artist friend Tess Fowler. The topic: How to draw boobies! There are some good tips on how breasts actually work, and a few Escher-girl-style critiques, too.

Thanks for sharing this! A lot of people have asked for tutorials like this, and I’m sure they’ll find it very useful. :)

Reblogged 1 year ago from eschergirls

1,061 notes

tutorial, reblog,

May 7