I blame the tools

[spqrblues]

A minor rant on packaging of supplies for comics artists, with boobs.

This is the old packaging for the illustration board I usually use to draw the comic.

Simple, professional, and you don't have to feel goofy when you buy it, because you are totally a serious artist, and stuff.


And this is the boobified new packaging.

While I understand the marketing reasoning for going with the gigantic eyes and the water-balloon boobs, I'd never pick this up in a comic store, an art-supplies store, or from a convention table. But, of course, I'm not the demographic they're marketing to.

It's not a cheap product (though it looks cheap, now—ooh, see how I used the two connotations of the word—burn). I'd think if you need the more expensive stuff (it holds up pretty well to eraser abuse), you wouldn't need boobages to attract you to the product, you'd simply buy what you need. But maybe they'd like to get artists who don't consider themselves professional level to upgrade to the heavier stuff; one-ply Bristol Board being a gateway drug, and all. In fact, I don't know why they don't just indicate the ply of the paper by the size of the cup.

Good thing there's mail order. I guess.

Comments

[pikku-gen.livejournal.com]

*headpalm*

I can totally sympathize. I wouldn't want to be seen buying that. Or be seen dead with it, as it happens.

Which reminds me... got to learn to draw. :P

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

A new addition to my nightmare of being found murdered and having to lie in the middle of a chalk outline while a dozen people snoop around me, Law-and-Order style--being found murdered, with that package of paper next to me.

It's not by any means the worst such thing I've seen even just today, but I really could have gone without seeing it all.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That makes me feel slightly better that the paper I like to use is packaged with a picture of a catboy on it. Luckily, I buy by mail-order so I don't have to look anyone in the eye and disclaim making catboy doujinshi.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I'd much rather buy paper with a catboy on it. I wonder if one of their boards comes in a size/dimensions I can use? I'll have a look at their paper, why not :)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:) It works better for me with the Deleter inks and pen nibs I use (gosh, who'd have thought that a company would manufacture things designed to work together?) than the comic boards I used to get. I get the blank pieces, since I draw to different proportions than the Japanese do, and I get the lightweight stuff since I run it through my printer to get bluelined pencils on it, then ink. (I tend to do the pencils digitally.)

[etako.livejournal.com]

*goofy grin* And yet, in a public forum in the Internet you have announced it to the world. S'okay. My favorite paper had a naked man ...posing...on it, and for the longest time in high school we had no 'Net at home. I wonder if the woman in the supply store knew I actually have pink skin, and not red. I've stopped buying it since. M'tastes have changed.

One can tell a non-English speaker did the translating on the catboy paper--the grammar is quite awkward. 135lb wt. paper is a bit unusual--then again, the Papeterie here sells paper from 20g to 600g in 10g steps. *shrug*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Luckily on the Internet, for all anyone knows I could be a small sentient houseplant. With an unnatural interest in catboys.

[viistar.livejournal.com]

i just use smooth bristol pads that i cut myself... (non-professional much? :P)
O_O... there's a balloon on the front... but not two of em XD

that's just like saying that women don't make comics... regardless of demographic, cause paper isn't specifically for boyz or gurlz...

pro-boards 4 teh FAIL. >_<**
*thumbs down*

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I used to cut my own boards to size and do all the measuring from scratch, but then I discovered the lovely convenience of having a ruler pre-printed around the edges. I pay zero attention to the standard "live" area marked out on the board (thereby not making it easy on myself when it comes time to put together a hard-copy version, since a book will have to be printed at some peculiar trim size like 9x9 inches). But I like not having to measure the rows out myself. I was ending up with way too many crookedy lines.

Do I want to continue buying a product that has become yet another laugh-in-the-face for women in comics? I don't think I do. One gets tired of this sort of thing after a while, just plain down-to-the-bone tired.

[viistar.livejournal.com]

there's probably another manufacturer that sells the same stuff without the advertising? it's worth looking into.
if it makes you feel better, i don't buy or eat at places if i hate their commercials :)

But I like not having to measure the rows out myself. I was ending up with way too many crookedy lines.
i think i just got used to mine. LAWL. i like the paper and i'd probably end up bankrupting myself getting the fancy stuff for a dicky project :)

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I used to hear in my head a little voice announcing the cost of each sheet when I took it out of the package, or when I messed up terribly, or spilled hot choco on an unused page. Now the voice is merely a dull thudding in the back of my head and at the bottom of my bank account.

[barbaricyawp.livejournal.com]

Ack! That's so annoying. What's the deal with alienating their women customers? You won't be the only dissatisfied user. I bet someone seriously underestimated their customer demographic. Idiots...

When I was in DC and wanting to learn how to draw better, I saw a book on figure drawing at the National Gallery of Art. Nearly all of the naked bodies in the book are female, and some of them are in just ridiculous poses. The very few men are Ward Cleaver types -- stiff, stalwart and boring. I ended up buying it reluctantly because there wasn't anything else suitable, but it was annoying.

My great aunt Nell was an artist, and I have a print of hers from the 1940's era, a watercolor of a naked man wearing a jock strap. I bet she made the sketch at one of those figure drawing classes. She was a seriously cool woman.

Where are the figure-drawing books for people who'd rather draw men's bodies? Somebody start marketing stuff to ME, dammit!

You know, some artist could really make a bundle by writing a 'figure-drawing' guide with mostly naked men.

That poor woman!

[(Anonymous)]

That poor doe-eyed, hypertrophied model on the cover! Look how she has to lean backwards and brace to avoid going head over heels into the brink. One has to pity such mortals as these.
So I have to assume the people who peddle this stuff think all artists and comic lovers are adolescent males? Zu Schade! DRW

Re: That poor woman!

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing they think artists and comic lovers are males ages 18-39 :P

I wasn't sure if you'd be able to tell from the scan of the catalogue just how huge the woman's eyes are. Perhaps they are wide with pain from her aching back.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for Great Aunt Nell.

Believe me, I've been hunting around for figure drawing guides that aren't:

two-thirds (or more) female figures
women in submissive, slinky, or "delicate" poses
women in fan-service poses
only the men in active/action poses

I like Giovanni Civardi's reference books, but (surprise) his book Drawing the Female Nude or the generic Drawing Human Anatomy are the only ones I can ever find in stores or online, and Drawing the Male Nude appears to be out of print or just very hard to track down. Drawing Human Anatomy is marvellous in that it is primarily images of male figures, young and old, but it is way too scanty.

I think a figure-drawing guide with only naked men, in both active and submissive poses, would be TERRIFIC. I wish I had the skills to do it myself. And then a second book showing women in all manner of active poses, women of all sorts of body types, so artists can see how boobs and hips really work.

[quirkybird.livejournal.com]

Ask around for the various excellent drawing guides from the '50s that exist only in scanned form online from Russian art students.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

What an amazing thing to know about. I'll start googling.

(Bear icon was intended for the stunned expression, not in reference to Russia, but why not both.)

[barbaricyawp.livejournal.com]

Good tip -- thanks!

[barbaricyawp.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the book info! I'll be on the lookout for them. And you're so right about the differences in how figures are posed -- it's pretty biased, and there aren't nearly enough women in action. I think I'll look at sports photos for good models to copy.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I forgot one: If it turns out you like Civardi's approach, also look for his Drawing the Human Body. It uses mostly the same models and some of the same drawings as Drawing Human Anatomy, but Anatomy is censored to blank out the boy parts. I think Body may be meant as a combination and condensation of the other three books, but I'm not sure since I haven't seen the Male Body book and didn't pick up Female Body since there are (as noted) a plethora of female figure models everywhere else. There aren't a wide variety of complete full body poses in Body, but it's useful for combining distinct elements (a turn of the head, a stretch of the arm, the rotation of a torso) into one pose. And one of the models could almost be Felix. If you give him a stronger chin. And more of a pout. And a different forehead. And different hair. And...

(Okay, I am now officially too sleepy to make much sense. New pencils (http://www.spqrblues.com/images/pencils.png) are posted, and maybe I can wake myself up sufficiently to ink :P )

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

Consider these.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

My favourite title from that list is "Fun With a Pencil" :)

When I was a wee thing and did not know of the concept of figure-drawing books, I used to peruse selections from Leonardo's drawings trying to figure out the figures. Not so bad for learning grotesques, heroes, and where to put the intestines.

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

Demonoid also has quite a lot of stuff. Much of it not what you're looking for, I'm sure, but there might be some good stuff in amongst the dross. Let me know if you want an invitation code.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Wow.

may I have an invitation code please?

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

Sent to the last email address I have for you.

If it doesn't get to you, email me: j D0T schoffstall AAATTT pobox D0T com. Or the address on my LJ info page.

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

Okay, mail is bouncing off the klio.net address. I don't have a good address for you. Just email me, and I'll get one out to you.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Someone else mentioned bouncing today. I'll go see if I can fix it :(

And I'll e-mail you too.... :)

The girl probably has to wear two bras, and sill gets a backache...

[etako.livejournal.com]

Write the company. I've done that in the past for art supplies I like, and once even for a certain knitting catalogue. (It was for women, but what the women were wearing meant to me that the catalogue belonged in a male's hands.) Not that I encourage you to be one of the obnoxious raging feminists. Rather, I encourage you to be a sensible one. In the worst case scenario they'll pat you on the head and give you free paper.
As has also happened to me. :D

Re: The girl probably has to wear two bras, and sill gets a backache...

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

The company has been great in the past--when an order of paper arrived damaged, they replaced it at once and told me to keep the creased pages, which could still be used above the creases and hickeys for various little projects. I'm not sure, looking at the name change on their catalogue, whether they've been bought out or have just revamped their image. Well, clearly they have vamped up their image....

Re: The girl probably has to wear two bras, and sill gets a backache...

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

A knitting catalogue, really?

*searches through knitting catalogues for the stupid one*

*concludes that etako must have been successful, cause can't find it*

Re: The girl probably has to wear two bras, and sill gets a backache...

[etako.livejournal.com]

It's a German one. I think it was called Aarlan, but it's been 2 years, and I've knitted moved on.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

They're called "BOARDZ"...I don't think I could have bought from them in the first place. ;p

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

But they are so hip! :)

[(Anonymous)]

I really can't gnash my teeth and beat my-er-breast over this packaging er-affront, because as you point out, it is in the realm of comics which have a um-- genetic predisposition to this uh-trait, but it is bad taste + bad drawing, I mean that looks like a case of capsular contracture and she should be suing not only PRO Boardz, but also Dow Corning.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Perhaps with careful animal husbandry we can breed out the bad genetic predisposition.

[ndgmtlcd.livejournal.com]

When I clicked on that link after the "minor rant" warning I thought it would lead to another one of your "lady artist and cat" adventures. It turned out to be something else. You're always full of surprises!

I was curious enough about the origin of the marketing style change to make a few google searches. It turns out that the owners come from the comics collector supply business. They're used to selling plastic covers to fanboys. Sorry, I mean fanboyz. Looks like they just hired one of the boyz to design the new packaging.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Maybe I could do a spin-off comic of "well-endowed lady artist and cat" adventures. See, it appeals to two demographics! :P

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

*palm/head*

Ugh...yeah it's sad they have to Market to the XTREME! for all those Anime fanboyeez.

it's as uncomfortable as trying to get any Human Anatomy for the Artist or 'drawing the nude' book.

I don't understand the contortionist or BDSM poses they have women pose in some of those anatomy books...It's just painful! If you need to stare at a [woman] in such a wacky pose, then you're in the wrong profession!

SIGH

[rant!]

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

When people say it out loud, you know it's spelled XTREME! in their heads. You'll hear people exclaim about how, for example, covers on history titles have to be more XTREME! because that's what boyz want. The dual argument is that boyz don't read, so comics have to be designed for boyz; and that comics should be designed for boyz because only boyz read comics. I've never been certain whether the honest, deep-down belief is that girls will buy and read these books because that's all there is on offer and girls will learn to accommodate; or whether there is no interest in girl readers at all. I wouldn't think anyone who wants a bigger share of the profit pie would be content to say, "Oh, the girls will just go read catboy manga."

It probably just comes down to the fact that it's dead easy to get someone stirred up with an image of violence or sex or the two in tandem. You'll get more box office for the gladiator bouts and the executions than for the new production of Sophocles or Euripides with genuine flying deus ex machina. And this is why we remember the names of the gladiators. Oh, wait, we don't. But then, who cares, when you need a quick box office boost to keep quarterly profits up. I dunno, I've worked at places that sold tens or hundreds of thousands of copies of books that didn't have a single wacky-pose woman in them. But that does take more effort than inflating a pair of boobies and parking an enraged muscle-man with big knives behind them (in case you can't tell from the scan above, that's what's going on behind the woman.)

I think what our nation's school libraries need is a book cover showing Lewis & Clark screaming war cries as they battle a giant bear that's threatening a scantily clad and cowering wasp-waisted Sacagawea. These books I have on drawing will have exactly the right poses.

Re: [rant!]

[(Anonymous)]

What, there was an enraged muscle-man behind the Babe with the Hypertrophied Boobs? I didn't notice... musta been distracted by the over-endowed, big-eyed babe. Sorry, just kidding. I'm officially over the hill and never-never-never allow myself to be distracted by big-eyed babes, whatever the boob-size.
Then again, a scantily-clad, wasp waisted Sacajawea, with milk-distended boobs (like the cover-girl on Heinlein's "Friday" (not to initiate another rant) would definitely have some adolescent appeal. I, on the other hand, would pass such a cover by with a sneer... after taking a good, long look so that I might despise the obvious pandering to an appropriate degree.
DRW, stalwartly un-amused by sexist pandering... after all, I could imagine a much more appealing babe, with substantially smaller boobs and her own sword.

Re: [rant!]

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

A sword is the perfect accessory for all occasions. I'd think the babe on the packaging might have some disadvantages as a swordswoman, though, what with the two obvious targets. Maybe they'd make for good distraction, like a cloak in one's off hand or a rubber chicken or something.

Re: [rant!]

[(Anonymous)]

My sweetie once had a fencing student with huge boobs like that. She had a lot of trouble making parry four, all that real estate got in the way. DRW.

[amberdulen.livejournal.com]

PRO Boards (tm): Perfect for drawing your own porn!

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

It's a shame, but... I suppose especially at the pro level, that's what sells/gets you a job. I'm told it works for webcomics, too....