We're supposed to draw ponies, rainbows and fairies. Guys are supposed to draw monsters, gore and naked women with big boobs.
I'm not sure if people have guessed my sex wrong by my drawings, although people have assumed all sorts of things about me by my opinions; I'm a gay if I say something pro-gay, black if I explain the concept of colour-blind racism to someone, a Muslim if I argue against mindless bashing of Muslims or people from the middle-east in general. And very often, having a strong opinion makes people assume I'm a dude. Sometimes, discovering I'm a woman will make people stop arguing with me. Not sure what that is about.
Art-wise I have had people be all surprised that I (as a woman) draw porn, then ask if I use myself for reference when doing so
How can you possibly draw porn without staring lasciviously at yourself nude in the mirror? I'm sure every dude artist ever takes off his shirt when he draws some blood-spattered barbarian.
I think as women we are socially conditioned to not make waves, not to hurt anyones feelings, and be liked all the time. Society doesn't really know how to handle angry women, they don't fit into the mother/whore mould.
I think it's great that more women are drawing porn, keep up the good fight!
i had never bothered to guess your gender but i had always assumed from the drawing you where female. i really have no idea why. maybe due to the strong female characters you often use or maybe no real reason at all other than my brain has to assign a gender to everything [again i don't know why]
it's interesting what you say about the same work by a guy being sexist whilst from a female it's ironic. it's a trend i have noticed over the last 10-15 years that the big breasted female characters drawn by predominantly males are considered old fashioned and sexists [which i tend to agree with] whilst some of the most latent and unapologetic adult comics are made by females and applauded for their empowerment. i wonder how they would be viewed if either a male gender or no gender had been assigned to the artist. and if the same comics/art would be considered 'perverted' coming from a guy then why? what difference does it make?
I agree with your last sentiment. It shouldn't make a difference, but I think the fact that it still does has to do with novelty.
It's really interesting that more women are creating porn in comics or other media. There's a been a very definite shift in feminism from the Andrea Dworkin all-sex-is-rape camp to the more Susie Bright we-need-to-embrace-our-sexuallity camp. Who doesn't like to embrace sexuality?
People used to assume I was female pretty frequently. I think drawing, like behavior, is pretty gendered. I was looking at a lot of female cartoonists at the time and those artists' aesthetics rubbed off on me.
People were definitely disappointed that I'm some dude.
Funny you should mention this, because more than once I've been in the middle of reading your work and thought to myself: "Ayo draws like a girl".
In fact, you defy expectations in more ways than that as well, because I don't think anyone would look at your work and say "This was drawn by a black guy".
I really wish more artists were such aesthetic chemeleons, the way you and Rebecca are.
Indie comics and black guys don't mix. Most people at shows walk past me without so much as a glance down at my table. They assume that I'm into stuff that they won't be into. It's really frustrating because sometimes I can see them holding comics in the same "neighborhood" as mine and I want to just be like "no, come back, we'd totally be buds!"
I've always been suspicious of and resistent to anyone determining for me what my life should be.
Case in point: I can look at a drawing for 30 seconds and go: "This was drawn by a 15 to 23 year old white female with interests pertaining to Anime/Disney/Twilight", and rarely be wrong.
I'm not sure it's important to seperate the artist from the work. You never walk into an art history class and hear the professor say, "Check out this painting! We're going to let it speak for itself and not discuss the artist, time period, region of origin at all." They always want to talk about the artist because, I think, it's relevant
( ... )
I disagree. Ideally, art of any kind (music, movies, comics) should be able to stand on its own merits. If you have to know the gender, race, or age of the artist in order to decide how you feel about it, you're probably doing it wrong.
Of course you want to dissect the creator in the context of an art history class -- because that is what that is all about. I'm a movie reviewer and as much information as possible is key to doing a good job at what I do. I always try to get the back story on the making of the movie and the people who created it, but at the same time you have to let the work speak for itself.
If the audience can't separate the art from the artist, they will make all kinds of assumptions (often false) about not only the work -- but about the creator. (i.e; 'This comic features racial stereotypes, therefore the person who drew it must be a racist')
this is something I've been thinking about. I've been looking at work by famous woman artists to see what feminine paintings are supposed to look like. And I look at em and be like oh yeah I see the girliness but I cant tell if I'm seeing it just because I know its a girl already :T I think- maybe not so much in really seasoned artists- but I think there tends to be a difference in the kind of lines used in drawing? Like in looking at student work, girls often seem to build up lines with these scratchy, more curved lines. And guys do some other thing-- building up lines with straighter scratchy lines. Maybe I can dig up some examples iouno
Ha! That's an interesting observation. I also think there's a difference in other ways too. I worked as a location designer in animation for years. There are VERY few female location designers, probably less than 1%. However there are plenty of female character designers. I've read that men have more spacial orientated brains, while women tend to have more communication skills. A friend of mine said once, "I've never seen a woman draw a really teched-out spaceship." and I can't really think of one either.
Comments 97
I'm not sure if people have guessed my sex wrong by my drawings, although people have assumed all sorts of things about me by my opinions; I'm a gay if I say something pro-gay, black if I explain the concept of colour-blind racism to someone, a Muslim if I argue against mindless bashing of Muslims or people from the middle-east in general. And very often, having a strong opinion makes people assume I'm a dude. Sometimes, discovering I'm a woman will make people stop arguing with me. Not sure what that is about.
Art-wise I have had people be all surprised that I (as a woman) draw porn, then ask if I use myself for reference when doing so
Reply
-C
Reply
I think as women we are socially conditioned to not make waves, not to hurt anyones feelings, and be liked all the time. Society doesn't really know how to handle angry women, they don't fit into the mother/whore mould.
I think it's great that more women are drawing porn, keep up the good fight!
Reply
Sure they do, they assume we're PMS'ing and use that excuse to dismiss our arguments. Problem solved! ;P
Reply
it's interesting what you say about the same work by a guy being sexist whilst from a female it's ironic. it's a trend i have noticed over the last 10-15 years that the big breasted female characters drawn by predominantly males are considered old fashioned and sexists [which i tend to agree with] whilst some of the most latent and unapologetic adult comics are made by females and applauded for their empowerment. i wonder how they would be viewed if either a male gender or no gender had been assigned to the artist. and if the same comics/art would be considered 'perverted' coming from a guy then why? what difference does it make?
Reply
It's really interesting that more women are creating porn in comics or other media. There's a been a very definite shift in feminism from the Andrea Dworkin all-sex-is-rape camp to the more Susie Bright we-need-to-embrace-our-sexuallity camp. Who doesn't like to embrace sexuality?
Reply
People were definitely disappointed that I'm some dude.
Oh well.
Reply
In fact, you defy expectations in more ways than that as well, because I don't think anyone would look at your work and say "This was drawn by a black guy".
I really wish more artists were such aesthetic chemeleons, the way you and Rebecca are.
Reply
I've always been suspicious of and resistent to anyone determining for me what my life should be.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Of course you want to dissect the creator in the context of an art history class -- because that is what that is all about. I'm a movie reviewer and as much information as possible is key to doing a good job at what I do. I always try to get the back story on the making of the movie and the people who created it, but at the same time you have to let the work speak for itself.
If the audience can't separate the art from the artist, they will make all kinds of assumptions (often false) about not only the work -- but about the creator. (i.e; 'This comic features racial stereotypes, therefore the person who drew it must be a racist')
Reply
Reply
I think- maybe not so much in really seasoned artists- but I think there tends to be a difference in the kind of lines used in drawing? Like in looking at student work, girls often seem to build up lines with these scratchy, more curved lines. And guys do some other thing-- building up lines with straighter scratchy lines. Maybe I can dig up some examples iouno
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment