![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
demiurgentOne of the things I often think about, when I'm writing a story, is what the lead character looks like. And I'm often tempted to commission a portrait from someone over it. This is especially true when I'm writing superheroish stories.
I almost never go on to commission, mind. It's an idle thought at most.
My lead character is a forty-two year old woman with a normal human body who wears normal clothes while she goes around the country interviewing people.
As God is my witness, I have no idea who I would even contact to do that. It's not like most working superhero artists have much experience with that sort of thing.
EDIT: Okay, let me be blunt. Blunt clearly works better.
"Wow. I'm writing a superhero story, but the lead is someone who isn't often represented physically in mainstream superhero comics, in as much as she A) looks her age and B) isn't a physical ideal of any kind. I find it interesting that there are not many examples of this type at Marvel or DC, where a 42 year old is either depicted, generally, as 22 and hot as a supernova or 64 and decrepit. As a side note, she also has normal proportioned limbs and shins, which is not always seen in comics either."
Better?
I almost never go on to commission, mind. It's an idle thought at most.
My lead character is a forty-two year old woman with a normal human body who wears normal clothes while she goes around the country interviewing people.
As God is my witness, I have no idea who I would even contact to do that. It's not like most working superhero artists have much experience with that sort of thing.
EDIT: Okay, let me be blunt. Blunt clearly works better.
"Wow. I'm writing a superhero story, but the lead is someone who isn't often represented physically in mainstream superhero comics, in as much as she A) looks her age and B) isn't a physical ideal of any kind. I find it interesting that there are not many examples of this type at Marvel or DC, where a 42 year old is either depicted, generally, as 22 and hot as a supernova or 64 and decrepit. As a side note, she also has normal proportioned limbs and shins, which is not always seen in comics either."
Better?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-23 01:50 am (UTC)You may be making the same error an editor once observed many prospective superhero artists make about drawing superhero comics. You don't just draw superheroes. You have to be able to draw the world they live in too. You can't just be able to draw Superman well, you must be able to draw Clark Kent well. And Lois Lane, and a tree, and a skyscraper, and an orange juicer, and a spaceship, and ...
Pick your favorite superhero comics artist. It'd be an insult to assume s/he can't draw anything you want.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-23 02:21 am (UTC)(Some, of course, can't, but that's neither here nor there. :) )
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-23 03:17 am (UTC)Actually, given how Lois is usually drawn... I'm not sure that's a good example. Lois isn't a normal looking woman, most of the time. She's a supermodel. As are most adult female women in Marvel and DC comics, really.
Which actually is the point I'm making. One thing you just don't see in mainstream superhero comics -- with, as always, exceptions -- is normal looking women. Women who lack some form of idealized proportions and stunning appearance.
(And for those who seem to be missing the point -- of course there are lots of Webcartoonists who draw women with variation. They are not who we're discussing here. Nor am I bemoaning my inability to commission Barb. Look at the title of the post. :) )
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-23 05:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-23 05:36 am (UTC)