In
relation to the “Super Manga Matrix” book, I actually have a fairly
similar book called the “costume matrix” and well… It’s far more helpful
than what I’ve seen of the other book.
its
basically the same concept, take a “base” clothing style (school
uniform, military uniform, japanese clothes, gothic/formal, casual,
foreign cultures) and mix it with another base, or with a “motif”
(animal, elements, scifi/mecha, seasons, plants).
each section of
the book has one of the bases and combines it, usually showing at least
two designs (in terms of motifs though, there may be more than one
design but they would use something different i.e. having four school
uniform x animal examples but with four different specific animals) so
there’s a little more variety
It’s
mostly a reference book rather than a “how to draw” and even then they
have a little brainstorming game using web diagrams and word association
to make a design
It’s got absolutely no escher girl posing however they do have a few slightly questionable designs
the worst of the bunch being this girl
it
is combining Military clothing as a base (specifically armor) and a
dragon and they got this. Granted its far better than what I’ve seen of
most womens’ armor(even by the same author) but it is a disappointing
one compared to everything else
I guess what I’m trying to say is, here is the same concept, with better designers
That’s really cool! And it does seem very helpful for brainstorming, especially since they show you a variety of combinations and bases!
The dragon armor amuses me, but I do like how the dragon design wraps around her, even if it’s bikini armor x3
Thanks for sharing!
Sigh, even in a practical interesting book that helps with costume design there had to be a physics-denying bikini armor, huh?
So, I’d like to start this post by saying if you haven’t seen Black Panther – go see Black Panther. As soon as humanly possible.
From a BABD perspective, there’s a couple of really interesting and exciting aspects of the armor of the Dora Milaje (royal guard, aka bald women in red).
Firstly is while they do put an odd amount of emphasis of broadcasting that the wearer has breasts – they still read quite clearly as practical (very decorative, but practical) battle attire. It doesn’t rely on the lore to convey the purpose, and is easily some of the best female attire in a Marvel movie to date (and much, much better than the previously featuredcomic, seriously).
And they look so amazing when they’re together as a unit:
(Also if you love costume design in general you’ll want to see this movie simply to appreciate the authentically African inspired Wakandan outfits)
The second is that the all female royal guard, in Africa, is not without historical precedent. The Dahomey Minos (referred to as amazons by Europeans because… colonialism) who started as royal guards, became a militia and ultimately fought in wars against colonizers (who spoke highly of their courage and ability)
Oh boy, it’s what I’ve been dreading when the Soul Calibur VI character releases started; another uninspired lingerie-esque outfit for Ivy!
[ x5 ]
It’s so aggressively boring that the details they added, like the lace on her stockings and the cords around her sides, somehow make it even less interesting. She looks like she’s cosplaying herself. They also seem to have removed the snake motifs she had previously, and replaced them with… uhh, generic skulls, I guess? Cause that’s intimidating and not overdone at all.
[Ivy, thinking “What, you thought this was going to be a good design? Ha!” with a knowing smile]
I guess I’ll give the devs credit for giving her a boob window while also showing off about 70% of her breasts (the lace doesn’t count as covering). That’s some next-level dedication.
What is it with companies thinking that professional, Machiavellian female characters wear fetish outfits?
Crappy lady armors being fixed? In our livestream? It’s more common than you think, since it’s, like 80% of what we do. The other 20% we’re saving for next week. ( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o)
Join us on Saturday at the usual BABD time of 9 AM PST / 6 PM CET!
Crappy lady armors being fixed? In our livestream? It’s more common than you think, since it’s, like 80% of what we do. The other 20% we’re saving for next week. ( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o)
Join us on Saturday at the usual BABD time of 9 AM PST / 6 PM CET!
So now and again we get people insist that x title shouldn’t be counted because it’s intended to be viewed as porn (especially if that product is from a country outside the English speaking world… because reasons).
Reasons for this assumption often include:
The presence of explicit fan service or sex scenes
The inclusion of ridiculous double standards
Fans having labelled it as an erotic product on their own wikis
The publisher having actual porn products in their catalog
But generally this just assumes that by shoehorning in some sexualized content a product immediately becomes excluded from criticism. Very few products exclude all content from their own genre (plenty of action movies have a romantic subplot for example).
Generally a lot of the cross genre trends have a pretty basic premise behind them, it helps improve the audience investment:
Comic relief in horror and thriller helps avoid the audience becoming desensitized or burnt out from the tension
Having a love interest can humanize a protagonist (or an antagonist) and increase your ability to get invested in them
Mixing a little mystery with your modern fantasy story reminds the audience of how little we really notice or know about the world around us and makes them more accepting to the idea of secret magic
So, what purpose does having ultrasexualized costumes for female characters and regular arbitrary fan service? Well, mostly it’s because of the general belief that certain demographics need a lot of reassurance that some products are okay for them, and in fact made exclusively for them:
That’s not to say that there aren’t products or stories where including sexual content gives it a boost, but generally you’ll want to do it in a way that makes sense and does actually improve the product and that still doesn’t make it porn.
You can physically eat a lot of things, but just as you wouldn’t call it food unless you buy it specifically to eat it, you shouldn’t call it porn unless you buy it specifically for sexual gratification.
– wincenworks
Given the responses to some recent posts, and the recent responses to some old posts, its probably worth bringing this back – particularly since we’re now more or less out of the “slow season” where companies assume everyone is still broke from Christmas shopping.
The general idea that companies should get a free pass for “its just cheesecake” or “that title/genre/etc has always been like that” is essentially a plea to two well and truly exhausted pieces of rhetoric:
If publishers want to produce porn, then they should be confident enough to own that and to try produce good porn.
So now and again we get people insist that x title shouldn’t be counted because it’s intended to be viewed as porn (especially if that product is from a country outside the English speaking world… because reasons).
Reasons for this assumption often include:
The presence of explicit fan service or sex scenes
The inclusion of ridiculous double standards
Fans having labelled it as an erotic product on their own wikis
The publisher having actual porn products in their catalog
But generally this just assumes that by shoehorning in some sexualized content a product immediately becomes excluded from criticism. Very few products exclude all content from their own genre (plenty of action movies have a romantic subplot for example).
Generally a lot of the cross genre trends have a pretty basic premise behind them, it helps improve the audience investment:
Comic relief in horror and thriller helps avoid the audience becoming desensitized or burnt out from the tension
Having a love interest can humanize a protagonist (or an antagonist) and increase your ability to get invested in them
Mixing a little mystery with your modern fantasy story reminds the audience of how little we really notice or know about the world around us and makes them more accepting to the idea of secret magic
So, what purpose does having ultrasexualized costumes for female characters and regular arbitrary fan service? Well, mostly it’s because of the general belief that certain demographics need a lot of reassurance that some products are okay for them, and in fact made exclusively for them:
That’s not to say that there aren’t products or stories where including sexual content gives it a boost, but generally you’ll want to do it in a way that makes sense and does actually improve the product and that still doesn’t make it porn.
You can physically eat a lot of things, but just as you wouldn’t call it food unless you buy it specifically to eat it, you shouldn’t call it porn unless you buy it specifically for sexual gratification.
– wincenworks
Given the responses to some recent posts, and the recent responses to some old posts, its probably worth bringing this back – particularly since we’re now more or less out of the “slow season” where companies assume everyone is still broke from Christmas shopping.
The general idea that companies should get a free pass for “its just cheesecake” or “that title/genre/etc has always been like that” is essentially a plea to two well and truly exhausted pieces of rhetoric:
If publishers want to produce porn, then they should be confident enough to own that and to try produce good porn.
