Vikky’s Body – Finding the right form.

I've noticed that oftentimes in mainstream comic art, the girls are drawn to unrealistic proportions. I guess it’s understandable considering that most comics are geared toward horny guys that can’t get laid, (no offense comic nerds) but because Duke vs. The Dead is a love story, I’d rather try to have Vikky be appealing to everyone, so I’ve decided to go with a semi-realistic form. I was tempted to make her hips a little larger, but I figured once she has her holsters strapped on, her silhouette will take on that classic hourglass form.

I intentionally keep this illustration simple because its only purpose is to help me box out her body. As I progress I might come back into Photoshop and start drawing in her clothing and accessories, but I think even if you’re going to model/sculpt the clothing right onto your geometry, it’s a good idea to understand the form underneath.

The female body fascinates me. I know that makes me sound nerdy, but it really is amazing how subtle changes will give you a completely different result. For this drawing I started with the pen tool inside of Photoshop. (It’s funny because I used to scoff at the pen tool, but once I started using it I quickly realized how powerful it is—the ability to manipulate handles on the fly in invaluable.)

I used a very neutral background of 50% black. Once I had my lines and landmarks established, I took a blocking brush and fleshed out the form. I did this in three steps. The first step was to use a 30% black, which essentially lightened the form. In the second step I went in with an eraser and kinda cut the form. In the final step I took my blocking brush up to 100% white and very lightly painted in the higher points.

Michael Hampton’s book- Figure Drawing - Design and Invention has been very helpful in understanding how to place landmarks. Many thanks to my friend Molly for the recommendation. You can check out some of her amazing watercolor work here.

My next step is to image plane these and box her out inside of Maya.