Where Character Design Is Concerned, Im Not Against Sexy. Heck, Im A *fan* Of Sexy. But The Main Character

Where character design is concerned, I’m not against sexy. Heck, I’m a *fan* of sexy. But the main character of the upcoming 3DS RPG Code of Princess, a lady by the name of Solange, is a case where sexy more or less takes over the character. Sexy is the main driving force of Solange’s character design, and it gets downright demeaning. A lot of this comes from elements in the design which make the character appear awkward, elements which appeal to the “protect me” part of the hindbrain. Basically, instead of a functioning, believable warrior, this character is being presented as an object, something to defend rather than as a person in her own right. I have no doubt that the person who designed and illustrated this character is far more skilled than I am, but I hope that my redesign of her can help to show that a character doesn’t have to sacrifice their believability or dignity to be attractive. Anyway, let’s start by taking an in-depth look at Solange’s original design. A lot of the character is an attempt at a fairly straightforward type of sexy, using the sort of elongated proportions and oversized sexual elements you can see in characters like Bayonetta. For example, both Solange and Bayonetta use a fairly narrow torso, long legs, and wide hips to create an illusion of height. Where the two designs part ways can be seen most strongly in the poses they take. Where Bayonetta is shown to be in control and a force to be reckoned with, Solange is presented off-balance and awkward. She seems to be struggling to stay upright, hefting her oversized sword as though it were too heavy for her to use properly. Her expression is wide-eyed and upward-glancing, with the mouth open in an expression of surprise and uncertainty. Again, these elements are used to make her seem child-like and in need of defending. Combined with her outfit, which is basically a thong and two fleur-de-lis pasties, the overall impression is of a character used as a tool rather than presented as a person. My biggest interest in Solange’s redesign was imbuing her with a sense of competence, which would make the sexy that much more palatable. The excessive nudity was the first thing to go, as it was just destroying suspension of disbelief. There are arguments to be made for sexy outfits in semi-realistic combat, but just as you wouldn’t expect people watching a horror movie to ignore the zipper on the guy playing the monster, you can’t expect people to take a mostly-naked fighter seriously. After that, Solange needed a new pose. Where the old image had her awkwardly stumbling, the redesign has her standing erect and poised, looking the viewer in the eye. Rather than struggling to lift a sword that is obviously too large for her to use, Solange holds her weapon like a scepter of office. She’s still attractive, but she’s further from “Sexualized,” and closer (I hope), to “Heroically Idealized.”

19 - Josephine Baker - Dancer Though best known as a depression-era dancer, Josephine Baker was also a civil rights advocate, member of the French Resistance, and adoptive mother to no less than twelve children. She had one heck of a life; she was born into poverty and ended up on the streets at age 12. At age 15, she joined a vaudeville act in St. Louis before moving to New York and performing in various Broadway revues during the Harlem Renaissance. By the time Ms. Baker was 19, she was the highest-paid chorus girl in vaudeville, and that was far from being the most amazing thing that happened during her life. Ms. Baker moved to France and hung out with Ernest Hemmingway and Pablo Picasso. Ms. Baker owned a cheetah with a diamond collar. Ms. Baker invented the banana dance. Ms. Baker was unaccountably badass. In RPGs, the Dancer is sort of an upside-down and backwards Bard. Where Bards can heal and support, Dancers can damage enemies and reduce their stats, or even cause status effects from a distance. Usually an exclusively female class, Dancers tend to be a little rare, and useful Dancers are even more uncommon, but its always nice to see them as an option just to have something to balance out the Bard. And why did I pick Dancer for Josephine Baker? Well, besides the obvious, her danse banane hit me with some serious debuffs.

Intro to Historical Character Classes 101

You may be familiar with National Novel Writing Month, the challenge to writers to produce an entire novel in thirty days. With NaNoWriMo's growing popularity, a number of similar challenges have popped up that cater to every stripe of artist. This Tumblr is an archive for a challenge that I'll be taking part in this November, the 30 Characters Challenge (http://www.30characters.com/).

As you may have guessed, the point of this particular challenge is to create 30 characters in 30 days. I've always loved history, and RPGs have been a huge influence in my work, so I've decided to design 30 historical figures as members of RPG classes: Teddy Roosevelt as a Berzerker, for example, or Charles Darwin as a Druid.

I don't have a huge number of restrictions on people I'll be pulling out of history for this thing. I'll be trying to keep to relatively modern history - 1600s and on, mostly - because once you get pre-Renaissance, historical figures start to actually be Knights and Paladins and Mages and so on, which kind of defeats the purpose. I'm also going to try to be respectful to the people I'm using, so you won't see, for example, Gandhi as a bare-knuckle Monk, or Giles Corey as a Warlock.

Anyway, those're the basics. I'll post some practice characters over the next couple of days to illustrate the basic idea I'm going for. Hopefully it'll help be get back into the swing of character design, too. Also, I'm still in the process of finalizing the list of people I'll be using for the actual challenge, so feel free to poke me if you have a history crush to suggest. ^^b

18 - Rod Serling - Illusionist

Mr. Serling struck me as an Illusionist from the very first time I saw the show he is known best for, The Twilight Zone. As a class, Illusionists specialize in manipulating the perceptions of people - basically, lying to people with magic. The most powerful Illusionists can create unbreakable visions that can transport people to another world. And this is basically what Rod Serling did. With a few words, a single script, he could transport you to a world where the sun never rises, where living slot machines stalk their victims, or where a child’s wish can change your fate. This was one of the harder designs I’ve done this month, for a number of reasons. Firstly, Ol’ Rod’s design is pretty much set in stone. That black suit, his cigarette, that cocked eyebrow, they’re all a big part of Mr. Serling’s character. Unfortunately, they’re not particularly well-suited to a fantasy design, and the fact that the Illusionist is a very poorly-defined class (visually speaking) helps not at all.

Julie d'Aubigny - Fencer Class

Julie d'Aubigny's life would have worked wonderfully as a trashy bisexual romance novel. She was a wild young noblewoman who went to bars, got into swordfights, and kissed whichever dude she felt like, even if they were ladies. When one of Julie's lovers was sent away to a convent because of their relationship, our young noblewoman snuck in, picked her ladyfriend up, and set fire to the room to cover their escape. She would've made a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.

In the world of RPGs, Fencers are usually defined by their well-balanced stats, with a tendency towards focusing on finesse and speed over brute force and strength. Fencers are a little uncommon in games that have actual job class systems, as the Warrior is usually the go-to standard for basic physical fighters, so the Fencer class tends to be rather strongly tied to a specific character. Good examples of Fencers in RPGs are Mitsuru Kirijo of Persona 3, Eclair of La Pucelle Tactics, and Leon Magnus of Tales of Destiny.

So the next character on my list is actually three characters, which means a lot of extra design work. It also means it's not due until Thursday, which is kind of a big gap. So in the meantime, have some cute to tide you over. ^^b