Tonight’s progress in character design! Trying to break out of the usual fem mold for Transformers character design and experimenting with a feminine equivalent of Bee’s frame type, (Volante as Nellasaur calls them).
Just very basic construction and gesture here, lest I get distracted by the details that I love so much… >_>; Boring I know.
- #0 Is my sketch before this experiment when I was just looking at a slightly beefier Arcee.
- #1 & #2 are my attempts at feminizing the Volante frame type, based off Bee’s.
- Sketchovers of Bee and Arcee from their production art done and included for comparison reference.
Conceptually I wanted narrower shoulders, wider hips, bigger thighs, leaner arms, longer legs and smaller hands/feet, since these are common body frame traits that we associate with being feminine.
This has been way harder than I thought it would be though, primarily because I keep running into the issue of the greater bulk added to that frame making her look stocky or chunky and NOT athletic. The former two are not as much of an issue (or shouldn’t be anyway, which is hard to escape sometimes, urg) but the later I felt to be an extremely important aesthetic for this frame type.
My other attempts at this were pretty terrible, but as shooting practice goes, I think I’m at least on the paper now, if not quite on target.
Now I need to sleep and look at these with fresh eyes tomorrow and see how great/terrible they are.
Okay, now that I have a moment, I’m gonna post a word vomit on this.
First off, I love that other people are adopting this frame-type headcanon and it’s not just me who loves it.
I feel less alone now.I also love that you managed to draw a feminine TF who doesn’t have a boob-plate like Arcee and Airachnid. Not only that, but that she looks like she could take a hit (but not a full-on beating) and keep coming, which is consistent with BB, and with my impression of the volante frame type. Most feminine TFs I’ve seen look tiny and fragile.
I agree with nellasaur (through whom I found this post) that the arms could be slimmed down to give a sleeker, more athletic look. However, instead of slimming the thighs as well, I have an alternate suggestion: give her calves and feet more weight. That will not only weigh out the thighs to make them look more athletic and less flabby (which, like you said, shouldn’t be a problem, but it detracts from the athletic look), but I think it will also make her look sturdier, and give the impression of a down-to-earth TF with her feet firmly on the ground.
I prefer #2 to #1, because her thicker waist and hips make her seem more muscular and less fragile. #1 kind of makes me think a well aimed blow might snap her in half (OK, I’m exaggerating, but the point stands).
This makes me want to rework one of my awful fanchars. I’ve been thinking volante, but re-reading the original headcanon post has forcibly reminded me that the traits don’t quite fit. >n> Hmmm. Oh, and my other fanchar also needs a bulkier design, now that I look at it.
Where’d my tablet go this time? /messy