What Women Want in Women Characters
or,
Women Characters Redesigned by Women SFF Artists



-By Lauren Panepinto



As the most frequently-posting woman on the Muddy Colors roster, let me officially welcome you to Women’s History Month. Now while I don’t always agree with the concept of a Women’s History Month (right with you there, Morgan Freeman), the fact of the matter is, sexism in art is a topic that keeps flaring up and isn’t going to quiet down anytime soon. As a woman, and an art director, I have been thinking of a way to address women’s issues in a art-specific way that is useful to the Muddy Colors audience. So my columns this month are going to be dedicated to what women want in art and from artists. So, prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen.



Before we begin, I would like to lay some foundation.



First: I am a woman, and I do not speak for all women. I am taking my experience and the collective experiences of the hundreds-strong Women in Fantasy Illustration group* and trying to make this post as general as possible. But including everyone’s specific experience is impossible. However, I feel very confident in saying many if not most women have experienced the issues we will be discussing.

Princess Peach (Super Mario Brothers) redesigned by Kirbi Fagan “Who needs saving now Mario?”
Second: Speaking of comments, let’s just say right now: I love healthy debate in the comments, and will always welcome other’s stories or questions, but will not tolerate trolling, cruelty, or just general jerky behavior. There are plenty of places to go troll on the internet. Muddy Colors is not one of them, and I feel very protective of that. If you’re not sure whether you should post a particular comment, maybe read this first.



Third: Make sure you understand the definition of feminism before you start debating it. Feminists want Gender Equality. That’s it. That’s what it means. Often I think we should ditch the feminist term because it’s so loaded and start over with something like “equalist” but there’s a lot of reasons not to do that, and until something better sticks, I am going to stick to the stance that I am proudly a feminist, and if you want to hear more about feminism = equality (and especially what guys can do to help equality along) check out the United Nations He for She campaign, which Emma Watson launched with a great speech you can watch here.

Polaris (X-Men) redesigned by Alicia Vogel “Replaced generic monochromatic swimsuit & cape with a sassier silhouette, metal accessories for her powers to manipulate, and some nods to former costumes.”
Ok, back to the issue at hand. It’s a given that in science fiction and fantasy movies, books, comics, and games, the dominant viewpoint has historically been that of a white heterosexual male. This means that characters of alternate race or sexual orientation have been the exception to the rule, and female characters are created through the lens of what male creators and consumers want. For the entirety of my own history as a geek, I have known that I was never the target audience. Although I could find places to fit myself (Princess Leia, Teela, Cheetara, Jean Grey) the media I loved was not created for me. And the writing or physical representations that were just too over the top for me to stomach I just ignored. However, the last 10 years of geek culture has been amazing to watch. With popular culture becoming, in effect, completely merged with geek culture, the fanbase has been blown open, and has grown and changed in many ways. Some changes scare people. Some changes excite people. Sometimes the original core fanbase is actively hostile to the newcomers. I’m not here to go into all those debates. The fact of the matter is, the paddock fence of geek culture has been blown open, and we can no longer pretend women are the exception, or even the minority gender of geekdom.



This means creators need to take women into account when they portray women. Not only because I am exhausted of internet flame wars (I am), and not only because I would love to see the geek culture move towards inclusion instead of building up the fortress walls, but because embracing the huge female market is only going to translate into profit. Look at Ms. Marvel. Look at Agent Carter. This is a giant underserved market dying to throw money at you. And the truth is, you’re not losing anything by opening the door to inclusion. Look at the recent success of woman-friendly redesigns and relaunches of Ms. Marvel, Batgirl, and Spiderwoman. I also love Marguerite Sauvage’s recent version of Wonder Woman.

Samus (Metroid) redesigned by Anna Fehr “Zero suit is right…she was pretty much wearing nothing at all.”


Update: Yes, we KNOW the Zero suit is supposed to go under her battle armor, we’re professionals. We’re talking about the high-heeled version in Super Smash Bros, which was clearly marketed just to make Samus more sexy. Which was unfortunate because she was such an amazing character without needing to be sexified. (Yes, I’m old enough to remember when it was actually a shock that she was a girl at the end of the original Metroid.) So enough with the mansplaining, please.
To the alarmists I say this. Women are not trying to “ruin your fun” — if you look at the fiercest debates, they happen at times when something is specifically being created for women or about women and then handled in a way that seems to not take enough women’s points of view into account. The Newsweek cover was about sexism. Of course you should be asking women how they feel about it. The Spiderwoman variant cover was a relaunch of a woman-fronted superhero book where women were the target audience. Listen to the outrage. The message is this: “We’re fighting so hard for inclusion, and then even in seeming victory, we are not being consulted, and our point of view is not being taken into account.” THAT’S why we’re so upset. We don’t want to take over geek culture and exclude anyone. We just want a place within in we don’t have to keep re-earning over and over.



This is the most important take-away: Including a woman’s point of view does not replace or invalidate the male point of view.  



I think about this for every book cover I design. How will this be received by men? How will his be received by women? When there is a woman portrayed on the cover I am hyperaware of this. I will talk about this more in my next column, but the shorthand is, there are ways to please both genders in every depiction of a woman. A woman can be sexy, without being sexualized. A woman can be in an extremely sexy pose, but still have agency. A woman can embrace a diversity of body types. You’ll even find thinking of a sexy woman as a subject instead of an object will make your art better. It will give narrative to the piece. (Forget about gender differences, you should be making sure all your characters have agency and are acting as fleshed-out, emotional subjects.)

Scarlet Witch redesign by Belinda Morris “Since the Scarlet Witch’s origin story includes growing up in a Romani family I wanted her costume to reconnect with that – but with a modern twist.”
As I said, I’m going to be discussing this at length in my next post. For now, I’m going to give you a flood of examples of women characters in fantasy art — many infamous for being depictions unwelcoming to women — that have been redesigned by the professional artists in the Women in Fantasy Illustration group. Each woman’s point of view is different, and the redesigns reveal what is most important to that woman, whether it’s realistic body armor, or it’s making sure the woman has a narrative and agency of her own. There is no one right way to depict a woman character, and it is not as simple as “cover her up more” because, as you’ll see, some of these redesigns are sexier than the original. And I have found through my own work that you CAN absolutely have a single depiction of a character that is sexy and empowering to all genders. As I said, more on that next post.

Enjoy these amazing redesigns for now, and we’ll talk about the issues more in my next column!
Storm (X-Men) redesign by Alice Meichi Li “(Nature Goddess + Weather Witch) X Punk Badass — Random Bikini”

Alice was so into this project she even made an animated version!
Betty Boop (created by Max Fleischer) redesigned by Christina Hess “Betty Boop was created in the 20’s. I modernized her to fit into today’s business world.”

Morrigan (Dragon Age) redesign by Sam Guay “Morrigan seems the sort to look sexy for her enjoyment, not yours, so I put her in something a little more comfortable, but kept her signature neckline. ‘Men are always willing to believe two things about a woman: one, that she is weak, and two, that she finds him attractive.’ —Morrigan”

Chun Li (Street Fighter) redesign by Iole Marie Rabor “Chun Li with her amazing legs and high kicks looks uncomfortable fighting with a thong, so I mixed Boxing shorts together with her Chinese Cheongsam. Thank you, Bruce Lee, for the belt!”


Great Fairy (Zelda: Ocarina of Time) redesign by Carly Janine Mazur “The Great Fairy in Ocarina of Time of pointy-boobed fame. As a fairy I believe her minimal ivy-covered “outfit” is very appropriate–except the boots, she’s a fairy, get rid of the boots–however, I have always felt the need to give her face a makeover to rid her of the “lady of the night” vibe.”


Emma Frost (X-Men) redesign by Vlada Monakhova “As hung in the GREY & FROST SCHOOL FOR MUTANT NERDS foyer.”

Phoenix (X-Men) redesign by Marisa Erven “I was excited to modify her outfit to something other than typical spandex ultra-tight clothing.  I opted for refined, dignified and powerful…with a hint of a medieval flair.” 

Red Sonja redesign by Melissa Gay “There is no reason a stone cold badass has to be stone cold. I went back to her roots in the 1930’s fiction of Robert E. Howard and her native Hyrcania, pulling in Persian and Iranian elements for her clothing, armor, and weapons. Still had to give a nod to her iconic silver scale mail bikini, though!”


Fran (Final Fantasy 12) redesign by Ashley Hankins “I think the thing that always bothered me about Fran wasn’t her metal negligee but her stilettos. The argument for them is based on her foot structure but I figure if that is so, then a lady as hardcore as Fran might at least want some high-heeled boots that would actually serve to protect her toes, since getting a stubbed toe in battle is something easily avoidable!”


Dizzy (Guilty Gear) redesign by Priscilla Kim “I wasn’t particularly concerned with practicality or realism (it is, after all, Guilty Gear), but I wanted to do something that better suited her character, as a sweet, naive weapon of war, than a bondage bikini with nipple beads.”
Drow Ranger (DotA2) redesign by Katy Grierson “Because there is no point in armour if it doesn’t protect your vital organs.” 
Gamora (Guardians of the Galaxy) redesign by Rebecca Flaum “Gamora is supposed to be a supreme martial artist so I put her in some more appropriate clothing for such endeavors.”
Lady Death (Chaos Comics) redesign by Heather Hudson “Medieval Sweden is a cold place to wear a latex bikini.” 
Nariko (Heavenly Sword) redesign by Angela R. Sasser “Nariko’s determination and attitude was undermined by her sexualized and impractical design in Heavenly Sword.  I’ve updated her look to reflect the warrior within. You can read more about the design and painting process of this image here.”
Pirotess (Record of Lodoss War) redesign by Elif Siebenpfeiffer  “Pirotess is a drow, a fighter and a powerful sorceress – let’s not put her in a fancy sexy nurse dress.”
Power Girl redesign by Tora Stark “As a woman of formidable proportions myself, I gotta give Power Girl some proper support. I imagine there’s nothing more embarrassing than hitting yourself in the face with your own chest while fighting crime.” 
Seven of Nine redesign by Samantha Haney Press “I thought I’d pay homage to the long tradition of Trek jumpsuits while incorporating the functionality that Borg value, and added a touch of emerging individuality.”
Star Sapphire (Green Lantern) redesign by Anne Garavaglia “I can pilot an F-18 Hornet. I’m wearing the damn miniskirt.”
Taarna the Tarakkian (Heavy Metal) redesign by Melissa Gay “This character means so much to me– the Tarakkians are ultimate warriors, the final force for good in a corrupt universe, the heroes every little girl might aspire to be. We deserve better from our childhood aspirations than wearing a thong into battle.”
Tayil N’Velex (Everquest2) redesign by Sarah Finnigan “Although represented well (albeit not dressed remotely like a necromancer) in the actual game, she was skimped-down to an illogical armor-bikini in the official trailer, presumedly for marketing purposes.” 


*Yes, there’s a Women in Fantasy Illustration group on Facebook. If you’ve heard ladies talking about the “WiFi” meet up at an art con, or see someone refer to it online, there is a ladies-only private group, started by Zoë Robinson. If you are a woman (however you define it) and you make fantasy art (however you define it) send me or Zoë a Facebook message and we’ll add you. Sometimes guys say this isn’t fair, but the truth of the matter is, women need a safe space to talk to just women. Guys are welcome to do the same. We are as inclusive as we can be, balanced with as safe as we need to be. Comics art, gaming art, illustration, concept, gallery, dimensional, fashion—all artists are welcome.

All “before” images copyright by their IP owners.