Fencer

A sketch I started a while ago, and finally decided to finish it. Was playing with more dynamic stances and facial design. Quite fun to draw, I admit. Nothing too experimental, otherwise.

Felt like drawing a swordswoman: to think out loud, I must say that I should strive to do my best in drawing more female character designs. I am studying to become a game designer, and among choices I can make is something as simple as what gender to make the player character.

I get tired of some of the female design choices they make in many games these days, such as the barely clothed women of Soul Calibur, or the similarly attired heroine of X-Blades: neither with any depth. And if they don't have an overly generous amount of sex appeal, they simply have no personality: if you've seen the demo videos for the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII, you'll notice that the woman 'Lightning' is - although not overly sexualized - completely devoid of personality or expression. I admit I only have the demo to go off of, but first impressions are very important. Another boring stereotype courtesy of Square Enix. Man I miss the cast of FF IX: Vivi and Freya were among the most interesting they've made in years!

Whatever happened to characters like Jade of Beyond Good and Evil? Or Virginia of Wild Arms 3? Great characters, very reasonable designs. The characters are expressive, intelligent, capable, highly motivated and - just like real people - imperfect. Of course, like virtually any protagonist in a game, the characters are still physically attractive: I don't think a design team will ever succeed in convincing their producers to permit an ugly (or even homely) character as the lead.