Lack of Female Dwarf Art

[Dragonhelm]

Last night, I was looking for some good art for an old female dwarf NPC of mine. She's a fighter with dark hair. I figured this should be easy to find.

I was really surprised, though, at how little female dwarf art there is. And when I do find it, there's a lot of nudity, or overdone cleavage, wrong proportions (looking more like a halfling or elf), and so on. Or, many female dwarves are priestesses.

I've done Google searches, looked on Deviant Art, and I'm coming up with few options.

First, does anyone know of any good resources that I may be missing?

And second (and more importantly), does this just seem off to you guys? Dwarves are typically a male-dominated race as far as RPG art goes. I think they make a cool visual. But female dwarves seem vastly underrepresented.

Thoughts?

 

[Cor Azer]

Depends on your point of view; more than one campaign has gone with the idea that female dwarves look the same as males, beards included. If that's your schtick, then maybe there are no male dwarf pics out there?

 

[Hand of Evil]

There is no outward look between a female or male dwarf - both have beards and much the same armor

[MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION] - had some floating around in the media thread

 

[Dragonhelm]

Depends on your point of view; more than one campaign has gone with the idea that female dwarves look the same as males, beards included. If that's your schtick, then maybe there are no male dwarf pics out there?

I don't subscribe to that idea. Great for a bit of humor in LotR, but I prefer dwarf women without beards. Maybe a little cheek fuzz, though.

 

[the Jester]

There's a burly kick-ass she-dwarf fighter with big knockers and a full beard on the covers of the old 1e A modules. She's my ideal dwarf woman.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Dwarves are asexual, they don't have genders... At least I've never seen a female dwarf so this is the theory I believe.

 

[Dausuul]

And second (and more importantly), does this just seem off to you guys? Dwarves are typically a male-dominated race as far as RPG art goes. I think they make a cool visual. But female dwarves seem vastly underrepresented.

Thoughts?

A few of them.

First, the traditional dwarf concept plays to a whole list of masculine stereotypes: Strong, tough, uncouth, boozy, hairy, smelly, hand-crafty. So they appeal to players who want to embrace that stereotype. The number of players, male or female, who want to apply that stereotype to a female character is quite small. Second, not to put too fine a point on it, but RPG art is still struggling to move beyond the High Cheesecake Era. High Cheesecake requires that female characters be scantily and impractically clad, posed in a sexual way, and fit the cultural standard of attractiveness*--tall, elegant, and slender everywhere except the chest.

You can see both dynamics working the other way for elves. I haven't done a careful survey, but I'm willing to bet that female elves are over-represented in RPG art compared to male elves, if not to the same extent. Elves play to a bunch of feminine stereotypes and fit the cultural standard of attractiveness like a glove.

[SIZE=-2]*Note that I say "fit the cultural standard" rather than "be attractive." What's attractive depends on the viewer; lots of people find sturdy, curvy women very attractive. But that isn't what mainstream culture defines as beautiful, which means it's not seen as marketable, which drives High Cheesecake.[/SIZE]

 

[prosfilaes]

I was really surprised, though, at how little female dwarf art there is. And when I do find it, there's a lot of nudity, or overdone cleavage, ...

That seems to be pretty common for female RPG art in general. I've looked through DriveThruRPG, and a huge percentage of their female RPG art is as much pinup as anything you could use for a character.

 

[Dausuul]

<spam>

Reported.

<more spam>

That too.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

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reported for spam!