Draw Harley Quinn Naked, Killing Herself, To Win DC Artist Contest

[ThunderCavalier]

Personally, I don't find this idea offensive, but just really, really stupid.

So the contest idea is to draw someone committing suicide in some really odd (and in some cases, realistic) ways? No offense, but that's a pretty dumb idea to gauge the talent of some promising comic artists.

 

[drthmik]

I would guess that it would be a good measuring stick if an artist can do this WITHOUT it being just a porno thing
an artist who can draw Harley nude in a bath committing suicide but not have it be crude or disrespectful or sexualized but rather showing the full gravity of her desperation and despair would be a winning catch for DC

This would be a very hard subject to draw without either going too far or not far enough
the artist would have to treat the subject of suicide with the weight it deserves yet keep Harley "in character" but still out of character enough that she would commit suicide

and yes, many will submit watered down "you didn't really want us to do THAT did you?" work
and some will submit snuff porn that they will have jerked off to before submitting it

I assume that such submissions will be rejected as cowardly and/or perverted in favor of the submissions that draw the subject right.

 

[Demonjazz]

The fact that there is a contest to draw a chipper character committing suicide seems... Wrong, I'm not saying that suicide can't be funny. Heck there was one Tom&Jerry episode about a duck that wants to commit suicide and it was actually pretty funny... But this is a human and one that is in a abusive relationship while being not all there... And you want to have her commit suicide. What if Marvel did something like this, what if they said something like "Yeah know how Spiderman is always in pain over his loss of his loves but still is a wisecracker and has a positive attitude... Well I'm gonna have a contest to see who can draw the best Spiderman committing suicide while making hilarious quips! How about you make one where he gets killed by a mind-washed Mary Jane it will be hilarious!"

 

[Combustion Kevin]

"Alright, who let Frank sniff the glue again before the contest reveal?"
-"Eddy was in charge of that, right?"

I mean, seriously, I would come up with this if I deliberately intended to cause a shitstorm.

 

[Baresark]

I have attended many art classes, and many life drawing classes. I question the amount of life drawing classes the so called sequential artist that was quoted above has taken. The first thing they do in a life drawing class, at least the ones I attended was that nude is not sexual. I have seen lots of nude women, lots of nude men, and nude men and nude women posing together... and I have to say, none of it got a rise out of me. That would be because nude isn't sexual. In the world of fine arts, if you find the act of being nude in and of itself sexual, you are seen as immature. I have to agree with that because there is a distinct difference between the two. Whether you find the content of the contest to your liking or not simply because of the suicide is up to you. But to ***** about the nude bathtub suicide actually sexualizing suicide... well there are not words for people who are that immature or that fucked up.

PS. Please stop with the rollover ads on the screen that play when you mouse of them. It's the most god awful annoying form of ad there, that and it's obscuring the text box I'm typing in.

 

[xaszatm]

You know, back when I was first learning about making comics, the books I read stated that any and all symbolism and full context related to what is happening needs to be given to the artist since the artist cannot read your friggin? mind. Unless you trust the artist to tell the story and it doesn?t matter how they do so in the particular context, YOU. INCLUDE. EVERYTHING.

So leaving out that little ?she?s breaking the 4th wall/satire? bits don?t really help if the contest-makers don?t know that.

Furthermore, I encourage people to NOT enter into this for a simple reason: it?s not a foot in the door to DC Comics. DC is not interested in a new artist. Why? Because if they were, they would have asked for a sample of a page that showed superheroes fighting, different uses of light, being able to tell a story without dialogue, and different moods in the panels. Because THAT is what you need for an artist.

Not someone who can draw Harley Quinn naked in a bathtub purportedly breaking the 4th wall.

At best what will happen to the winner of this contest is doing inking work, additional pencils, storyboarding, and maybe promotional artwork. This is not going to actually lead to a career making comics. Because DC is not interested in getting people into a career making comics. They are interested in publicity.

And they really, REALLY suck at that, if these last few days have shown anything.

...uh, isn't this an exact quote from Linkara's Tumblr? Like, exactly the same?

 

[Charli]

*shrug* While this sounds in character for Harley, I can safely say this is not in my repertoire or tastes as an aspiring artist.

Just leave DC alone, and don't blame the artists who try to go for this. DC has long lost my interests in it's comic series.

 

[saintdane05]

You know, back when I was first learning about making comics, the books I read stated that any and all symbolism and full context related to what is happening needs to be given to the artist since the artist cannot read your friggin? mind. Unless you trust the artist to tell the story and it doesn?t matter how they do so in the particular context, YOU. INCLUDE. EVERYTHING.

So leaving out that little ?she?s breaking the 4th wall/satire? bits don?t really help if the contest-makers don?t know that.

Furthermore, I encourage people to NOT enter into this for a simple reason: it?s not a foot in the door to DC Comics. DC is not interested in a new artist. Why? Because if they were, they would have asked for a sample of a page that showed superheroes fighting, different uses of light, being able to tell a story without dialogue, and different moods in the panels. Because THAT is what you need for an artist.

Not someone who can draw Harley Quinn naked in a bathtub purportedly breaking the 4th wall.

At best what will happen to the winner of this contest is doing inking work, additional pencils, storyboarding, and maybe promotional artwork. This is not going to actually lead to a career making comics. Because DC is not interested in getting people into a career making comics. They are interested in publicity.

And they really, REALLY suck at that, if these last few days have shown anything.

...uh, isn't this an exact quote from Linkara's Tumblr? Like, exactly the same?

<youtube=a9NIZOvfKpc>
Yes, yes it is. Congrats, dude. You figured it out.
Its pretty much the same opinion as mine, only with less rage. So, I stole it.

 

[RJ Dalton]

This, I believe, sums up everything we need to know about what DC thinks about it's characters.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

On the one hand, I feel like this should offend me.

On the other hand, it's the post-Poo52 Hardly Quinn so I can't really get myself to care.

Frankly, if the description of the 4th panel was "Depict the REAL Harley Quinn brutally beating that godawful pretender to death with a hammer. Hardly Quinn should be visibly bloody and beaten. Preferably the panel should catch the moment before the Coup De Grace to the head.", I'd be pretty much good with this contest.

In closing, Hardly Quinn sucks and I just can't get riled up about a contest that portrays her last moments whether she is naked or not.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Hm. Disturbing a prompt as this is, I think it fits in some twisted way. The image of Harley killing herself in creative ways with a kind of 'oh well' look on her face sounds like just the kind of morbid humor the Joker himself would come up with. Reminds me a little of Yahtzee's Infamous vs. Prototype competition. I'm guessing this means that kind of thing is what readers would be seeing in this new DC thing? Never been into comic books myself, so I'll probably forget what this may all be about long before it would have mattered.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

Geez. Between this and the whole Batwoman fiasco, DC really ain't doing themselves no favors with their treatment of female characters.

 

[SinisterDeath]

But in this case, swings are a requirement. They want Harley to be nude in this scenario and have asked for as much. Their suit is typically one of if not the most iconic part of any comic hero/villain and in this case they specifically wish for it to be absent and that is totally okay.

But you JUST said no one would bath or commit suicide clothed. You specifically make it clear you assume she is naked. The only reason they could mention it is if they specifically wish to see it, then. They want to see her naked. They don't want her in a bath killing herself. They want it clear she is naked and killing herself.

It's disgusting and repugnant. Going out of your way to request you see nudity when someone is committing suicide. Utterly immature.

EDIT: said naked. Meant clothed. My bad!

Or you know.. The scene they imagine, involves her nude, not necessarily in a sexual way. And because it Is DC, and I tend not to associate any nudity with DC at all. Had they not mentioned nudity at all, and just 'bathing' or in the 'bathtub' artists wouldn't have went that direction at all.

Besides which, there is a shit ton of art out there, by both male and female artists that involve suicidal naked women....

 

[Scow2]

If we're still talking about "Why specify that Harley Quinn is nude in the bathtub?" - They don't want her to be wearing her iconic outfit at the time.

The answer is simple: While real women don't commit suicide in the bath wearing clothes, Harley Quinn is VERY strongly associated with her outfit, and it's very possible someone would, instead of drawing her as realistically bathing, sitting in a bubble bath fully suited in her harlequin suit, because Harley's always wearing her suit, and without clarification, "Harley is wearing her suit" has a chance of trumping "Women bathe naked" as Standard Costuming Rules.

Also, it weeds out artists too squeemish to draw nudity when it's called for and thematically appropriate.