Artist's Lady Knights Series Creates Diverse Women Warriors

[MarlaDesat]

Artist's Lady Knights Series Creates Diverse Women Warriors

Concept designer Sean Ng drew seven female knights based on randomized traits.

The lack of diversity in female characters in video games and other media has been a "boob plate" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131263-Tomb-Raiders-Pratchett-Calls-2013-A-Good-Year-for-Female-Characters] armor.

Showing just how simple it is to create interesting warrior women, concept designer Sean Ng dogbomber [http://dogbomber.tumblr.com/post/77216633474/its-no-secret-that-i-like-lady-knights-like-a] on Tumblr, shared the randomizer with a challenge to other artists, saying, "Pick three and run with it! Bonus challenge: do all five categories. And of course you're free to add to the categories if what you want isn't in there. Have fun with it!" Ng then shared his first piece based on the randomizer, a top heavy and nervous Indian knight with powerful fists and a shark theme. Since sharing the randomizer on February 20, Ng has drawn seven knights, each time incorporating all five traits.

[gallery=2257]

Ng uses prompts like the Lady Knight randomizer as a drawing exercise for short practice projects. His previously series was a set of portfolio site [http://dogbomber.tumblr.com/post/78757863616/mineral-monsters-decided-to-toss-them-all-into-a], which includes a complete character redesign for The Legend of Zelda.

Source: Sean Ng on Tumblr [http://dogbomber.tumblr.com/post/80405578188/lets-draw-lady-knights-compiled-them-all-into-a]

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[omega 616]

I really like these!

Maybe not the Egyptian one, as it goes to towards the more conventional more skin less armor but the others are great! The green one reminds me of Melissa McCarthy!

They all look like they have a personality without them saying a word and they actually look like a woman would when going to war, not with tits popping out but clad in armor!

 

[Eric the Orange]

I like the Russian cat one, looks like a character I would play in an RPG.

 

[LazyAza]

These are all pretty great. Real good examples of the kinds of character designs more artists would do well to look in to mimicking, at least in terms of body type diversity in games.

 

[rofltehcat]

I really like the Gnome/Dwarf lady with the ground-anchored bow. The Russian cat lady is also cool.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

When I shared this article with my friend we got into a massive discussion on how we wanted these characters implemented in something. We both love the designs. Some one should definitely give this guy a job offer because I want to see these or similar characters in some game.

 

[Zhukov]

Love the Russian one.

Something makes about the idea of a 200kg bruiser with a club the size of a fridge being described as "mischievous" makes me smile.

Like the Japanese one too, although I think it would be a better picture without the magic blue snake thingy.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Welp, my next D&D game is gonna have a halfling with a tripod-mounted bow. That's just got to happen.

Hmm, I wonder if 3.5 has a template for that.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I really like these!

Maybe not the Egyptian one, as it goes to towards the more conventional more skin less armor but the others are great! The green one reminds me of Melissa McCarthy!

They all look like they have a personality without them saying a word and they actually look like a woman would when going to war, not with tits popping out but clad in armor!

Well the Egyptian one is a bit more accurate for the society (I think), fuckin' deserts and all that. Whilst it may be a more conventional type, it is still one that exists.

Granted I would just like to see more games with a stylized atheistic, where you can illustrate different and exaggerated proportions more easily.

 

[Itsthefuzz]

Jeez, I can already just imagine how all these characters might act based on the style put into their design. I want them to be a real thing!

 

[Darkmantle]

I really like these!

Maybe not the Egyptian one, as it goes to towards the more conventional more skin less armor but the others are great! The green one reminds me of Melissa McCarthy!

They all look like they have a personality without them saying a word and they actually look like a woman would when going to war, not with tits popping out but clad in armor!

Well the Egyptian one is a bit more accurate for the society (I think), fuckin' deserts and all that. Whilst it may be a more conventional type, it is still one that exists.

Granted I would just like to see more games with a stylized atheistic, where you can illustrate different and exaggerated proportions more easily.

It's Aztec guys

Not even complaining about the right culture

 

[Norix596]

Neat! Skilled artist too.

 

[RandV80]

These are all pretty great. Real good examples of the kinds of character designs more artists would do well to look in to mimicking, at least in terms of body type diversity in games.

Personally I think this is something that WRPG developers get away with far too easily without a peep from the audience. Forget for a second about the topic of body diversity, or anything about the uglier topic of the dominance of male viewer preference, companies like Bethesda or Bioware make an RPG and they basically use a single male/female model on each race (or sometimes not even that) for the entire game.

This annoyance has been in my head again because I recently got around to playing Kingdoms of Amalur off my back log. I'm doing something I rarely do, playing as a female character, because I couldn't stand the aethestic of the male character models. They lean towards the Blizzard over exaggerated style of aesthetics, like they stepped right out of the WWE, and it's kind of silly when you walk into a town and every man from the peasants to the shop keepers to the peasant farmers have the same bulging muscular faces & builds. The female characters while still designed on the sexy side if you strip them down look somewhat normal, and as a bonus they didn't 'sexify' the armour.

Now I'm actually really impressed with the game overall, it's just kind of silly I had to make a female character for a change because the male characters looked ridiculous! And like I said this is something that extends to the WRPG genre as a whole. Say what you want about JRPG's, but at least when they're designing the cast each key character usually gets their own model.

And for the art gallery I'd be all for that in a game, and the Asian snake lady is my favourite here. I mean sure as a male I like sexy females, but it kind of loses the effect when you have nothing but sexy females in the game. Not every guy is going to agree with me though, some do like it that way.

 

[dragonswarrior]

These are SO brilliant. What a fantastic idea, I hope this artist (and other artists too) do a lot more of them!

 

[Ham Blitz]

They all look pretty awesome, but I think my two favorite in concept are the the bashful Roman, because looking all bashful with a bloody sword like that is somehow hilarious to me, not sure why, and the perky, plum, English shield bunny.
Edit: Is there a way to stop the random rotation of traits or are you just supposed to pick one you see as it quickly goes by? Not that I am going to do the challenge because my drawing is subpar at best, I was just going to see what random values I got for funsies (I don't now why I chose that word)

 

[Mister Chippy]

Am I the only one who loves the Roman Eagle lady? I think she has to be my favorite.

Hope this guy gets a job somewhere. I'd love to see a Dragon's Crown type game with these designs.

 

[josemlopes]

Source: Sean Ng on Tumblr [http://dogbomber.tumblr.com/post/80405578188/lets-draw-lady-knights-compiled-them-all-into-a]

Spoiler: What a twist

They are not poorly drawn or anything, on the contrary but really? Its just the same archetypes but with girls in girly poses. Are we ever going to get to a point where an albino draws all the same archetypes with albinos instead?

Was this newsworthy at all?

 

[Chessrook44]

Am I the only one who loves the Roman Eagle lady? I think she has to be my favorite.

You are not. Then again, I'm also a bit of a sucker for Rome.

I also like how the shark warrior was "Top heavy" and he interpreted that as a large, heavy set of shoulderpads and backpiece behind the head, instead of "HYOOGE BUST".

 

[Kururu999]

Welp, my next D&D game is gonna have a halfling with a tripod-mounted bow. That's just got to happen.

Hmm, I wonder if 3.5 has a template for that.

There's stats for a greatbow in one of the warrior themed splatbooks, you could just use that.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

the small one looks nice