Lack of Female Dwarf Art
- Thread starter Dragonhelm
- Start date
steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
Funny this thread appeared when it did...only days after I'd completed a sketch of the original "Slavers" series pre-gen characters.
"Elwita" is her name, btw...the female dwarf from that series who is plastered (in beautiful Jeff Dee glory) on the cover of the first module.
I, myself, never had anyone want to play a female dwarf, so it was not something I ever put much thought into. But, having now thought on it, I think I would make it a matter of player perogative. Some clans' females grow beards, some don't. Previously, I always drew/thought of female dwarves with the bushy sideburns kind of thing but not a full beard. But, ya know...why not?! As a matter of cultural taste for beauty, no reason some dwarf females couldn't have beards.
I recall, from the Basic rules red box (I think, maybe the original Expert set/blue box) the description of dwarves was rather clear..."Dwarf males wear long beards. Dwarf females wear short beards." or something like that.
I'll scan the image in here if/when I have a chance. I really like how it came out.
Anywho, to the original poster's point, when I was doing the drawing, I did find myself realizing that this module was the only place I could think of (or had in my possession) that had illustrated a female dwarf character...In/across all of the breadth of original BECMI or AD&D (1e for sure, possibly 2e too), dwarf females were simply not illustrated. It was just kinda assumed there were some somewhere.
Glad to hear there's more out there now...but I do have to say, out of reverence for the "classic" module, I did do Elwita, as shown, with beard.
Have fun and happy shaving.
--Steel Dragons
"Elwita" is her name, btw...the female dwarf from that series who is plastered (in beautiful Jeff Dee glory) on the cover of the first module.
I, myself, never had anyone want to play a female dwarf, so it was not something I ever put much thought into. But, having now thought on it, I think I would make it a matter of player perogative. Some clans' females grow beards, some don't. Previously, I always drew/thought of female dwarves with the bushy sideburns kind of thing but not a full beard. But, ya know...why not?! As a matter of cultural taste for beauty, no reason some dwarf females couldn't have beards.
I recall, from the Basic rules red box (I think, maybe the original Expert set/blue box) the description of dwarves was rather clear..."Dwarf males wear long beards. Dwarf females wear short beards." or something like that.
I'll scan the image in here if/when I have a chance. I really like how it came out.
Anywho, to the original poster's point, when I was doing the drawing, I did find myself realizing that this module was the only place I could think of (or had in my possession) that had illustrated a female dwarf character...In/across all of the breadth of original BECMI or AD&D (1e for sure, possibly 2e too), dwarf females were simply not illustrated. It was just kinda assumed there were some somewhere.
Glad to hear there's more out there now...but I do have to say, out of reverence for the "classic" module, I did do Elwita, as shown, with beard.
Have fun and happy shaving.
--Steel Dragons
Traveon Wyvernspur
First Post
HAH! This seriously almost made me spit coffee all over my keyboard. That's awesome.
steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
This is a good one...somewhat buxom...but then, I imagine, dwarven females would be...not "cheesecake", but more buxom than the average female of other races.
http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs28/i/2008/104/8/3/Freja__Dwarf_Shield_Maiden_by_athenatt.jpg
http://www.theeurth.com/lords54/images/kor_dwarf_woman.gif
There's Elwita! "DSL", not "Dee" but the design is the same. Females with beards aren't so offensive when they look like they can kick your @$$!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_A_kUWzaUDUA/TCImn-lu65I/AAAAAAAABWI/cBhw7U7MCnU/s1600/sp1.jpg
The above are all from Google Images. From deviantart.com, I found the following that I thought were pretty good...don't look like "priestesses" to me.
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/200/8/8/dwarf_female_by_felsus-d3so2b3.jpg
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs11/i/2006/231/c/0/Dwarf_Girl_by_Zero_Optix.jpg
One of my own...well, the character's not...the image is. Characters are from Ironsky's ENworld Story Hour, "Rise of Felskein"
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/263/9/b/rise_of_felskein_inked_by_steeldragons-d2z4eh1.jpg
http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs28/i/2008/104/8/3/Freja__Dwarf_Shield_Maiden_by_athenatt.jpg
http://www.theeurth.com/lords54/images/kor_dwarf_woman.gif
There's Elwita! "DSL", not "Dee" but the design is the same. Females with beards aren't so offensive when they look like they can kick your @$$!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_A_kUWzaUDUA/TCImn-lu65I/AAAAAAAABWI/cBhw7U7MCnU/s1600/sp1.jpg
The above are all from Google Images. From deviantart.com, I found the following that I thought were pretty good...don't look like "priestesses" to me.
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/200/8/8/dwarf_female_by_felsus-d3so2b3.jpg
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs11/i/2006/231/c/0/Dwarf_Girl_by_Zero_Optix.jpg
One of my own...well, the character's not...the image is. Characters are from Ironsky's ENworld Story Hour, "Rise of Felskein"
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/263/9/b/rise_of_felskein_inked_by_steeldragons-d2z4eh1.jpg
the Jester
Legend
Clearly I've done too much thinking on dwarven culture in my game, because...
..."Elwita" is NOT a warrior's name. Dwarven names in my campaign either start with a hard consonant (B, D, G, K, P, ST, T, Z) or are the equivalent of naming your kid "Wussy".
Hurray for entertaining the masses!
Barastrondo
First Post
I'm pretty fond of a lot of William O'Connor's work for 4e, although I admit the cleavage scoops are a little too common for my preferences; "impractical" seems kind of undwarfy. The last dwarf my wife played, though... would have to go look up fire giant images instead, I think, as she had the same sort of coal-dark skin and flame-red hair.
I was formerly ambivalent on the female dwarves with beards thing, but overall it's grown less appealing to me. It really does feel more like a comic relief thing thought up by a bunch of guys than a serious bit of worldbuilding. For me it ranks with "male elves and half-elves are dramatically underequipped in the trousers department" -- it's a running joke everyone knows, but I wouldn't push it on a player who wants to have an elf/half-elf/female dwarf character that other characters would find sexy without being perverts.
(I say this not as a criticism of your campaign, Jester, but rather from experiences with my wife. She would kill me if I took that route.)
I was formerly ambivalent on the female dwarves with beards thing, but overall it's grown less appealing to me. It really does feel more like a comic relief thing thought up by a bunch of guys than a serious bit of worldbuilding. For me it ranks with "male elves and half-elves are dramatically underequipped in the trousers department" -- it's a running joke everyone knows, but I wouldn't push it on a player who wants to have an elf/half-elf/female dwarf character that other characters would find sexy without being perverts.
(I say this not as a criticism of your campaign, Jester, but rather from experiences with my wife. She would kill me if I took that route.)
Last edited:
steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
I would say the same for my own campaign world. I would venture, and forgive if I'm wrong, that the original Slavers campaign was not played in either of our settings.
That aside, I make no apologies for the characters' names in those original modules.
I've noticed (how can one not!) since beginning this little drawing "Party of the Week" project of my own...that MOST of the AD&D pre-gen character names are just...atrocious!
No harm nor insult intended to the wonderful grandfathers of the genre who participated in the marvelous opening modules as D&D was first getting its proverbial legs...but, "Gleep Werp" and "Snerd" from the GDQ series come to mind...come onnnnn!
Granted, they aren't in my campaign world. so obviously the naming conventions don't apply..but still...c'monnnnn! Really?! "Gleep Werp"?...Did the player just snarf and say, "Ok, that's his name"?
Still...can't argue with the classics. Elwita. So it is written. So it shall be...forever on, in infamy.
--Sd
Similar Threads
