How to sexualize a male character?

[mecegirl]

I do wonder if given our social (and dare I say biological) traits if its possible to sexulise a guy in the SAME way as a female

It depends on the pose and the intended audience. Material made for gay men tend to have the models posed in similar ways that women are posed for straight men. But there is some crossover appeal.

And I never realized until now how hard it is to find pictures of guys in poses that might be considered feminine but are also not naked. All the good examples that I'm finding the guys have no clothes on or have massive bulges (not that I'm complaining but it just means that I can't post the pictures here. LOL)

Oh wait. Found one.

Spoiler

 

[BloodSquirrel]

so.... I'm designing/writing something for a personal project , and I wanted to give this a try, to make sexualized characters, eye candy for the females. ... why you ask !??

NO I'm not trying to make a statement o anything like that, I just want to give this a try... really, I want to be able to make any kind of characters if I need to.

But ! ._. I'm having a hard time coming up with this with "sexy eye candy make characters for females", so I thought maybe asking for an opinion/helping hand here, now now I appreciate help from my fellow man , but I'm more interested in female opinion, or a honest gay man opinion ( I'm not sure if a female and a gay man have could consider attractive the same stuff.. so help me out)?

Before someone brings this up (because I'm almost sure someone will come up with this...) I don't the hawkeye initiative is a good source/help/example/whatever, why? ... well i don't want my male character to pose in a sexualized female way, I want them to be attractive to females..... I'm not sure but I think that the hawkeye initiative isn't eye candy for females..... is it?

In case you don't know the hawkeye initiative

http://thehawkeyeinitiative.com/

anyway thanks for reading and hope to see some advices.

( yeah I kind of realized that this topic would be better on the advice forum ? if so can someone move it please? sorry -_-)

Here's my advice: If you want to know what it looks like when women sexualize men, look at existing media that's being aimed at women. The problem with asking this question on the internet is that you're going to get responses from people with a political agenda, and that agenda is often wrapped up in not wanting to admit that eye candy for women *does* exist.

The Hawkeye Initiative is mostly an exercise in demonstrating that drawing a male character dressed and posed in a feminine manner looks ridiculous. I wouldn't pay much serious attention to it.

Go watch something like the Vampire Diaries (Bonus: The Vampire Diaries is batshit insane enough to be entertaining for entirely different reasons than intended). Or anything on the CW, really. Their stuff has a lot of female-oriented fanservice, even the relatively male-oriented shows like Supernatural. Look at romance novels and the like. Look at shipping communities and the kind of fanart that comes out of them if you're brave.

 

[FootloosePhoenix]

Two words for you: Cute face. And personality. Honestly, that's all you need in my opinion. Maybe I'm an odd duck, but if I don't like the character's personality, I just won't be attracted to him no matter how great the butt. I mean, if you're just drawing yaoi that's going to be a moot point, but within a larger work of fiction such as a video game or film or graphic novel, that's very important. My advice would be to focus on the character himself first, then work on making him pleasing to look at.

I will also say that very muscular dudes are a turn-off. Not for every woman, of course, and I probably feel stronger than most about it, but for me it looks unnatural. I would draw a comparison between it and when a lady gets loaded with implants and botox. Most men have a little natural muscle without pumping iron and it can be emphasized by just having decent fitness. That said, I don't mind scrawny dudes either, so long as they have a cute face, taking me back to my original point. I think the Japanese generally get attractive male characters right, moreso than a lot of stuff that gets made in the West. Again, it could just be my preference, but I get the impression that women who dig heavily muscled hunks are more in the minority.

Now I'll share some characters that I think are pretty attractive, because that's just good fun:

Spoiler: Riku, Kingdom Hearts

Take note of the exposed arms and form-fitting shirt here, as well as Riku's hair. If you're not familiar with the Kingdom Hearts games, this may not help much, but I always found him to be the most attractive at this particular point in the series; the end of KHII (and there are some slight SPOILERS here), when Sora has finally reunited with him and he reverts from Ansem-Riku to, uh...Riku-Riku (what can I say, the KH games are weird). He's been through a great struggle prior to this point and his physical appearance is rough as a result.

Spoiler: Junpei Iori, Persona 3

Cute. Face. I am very fond of Junpei because of his character arc; as a matter of fact, I didn't like him when I first started playing Persona 3, but as he grows and changes over the course of the game, he just becomes better and better. I wanted to share the second image as well because of the expression. Kawaii desu ne?! -cough- I mean, displays of vulnerability and complex emotions are very attractive within males, partially because it goes against masculine stereotypes.

Spoiler: Yosuke, Persona 4

Now I'm not nearly as fond of Yosuke as I am of Junpei, but he's another good example of the cute face.

Huh, whaddya know...I picked all Japanese characters. Oh crap, I almost forgot!

Spoiler

That ass. Honestly I had a hard time keeping my eyes off of Isaac's butt the whole time I played Dead Space. I don't think Isaac himself is super attractive personally (face doesn't contain enough cute for my tastes), but in that suit...

And no, the Hawkeye Initiative is not attractive to females. Well again, I'm sure there's someone out there who likes it, but in general, definitely not. I would argue that such over-the-top poses are not very complimentary to either sex, but it's especially clear with the guys how ridiculous women in comic books are made to pose...which was, y'know, the whole point of the Hawkeye Initiative. And that is what makes it hilarious sometimes.

 

[Padwolf]

This thread makes me happy.

But on to discussion. Well, really the right pose, the right exposure to arms and toned chests work really well. It's all about the lighting and the camera work! Also another thing that works is form fitting shirts. They work really well. Or make them like Dante from Devil May Cry. As for Fenris from Dragon Age 2, it's really his voice that gets me. It's the same voice of Balthier from Final Fantasy 12. And he is quite a sexy man himself:

Spoiler

I think in the case of Balthier, it's more his voice, his manner, that charming rogueishness about him that I just love.

 

[Pieturli]

I think it's always a bit odd when people try to nail down some kind of universal ideal man or woman. Peoples tastes vary by quite a lot, and most people think that there are a lot of different kinds of good looking. For example, my tastes tend to run to the curvy side (NOT FAT), but I can think of plenty of women who are absolutely not curvy but are still staggeringly beautiful. I'd be willing to bet money that the same applies to a lot of women.


I get what the OP is going for though, and just for shits and giggles I'm going to give you my suggestion as a heterosexual male. In other words, completely pointless data, but who gives a shit, amirite?

Ladies and gentlemen, ladies in particular, I give you: Justin Lascek.

Spoiler

The proprietor of 70's Big

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqKhLR1zRaU

 

[go-10]

have you seen the CW series Arrow?

yeah that's what you need to do to sexualize dudes

 

[Mave]

Wow ! thanks for the answers! I didn't expect to see that many "kinds" of sexualized males ........

I'll try to fit them more into archetypes before I start working designing so I can have a good idea of what I have to work on, but I would love to see more examples if someone can come up with more I would appreciate it a lot.

Maybe i can get some idea about personalities too? that would be grat, again thanks for taking your time to read and answer.

 

[mecegirl]

have you seen the CW series Arrow?

yeah that's what you need to do to sexualize dudes

I swear there was a shirtless workout scene every episode that I watched. I have no problem with the concept, even enjoyed it in the beginning, but it got ridiculous after a while.Like we get it...he's ripped, but that doesn't distract from the fact that this version of Oliver Queen is a Batman rip off. (though i'm not sure how women who don't read comics felt about that last part)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43FMVVTx8-I

 

[Silvanus]

Often, sexualised depictions of women simply involve as little clothing as possible. A little cloth to cover a section of the chest, but mostly, exposed cleavage, abdomen, legs, etc. The poses are also pretty notable (as others have mentioned), and often quite absurd.

With men, I'd say the arms and the abdominals are your best bet. Show off musculature, but don't go overboard. Steer clear of hugely-defined muscles and mountainous biceps. I'd keep the legs covered, too, but that's personal preference.

For poses, "carefree" is the best, albeit hard to pull off. "Carefree" is what most of those models Blow_Pop posted are trying to pull off (and not all of them are managing).

 

[Dragonbums]

Make all your characters hot male turians. Bioware had no clue that the wiry bird alien was to be their de facto man hunk of the series.

 

[Lilani]

There's an artist who's done a lot of fanart for Final Fantasy XI and FFXIV who does both beefcake and cheesecake, but here are some samples of the beefcake.

Spoiler

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Have a look at Thane from Mass Effect, he seemed pretty popular with female gamers.

I think combining the "loving caring & cute" attitude along with the "dangerous and mysterious" thing can lead to success. You'd probably wonna go ahead and make him pretty "manly" then: pretty well trained but not over the top.

You could also go the bishounen route, aka: make a boy who is soft and fragile and a bit womanlike and "cute" in appearance. But still make him dangerous and mysterious. No body hair there, clothes can be a bit more daring.

Thane was made for that goal of attracting women, but I think Garrus is the better example, I.E. 4:17-ish:
<youtube=S3oypQkMsFE>
They even tried to keep Garrus "handsome." His given power was armor piercing ammo, too, and I like that.

Honestly, I like Zaeed more than Thane. The scar, the accented, throaty voice, the interesting stories, the mentality, etc.
Thane was just a little too blatant, IMO. Yeah, they explained why he dresses like a Klingon woman, but he just came off as a bit too rebound/clingy. I dunno, he seemed really eager to latch on to Shepard, and hell if I know why, really.

Loki of the Avengers/Thor movies works, apparently.
<youtube=pl30aEahlIU>

I think personality has a good bit to do with it, though it seems like it's just physical being talked about, here.

I'm pretty weird, I guess, but for me, Patrick Stewart, Alton Brown, and Terry Crews look physically nice, which are really some far ends of the spectrum away from one another, but I guess the whole personality thing kicks in with them, too.

 

[Something Amyss]

I do wonder if given our social (and dare I say biological) traits if its possible to sexulise a guy in the SAME way as a female

Depends on what you mean. You can sexualise males the way women are sexualised by reducing them to sexual utility. Is that meaningful? Probably not. Outside of butthurt MRAs who claim men are the wronged party in all things, there seems to be a very small minority of men who wouldn't like to get treated as a sex object by women.

I've seen this argued before in the sense of "turnabout is fair play," and the underlying problem is that it only really works if the tables were even to begin with.

I swear there was a shirtless workout scene every episode that I watched. I have no problem with the concept, even enjoyed it in the beginning, but it got ridiculous after a while.Like we get it...he's ripped, but that doesn't distract from the fact that this version of Oliver Queen is a Batman rip off. (though i'm not sure how women who don't read comics felt about that last part)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43FMVVTx8-I

I'm not sure that this is sexualisation, though. I mean, this is America, where men work out topless or in very tight, revealing attire even if they don't look like Oliver Queen. Where guys will go shirtless even if they have a beer belly and man-boobs. Hell, when I have to call maintenance in the summer, I cringe, because that's how our maintenance guy works.

The only reason I even think it might be intended as sexualisation is that it's CW. They seem to love their boy candy. But even then, I don't think were talking about it in parity with the kind of sexualisation we see in women. For one thing, Arrow's still Batman-Lite.

 

[BakedSardine]

The real point is, nobody cares if you sexualize a male character.

 

[Phasmal]

DMC 3 Dante.
Fenris from DA2.
Alistair from DA:O.
Vaguely androgynous guys from Final Fantasy. (Most of them I guess).
Oh, Chrom and Lon'qu and Gaius from Fire Emblem: Awakening.

These are the game guys who get a yes from me.

Guys with a little bit of muscle, usually on the lean side. Make 'em shirtless. Ta-Dah!

I don't think it would be hard, I think most game devs just don't bother.

 

[Phasmal]

If you get the Summer DLC for Fire Emblem: Awakening, they put the most popular characters (male and female) into swimsuits as fan service.

Now there's some equality. Swimsuits for everyone!

Man, I just looked it up. It's two swimsuits for boys and two for girls. Missing out on Lon'qu but it's got my two other favourite hotties.

Actually feel sorry for the guys (and ladies who like ladies), not much on Tharja or Cordelia. Personally I would have picked Maribelle at least.

 

[The Great JT]

I have two schools of thought on this.

1. The Beefcake. Muscular, tight leather pants with a big bulge, fantastic hair, oiled. Basically any muscular guy off the cover of a trashy harlequin romance novel.
2. The Balthier. Bishi-looking guy, well-toned but not huge or bulging, roguish charm, alluring voice. Balthier from Final Fantasy XII, Tom Hiddleston, you get the idea.

 

[garjian]

Actually admitting that males have genitals might be a start.
By that, I mean the remarkable lack of any kind of bulge at all in any game ever.
You've no idea how annoying I used to find it when a male character would be wearing skin-tight underwear and yet somehow be completely and utterly flat.

I guess it comes down to what sexualisation is...
To me, it's fan-service-y outfits/poses/dialogue/situations/whatever, and exaggeration of their typically attractive parts. On that last one though, I don't think I'd be any happier with a bunch of scrawny guys with six-packs prancing around... I saw somebody mention Dragon Age 2 and Origins earlier, and I certainly do not look back on those characters very fondly... Fenris was particularly repulsive.
What I find attractive and what others seem to appear to be a little different.

The real point is, nobody cares if you sexualize a male character.

I do. Back in the pre-Fable 2 years I was strangely militant about it.

 

[mecegirl]

I'm not sure that this is sexualisation, though. I mean, this is America, where men work out topless or in very tight, revealing attire even if they don't look like Oliver Queen. Where guys will go shirtless even if they have a beer belly and man-boobs. Hell, when I have to call maintenance in the summer, I cringe, because that's how our maintenance guy works.

The only reason I even think it might be intended as sexualisation is that it's CW. They seem to love their boy candy. But even then, I don't think were talking about it in parity with the kind of sexualisation we see in women. For one thing, Arrow's still Batman-Lite.

It is only sexualization because it is the CW. On any other network (adding in MTV(Teen Wolf) and HBO(True Blood) in this too) I would assume that it is the general shirtlessness that is seen as acceptable for men in western culture. And although it is seen as acceptable it is still titillating for individuals who are sexually attracted to men. But culturally such people aren't given as much leeway as strait men do when it comes to expressing appreciation, so unless such a person is particularly bold nothing is said. If the many college aged men who jog shirtless in the park where I live got as many comments as I do just walking down to the grocery store in jeans and a tee shirt they'd probably cover up more.

But as I was saying, with the CW it is deliberate. This was part of their ad campaign for season two of the show.

Spoiler

But there is something to be said for the fact that despite the display they aren't posed in a submissive way. The same could be said for the shirtless training montages. At least none of the characters agency is being compromised while the sexulization is happening.

 

[EvilRoy]

Honestly, probably just copy the men from Twilight.

I know a lot of people think its a god awful series, and perhaps it is, but the dudes in the novels and in the movies are pretty much distilled down to exactly what would bring in the most teenage girls/lonely mothers (the twilight moms thing still creeps me out).

Hardly any chest hair, no trace of stubble for the most part, eyeliner, and a pleasant yet distant expression - they aren't pissed off or anything, just sort of in their own head and not paying direct attention. One thing I did find particularly interesting was the physiques, though.

All of the eye candy is in excellent shape, but they aren't chiseled. That is, they all look very strong and capable, but simultaneously have the appearance of soft/yielding skin. Compare this to actual bodybuilders (the kind of people who would typically have pecs the size of the twilight guys - wolf boys in particular) or wrestlers, where the skin is typically tight to the muscles, giving a 'harder' appearance.