Sexism, Music, and Warriors (Patreon)

So I'm kind of a slow learner but I am most definitely a student of Feminism. Y'all knew that about me, right okcool.

Like most artists I listen to music as I create. And like most artists that has impact on the kind of imagery I produce.

I was listening to beautiful music the first time I drew this barbarian and as a result? she's kind of beautiful - right?

That's was a problem.

I know what you're thinking. "What's wrong with a beautiful barbarian?" Well - nothing really - except that if you look at the Frazetta painting that inspired this piece the barbarian here isn't exactly beautiful in same kinda way my first version is.

She's got thicker eyelashes, thicker lips, we don't see her eyes. I wanted to capture that same fearsome quality in the painting and it just wasn't there yet.

2nd version is a bit better.

You can see I tried giving her more masculine traits. I aged her a bit more. But she still has her eyes closed? and while there's certainly nothing wrong with masculinity that's definitely my nose lol. I was listening to all kinds of music. Everything from Warcraft 2 to Charlie Brown's Christmas hehe ^_^

Here is what I'm listening to now

This is actually the music I work out to. And - guess what -she's going to look amazing by the time I'm done.

...Where does Sexism come into play?

See, a while back my main concern was how the male figure in this piece was supposed to look. In particular his penis. And after considerable thought I realized that it didn't matter. Hard penis, soft penis, covered penis, barely covered penis. If I was indeed to create a parallel with Frazetta's work then the male figure here is really nothing more than ornamentation. Look back at that painting and you'll see that practically ALL of the detail in that painting is focused on the warrior. Not the damsel.

I had been obsessing over the male because subconsciously I was clinging to the notion that 1) women must be beautiful and 2) all about that dick. So while this may not have been an overt form of sexism? it still was a stumbling point.

When you grow up with sexism - and don't study feminism - you end up with lady barbarians like this one.  

And like - if that's what you're into I guess that's okay? but #sorrynotsorry that's not my kind of barbarian, and this has been the sexist standard applied to almost if not all warrior ladies in fantasy art.

...take the new Wonder Woman movie, for example (unpopular opinion).

So yeah. Can't wait to finish the new version! And guess what? only my Patreon people are going to be able to see the Full Frontal Completed Art.

Now if you'll excuse me. I have an inordinate amount of dishes to wash.