AIR headz

Heh. So a friend of mine (Hi Simbo) sent around the pic of Grace that Annette coloured (cover incoming!). He sent it to a girl we both know and the only reply she got was, "Artists should draw more realistic women."

I looked at the picture and replied, "The only unrealistic about that picture is that a chick is into Xtreme sports AND knows how to use a katana."

I'm not saying she's right. In fact I don't think she is. I will draw realistic women when the story requires it. A character like Grace is not meant to be realistic. She's meant to be symbolic or an idol.

Take the picture of Air to the left. As a model I used a popular supermodel. Won't say which, but there's not a person on the planet who wouldn't deny that this supermodel has extraordinary proportions. The amount of messing about that I had to do to not make her look dumpy is incredible. Her legs are about 25% longer and the head about 10% smaller. That was the only way that I could get her into "heroic" proportions.

Proportions in art are measured by how many of a figure's head will fit end on end into the entire figure. Off the top of my head, I think normal is about 7.5 heads, an idealistic is 9.5, a heroic is about 11. Whether those numbers are correct is irrelevant, the rough ratios are indicative of the sorts of numbers I'm talking about.

And in case women get all upity that they're being singled out by my artistic/stylistic wrath... well I spend half my life drawing abs on guys that I will NEVER have... and I guarantee I've probably done as many situps as all the chicks who read this damn thing.