Sorry that it took me a while to answer, but I didn’t find time earlier this week to write the critique you asked for.

askarthurgabriel submitted:

I has a problem. I’m drawing my character for my DnD Eberron Campaign. She’s a dwarf fighter who wears scale mail armor. Here’s my problem…I don’t know what to draw! Like, for guy characters, most artists know what to draw and how to make it look like a guy. Well, my problem is that there aren’t enough like, real references to women wearing either full plate armor or chain mail ((at least realistically)) that shows how their curvy body works with it. Plus, she’s a dwarf, so the ratio’s are completely different.

Also, no pauldrons. Like, there aren’t a lot of depictions of women wearing pauldrons, metal skirts, or thigh-high like armor. So. What do you guys do? I want this armor to be something cool and original, but at the same time, I don’t wanna do the whole slave Leia metal bikini route. So, any suggestions?

A key to good drawing/design is taking reference as much as possible until you truly understand how thing you’re portraying works, so I’ll sprinkle this post with links to as many resources as possible.

To understand how any kind of clothing (including armor) lies on a body, first we need to understand the body itself, so let’s start off with anatomy.
Seems like you’re more confident in drawing faces than whole bodies, which I can relate to easily ^^’ Considering the woman here is supposed to be a dwarf, keep in mind that her proportions need to be stout, so don’t be afraid of giving her thick torso and limbs. My personal favorite design for badass, yet still undoubtedly feminine dwarf is Pella from Looking for Group webcomic. Her armor is pretty awesome too, and have pauldrons you asked about. I can even forgive the cleavage and bare arms, as there’s skilled healer in her team.
I also noticed that you drew your character’s breasts as perfect circles in the middle of her upper torso, which is not a convincing way of depicting boobs even in a cartoony design, as it doesn’t depict the weight and shape of a breast, be it naked or wearing a bra/corset.
For do’s-and-don’ts regarding female breasts, check out Boobs Don’t Work That Way, as for drawing reference, anatomicalart and art-and-sterf are great blogs full of those. This athlete photoset and those two boob tutorials may be especially interesting resources to you.
Let me also recommend my personal tutorials collection on deviantArt. A lot of useful resources on anatomy, cartooning, costumes & more.

As for armor itself, I’d mostly recommend the On female armor and warrior women section on my related subpage, out of which Costume Community Service have most cohesive advice on creating and improving costumes, like this post from earlier today that I reblogged for you 🙂

Just don’t forget to check out article, commentary, reference, resource and positive examples tags here. All female armor research in one place.

Given your posts, I’m pretty sure you know about those, before we finish let’s reiterate elementary rules for  designing good armor.

Basic things to remember about armor design (including one for women):

– Plate armor is one of many kinds, and possibly the most expensive. Take into consideration the existence of scale, chainmail and even thick leather armor, especially when the character is not particularly rich.
– Any kind of armor requires padding unbeneath, thus it is never ever form-fitting.
– Both men and women need to be protected equally, vital organs are placed just the same regardless of your sex.
– By showing off skin anywhere or not wearing helmet to battle, you’re creating an easy target and asking for death. It definitely doesn’t serve as distraction.
– Woman’s breasts, unless relatively small and flat, need to be bound by a sports bra, corset or sarashi in order to avoid painful bouncing during action, that said…
– …boobplate will kill you. It makes no sense when we consider either female anatomy or a breastplate’s design purpose. Most “male” breastplates would do well on women, considering amount of padding that hides curves. Well-endowed ladies may need a custom single bulge for their boobs, but not very protruding one.
– High heels would also kill you. No self-respecting warrior would ever wear those on their feet while fighting (though I suspect they would do well as improvised stabbing weapon)
– It is entirely possible for a woman to wear armor and look badass, fully protected and feminine at the same time. Just keep in mind that being pretty is not a priority on battlefield. In her spare time, though, even a chainmail bikini can do.