bikiniarmorbattledamage:

ria-rha:

fandomfumblr asked:

So i’ve come across this blog of yours, and i can’t help but notice you seem to hold this ideal that showing skin is bad. I’m not saying there’s not a time and a place for everything, and i’d be quite warm to a game where someone in skimpy or silly armor got their just desserts. But i don’t see why you think these designs inherently wrong on such a level. Designers designed them for a reason. They had a vision of the character and made them a certain way. No “change” needs to be made.
You’re right, designers did design them that way for a reason: to be sexy. And that’s where a change needs to be made. When everyone is “sexy”, no one is. There needs to be more variety in female character designs.
You see, women are like onions. But not because they turn brown and start sprouting little white hairs if you leave them out in the sun too long: because they have layers (didn’t you see Shrek, geez). They’re also all different, though you wouldn’t guess so based on media representations of them. I’ll start accepting a designer’s vision for a sexy lady, the minute that stops being the only vision they ever have.*
*Also what we get isn’t always the original design as there’s sometimes pressure from editors or other outside influences to make the character “sexier”.
-Staci

Bolded for emphasis.

Funny how no-one who says “Designers had a vision of the character and made them a certain way.” ever notice that said vision is pretty much always the same.

As a designer myself I’m REALLY tired of this argument. Art and design does not exist in the vacuum.
An idea being the artist’s “vision” does not make it inherently good or creative, in fact the first ideas that come to a designers mind tend to be the most derivative and uninteresting.

On the other hand, as Staci notes, lots of designs RHA, BABD and related sites comment on aren’t actually a result of concept artist’s original idea, but a product of many revisions from the executives. And executives (unlike artists they hire) are the people whose “vision” is usually the farthest from creative.

No matter how you look at the “artist’s sacred vision” logic, it’s flawed and in no way justifies a cliched, unresearched, insonsistent design.

~Ozzie

Bringing this back as a reminder that “an artist created it, therefore it’s creative is NOT a valid rhetoric to justify bikini armors… or anything, for that matter.

~Ozzie

more about bikini armor rhetoric on BABD

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

ria-rha:

fandomfumblr asked:

So i’ve come across this blog of yours, and i can’t help but notice you seem to hold this ideal that showing skin is bad. I’m not saying there’s not a time and a place for everything, and i’d be quite warm to a game where someone in skimpy or silly armor got their just desserts. But i don’t see why you think these designs inherently wrong on such a level. Designers designed them for a reason. They had a vision of the character and made them a certain way. No “change” needs to be made.
You’re right, designers did design them that way for a reason: to be sexy. And that’s where a change needs to be made. When everyone is “sexy”, no one is. There needs to be more variety in female character designs.
You see, women are like onions. But not because they turn brown and start sprouting little white hairs if you leave them out in the sun too long: because they have layers (didn’t you see Shrek, geez). They’re also all different, though you wouldn’t guess so based on media representations of them. I’ll start accepting a designer’s vision for a sexy lady, the minute that stops being the only vision they ever have.*
*Also what we get isn’t always the original design as there’s sometimes pressure from editors or other outside influences to make the character “sexier”.
-Staci

Bolded for emphasis.

Funny how no-one who says “Designers had a vision of the character and made them a certain way.” ever notice that said vision is pretty much always the same.

As a designer myself I’m REALLY tired of this argument. Art and design does not exist in the vacuum.
An idea being the artist’s “vision” does not make it inherently good or creative, in fact the first ideas that come to a designers mind tend to be the most derivative and uninteresting.

On the other hand, as Staci notes, lots of designs RHA, BABD and related sites comment on aren’t actually a result of concept artist’s original idea, but a product of many revisions from the executives. And executives (unlike artists they hire) are the people whose “vision” is usually the farthest from creative.

No matter how you look at the “artist’s sacred vision” logic, it’s flawed and in no way justifies a cliched, unresearched, insonsistent design.

~Ozzie

Bringing this back as a reminder that “an artist created it, therefore it’s creative is NOT a valid rhetoric to justify bikini armors… or anything, for that matter.

~Ozzie

more about bikini armor rhetoric on BABD

@i-might-be-a-nerd submitted:

Watch. Just… Watch. This is actually painful. I came across this on a game with ads… Blah!

So the amazingly insecure “sexiest RPG ever” has an amazingly terrible trailer… but personally what I find most baffling is the blurb:

Sword of Chaos combines the elements of fatal attraction and chaotic violence into a unique and astonishing visual feast. Immerse yourself in a world of violence and unleash your inner wildness. Sensing, Tasting, Hacking, Slashing and Fighting dominate your every move, as you fight to destroy all that stands before you!“

And here I thought that Fallout 4 was the only RPG with cannibalism being released this year. Of course, that’s not surprising given how truly creative and original this production is.

And apparently no expense has been spared regarding quality either…

I’m really hoping that mainstream games will start to notice this trend and be inspired to distance themselves from it bikini armor.

– wincenworks

We’ve had a few people contact us with great excitement to let us know about Illaoi, the Kraken Priestess – and I was initially reluctant to look at any design by Riot that could potentially involve tentacles.  After all, they are basically the go-to for the creatively bankrupt seeking to produce “sex sells” fantasy artwork.

But now I look at it and the videos showing her attacks…

image

This is what improvement looks like.  While there’s still room for discussion, this is a clear shift away from their old design principles.  And special thanks to @lightlunas for directing us to this gem:

This isn’t a commonly known fact, but a huge chunk of League’s female characters actually share an identical (or near identical) face and body, and are only differentiated by their hair and clothing.”

image

– wincenworks

If by “not a commonly known fact” they mean “public knowledge”

~Ozzie

princess-slay-ya:

My most popular post has received a lot of arguments lately, so I figured I’d respond to the most common points people bring up.

Sources:

Carrie Fisher on her costumes 

what supermodels wear in hell

 on Padme’s wardrobe 

to get a general gist of Queen Jamillia’s and Oola’s screen time, here are the scripts for Attack of the Clones (Jamillia is in 359 word scene) and Return of the Jedi (Oola is in scenes that add up to 275 words)

Star Wars Bechedel Test results  here

As we’re on the subject of Star Wars and Leia’s bikini

With The Force Awakens premiere approaching, let’s remember that sexualized image of (very scarce) female characters in Star Wars movies so far was never really justified with anything more than the creator’s decision.

Slave Leia outfit is not what empowered the character (or the actress), it was her in-story motivations and personality. And let’s be completely honest: what made that costume a “slave” outfit (and, incidentally, what assisted princess in killing Jabba) was the chain attached to her collar, not the arbitrary metal bikini.

~Ozzie

more Star Wars on BABD | more about agency

Tidy Up Tuesday #13

After a week off, here are some recent tidy-ups:


Our blog has tags for reference and resources on armor (especially positive female armor).

For those of you who are additionally looking for body type reference for their character design, this tag on art-and-sterf is pretty decent, as is that one on @artist-refs.


We still can not offer design critiques. However, an affiliated blog devoted to that is in the works currently, we’ll let you guys know when it emerges.


We do not have backgrounds where we are comfortable giving out advice regarding attire specific to particular cultures and/or religions.


Oh, and reminder that there’s that part in our FAQ, in case anyone jumps in to say we don’t like fun because we’re so critical.


Things we got in our inbox that were featured on BABD before:


– wincenworks & ~Ozzie

previous Tidy-Ups on BABD

Tidy Up Tuesday #13

After a week off, here are some recent tidy-ups:


Our blog has tags for reference and resources on armor (especially positive female armor).

For those of you who are additionally looking for body type reference for their character design, this tag on art-and-sterf is pretty decent, as is that one on @artist-refs.


We still can not offer design critiques. However, an affiliated blog devoted to that is in the works currently, we’ll let you guys know when it emerges.


We do not have backgrounds where we are comfortable giving out advice regarding attire specific to particular cultures and/or religions.


Oh, and reminder that there’s that part in our FAQ, in case anyone jumps in to say we don’t like fun because we’re so critical.


Things we got in our inbox that were featured on BABD before:


– wincenworks & ~Ozzie

previous Tidy-Ups on BABD