Can CoH Do Better?

so it has come to this

Now I wish I could remember that site that had people busting some of the so-called impossible poses featured on escher girls. They even had an average build dude doing the 'impossible' bust and butt pose seemingly without much effort (in that it didn't seem to even disrupt his stride while walking).

My problem with that pic of Penny is not that it's sexy...it's that the artist has gone so far out of his way to try and force the sexiness that it just came out grotesque. Penny is a fit, well-endowed young woman in tight clothing. Pictures of her running, jumping around, throwing punches, etc. would come out looking sexy no matter what. But no, that's not good enough...we have to see both of her breasts and both of her butt-cheeks at the same time, or else it just wouldn't be hot enough, darn it! It's just so forced and calculated. They completely lost any sense of motion or grace in the figure in order to serve up the Minimum Daily Requirement of Fleshy Bits.

Personally I just think her face looks extremely awkward. It looks like someone did an amazing tattoo..and then told their 2nd day tattoo apprentice.. "Here you do the face." I showed the pic to some friends in the tattoo business and all they had to say was "butter." In other words: "She's hot...but her face EWW."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

The loading screen artist scores points for at least drawing her in a pose that can be done in real life.

As far as some of the escher girls I've seen, Penny isn't too bad. Something that I find is missed is that a lot these poses aren't to be "held" at all. If anything they are pictures that capture a split second of action. Penny's pose, in particular, is a strike that is lurched back and about to release. In real life this position is held for a tenth of a second, since it is subsequently followed through with the strike. Now, it isn't exactly a proper form for a true punch, since anyone who reels back to launch a haymaker like that is usually defeated by a quick jab to their exposed face, but nonetheless I've seen many man-slap fights pull those pose for a half second.

My biggest issue is that Penny yin just doesn't look good at all. Her outfit tries to be everywhere at once, and it reminds me of something my graphics artist teacher taught me: If you try to throw too much into something, you just end up drawing attention away. People will take one look at it and just go "Ugh!". Like when a woman puts on way too makeup, or when a guy wears a raindbow colored shirt and pants.


As far as the actual poses go, I do have a tolerance for how disproportionate someone can look, and that tolerance is quite... high. I just don't see half of this stuff unless someone points it out to me. I suppose that is the advantage to just kind of taking things as they are. But on occasion I will see something that breaks my sense of geometry. Call it shallow, but I like the side boobs + butt look.

I always feel a bit alienated by these threads. The assumptions about viewer experience seem to be somewhat one-track. Like Arcana said earlier (paraphrasing) there don't seem to be a lot of balanced opinions on the topic.

There is a tendency in this sort of discussion, both here and on other websites, to talk about the unfairness of the poses. It's implied by some sites that equal treatment would be men posed in the same way.

But it turns out we have a really good idea of what men look like when they are sexualized that bypasses many of the assertions of this discussion, because there is an entire genre of material aimed squarely at gay and bisexual men. The poses used there are somewhat more suggestie, but critically they are not remotely identical to what is presented as hyper-feminity in comic and superhero art. In terms of the aesthetics of the models themselves, I challenge anyone to show that rock hard abs are not a staple of this type of literature. In fact, I challenge them to show it's not a staple of literature featuring gay and bisexual men that is written primarily for women.

Beyond this, I'm willing to accept various female poses because it's art. Some drawings are better than others, but I'm willing to accept unusual body shapes for the same reason I'm willing to accept the artistic choice to outline everyone in black lines rather than draw photorealistic shadows. To me it's actually more challenging to draw a picture that establishes heroic themes than it is to just mimic anatomy.

He mostly draws the Twilight crowd