Dragon’s-Eye View 3/28/2012... now with ENW poll!

[KesselZero]

Second picture:

Proportions Still way more busty then a warrior would be but not "out of whack...." like the first image.

Looks more woman then girl.

Slightly more emphasis placed on muscle tones.

Less stylized facial features (eyes aren't the size of her hands for instance...)

More attention to gravity when it comes to clothing and hair, as opposed to picture one where the stuff is just inexplicably flowing around.

That's a fair point, but JS's post is about realism and styles of armor, not depictions of women. And the armor of the manga and FR examples is basically the same. I just think the cartoon missed the mark, is all. The rest of the post illustrations were coo and useful, especially the awesome African-inspired drawing. Would have loved some discussion about the "why" of these things-- for example, what sorts of weapons, animals, and environmental challenges would your average Masai warrior come up against, and what resources does he have to work with, that would lead him to wear the armor he wears?-- rather than just drawing on a particular cultural aesthetic.

 

[Anguirus]

The creative folks should strive to make armor as realistic as possible, because the marketing gurus WILL try to force it back towards the ridiculous. We'll get the best balance with the creative folks armed with as much history and good taste as they can.

I voted "photorealism" based on the cartoon, but that's hardly photorealism, and the example for "fantastic realism" is actually a terrible leather bikini THING. I feel like that actually illuminates my point above.

 

[Scribble]

That's a fair point, but JS's post is about realism and styles of armor, not depictions of women. And the armor of the manga and FR examples is basically the same. I just think the cartoon missed the mark, is all. The rest of the post illustrations were coo and useful, especially the awesome African-inspired drawing. Would have loved some discussion about the "why" of these things-- for example, what sorts of weapons, animals, and environmental challenges would your average Masai warrior come up against, and what resources does he have to work with, that would lead him to wear the armor he wears?-- rather than just drawing on a particular cultural aesthetic.

Yeah I get what you're saying... I think he was just trying to go for an overall what style do you prefer better and that was the easiest way to emphasize the differences in a very apparent way? It's not so much how do you want women depicted, so much as the style overall. (It probably would have made more sense if he had used pictures of armor, but... Maybe he wanted something that would really stand out?)

 

[CleverNickName]

I voted "fantastic realism," but I almost voted for "photorealism." Not because I'm torn on the issue, mind you...I wanted to avoid voting for a tiefling.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Second picture:

Proportions Still way more busty then a warrior would be but not "out of whack...." like the first image.

Looks more woman then girl.

Slightly more emphasis placed on muscle tones.

Less stylized facial features (eyes aren't the size of her hands for instance...)

More attention to gravity when it comes to clothing and hair, as opposed to picture one where the stuff is just inexplicably flowing around.

That makes sense. I guess when I look at them, my first questions is: "What is the purpose of this illustration?"

#1 and #2 seem to fill a purpose that #3 does not.

 

[Sunseeker]

let's have significant representation of badass female adventurers, and let's have the 'sexy' male characters as well.

Problem is, "powerful" is "sexy" for males. Though it's arguable that a "strong woman" is a more popular male fantasy today than pure T&A. Even with all of those articles on Cracked, we're still talking about women who while ridiculously over sexified, could kick just about every real-world male's backside. There's an S&M argument lurking in here somewhere I'm sure of it.

 

[Scribble]

That makes sense. I guess when I look at them, my first questions is: "What is the purpose of this illustration?"

#1 and #2 seem to fill a purpose that #3 does not.

Yeah I know what you mean, but I guess what he's trying to show is:

Unrealistic Character, Unrealistic Attire.

Realistic Character, Unrealistic Attire.

Realistic Character, Realistic Attire.


He probably could have done it without the chainmail bikini thing, but I think it was probably the most apparent way to make the point. Everyone can look at 1 and 2 without having historic knowledge of armor and such and know that it's not going to be a realistic way to protect oneself... And at number three and think the opposite.


*Yeah, realistic is somewhat of a relative term here so don't jump all over me...

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Yeah I know what you mean, but I guess what he's trying to show is:

Unrealistic Character, Unrealistic Attire.

Realistic Character, Unrealistic Attire.

Realistic Character, Realistic Attire.

I'll buy that somewhat. But if it was going to be a good sample, there should have also been an Unrealistic Character, Realistic Attire option.

And then the set of 4 should have been repeated several times with other examples to filter out stuff specific to the pieces chosen, but I'm getting ahead of the game now.

 

[Sunseeker]

I'll buy that somewhat. But if it was going to be a good sample, there should have also been an Unrealistic Character, Realistic Attire option.

And then the set of 4 should have been repeated several times with other examples to filter out stuff specific to the pieces chosen, but I'm getting ahead of the game now.

Technically we would have needed a matrix. Up-down for physical appearance, Left-Right for armor style.

Though we'd probably need a 3-dimensional matrix to take into account different art syles. Especially since that last image is "comic book", not "photorealism".

EDIT: I was reading through my 4e PHB1, and there really aren't that many cakey images. Aside from the cover, I think there were 3 or 4 inside, and at least two of which were shirtless males.

 

[Scribble]

I'll buy that somewhat. But if it was going to be a good sample, there should have also been an Unrealistic Character, Realistic Attire option.

And then the set of 4 should have been repeated several times with other examples to filter out stuff specific to the pieces chosen, but I'm getting ahead of the game now.

Yeah I don't think he was going for world class level statistics gathering here... Just kind of the basics.


And adding that 4th element might actually have confused stuff for a lot of people.

Start with do you like a mix of unrealistic + realistic then figure out what the type of mix you're looking for is.