Female comic artists?

[mazouko]

I've noticed that when I see discusion about comics and good artists, only guy's names are mentioned. Are there any awesome female comic book artists?

[DavePalumbo]

Rebecca Guay, though she's maybe more a painter than comic artist these days

[Mirana]

In North America? Linda Medley and my bud Nina Matsumoto jump to mind. [EDIT] Oh! And Johane Matte who's done work in Flight and I adore her Horus book (she also puts up pages on DA (http://rufftoon.deviantart.com/)). The femmes tend to be indie or the new wave of japanese-inspired (I'm sure you know of the vast amount of female comic artists in JPN).

You might try browsing Sequential Tart (http://www.sequentialtart.com/index.php), though they do review all comics and not just female-only.

[FlipMcgee]

Jan Duursema -- Star Wars comics

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/3424/swrep81fcki4.jpg


Fiona Staples -- cover and interior artist (Sheena, Red Sonja, Jack Hawksmoor [Wildstorm])

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9193/fionastaplesrs4.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5054/fionastaples2cg3.jpg


Claire Wendling (her sketchbooks are A-AWESOME)

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/9985/clairewendling1vy1.jpg


Pia Guerra ("Y - The Last Man", lotsa others) gallery here: http://www.hellkitty.com/gallery.htm

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/6067/piaguerraox8.jpg

[Dadaist]

There are lots: Alison Bechdel, Jessical Abel, the brilliant Melinda Gebbie, who's married to Alan Moore. Gebbie is a chameleon, capable of changing styles without sweat. Below is a homage to Max Ernst's collage novels that she did with Moore.

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll252/Aleph99/Cobweb01.jpg

[TinyBird]

Becky Cloonan, Jill Thompson, Kate Beaton, Tove Jansson, the bazillion female manga artists and loads of webcomic artists...
Heck, there's a huge list of female comic creators which has handy markings on who's an artist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_comics_creators (of which I'm sure loads are awesome)

Oh crap, this was a necro. CURSES!

[Dadaist]

If boring JC can come back from the dead, I'm sure so can an actually worthwhile topic :sungod:

[Elwell]

Colleen Doran (http://colleendoran.com/)
Nicola Scott (http://www.comicvine.com/nicola-scott/26-42469/)

[Psychotime]

Vera Brosgol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Brosgol) (She's mostly into animation but she has done comics from time to time.)
Hiromu Arakawa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiromu_Arakawa)
Jen Wang

[Andrew B]

Fiona Staples -- cover and interior artist (Sheena, Red Sonja, Jack Hawksmoor [Wildstorm])

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9193/fionastaplesrs4.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5054/fionastaples2cg3.jpg




I really love the role reversal in the first one, and the intense facial expression of the warrior woman on the second. I might seem like an arrogant dickhead, but I despise too much generic chauvinism in art, and it's refreshing to see things changed up like that.

[Arshes Nei]

Wendy Pini
Emily Warren
Christina Strain

Tinybird covered the Wiki list.

If you also count Japanese comics (manga) there ARE A LOT.

[Kjesta]

I really love the role reversal in the first one

I love it too but I'd love it even more if there wasn't that voice in the back of my head, "But how does that costume stay ON?"

[Tim Murphy]

I really love the role reversal in the first one, and the intense facial expression of the warrior woman on the second. I might seem like an arrogant dickhead, but I despise too much generic chauvinism in art, and it's refreshing to see things changed up like that.

Still wearing scale mail bikinis.

[Andrew B]

I love it too but I'd love it even more if there wasn't that voice in the back of my head, "But how does that costume stay ON?"

Still wearing scale mail bikinis.

Both true, but if a heroine can kick the crap out of anyone who tries to touch her, she can generally wear whatever she pleases. I don't know if that's my excuse for liking sexy outfits like that, but I stick by the rationale nonetheless.

[TinyBird]

Both true, but if a heroine can kick the crap out of anyone who tries to touch her, she can generally wear whatever she pleases.
You mean, whatever the (usually male, at least with these two characters) creator of the character wants her to wear? Those characters aren't real people so they aren't wearing what they please.

[Elwell]

Red Sonja gets a pass on the scale mail bikini, both since she was the first and because it's become a defining character element, similar to Power Girl's boob window. But if every female character dresses like that by default, then it stops being interesting and just becomes ridiculous.

[dierat]

I love it too but I'd love it even more if there wasn't that voice in the back of my head, "But how does that costume stay ON?"If you're talking about the female Tarzan, I think the straps are safety-pinned to her nipples.

[Dadaist]

Red Sonja gets a pass on the scale mail bikini, both since she was the first and because it's become a defining character element, similar to Power Girl's boob window. But if every female character dresses like that by default, then it stops being interesting and just becomes ridiculous.

I think Power Girl's boob window is a defining element because the male writers want it to be. Her breasts became progressively bigger as time moved on. In the '70s they were normal. But an artist could tone them down again. A writer could stop making self-aware jokes about them in the stories. No to mention in the '80s she wore costumes without cleavage.

It's just that the current creators of DC like T&A.

[Andrew B]

You mean, whatever the (usually male, at least with these two characters) creator of the character wants her to wear? Those characters aren't real people so they aren't wearing what they please.

If I were a hot warrior woman I would wear sexy outfits just to be cruel and to distract my opponents. I see nothing wrong with it. Sexuality isn't good or bad. In fact, making sex taboo is usually what attracts people to using it inappropriately.

[TinyBird]

If I were a hot warrior woman I would wear sexy outfits just to be cruel and to distract my opponents. I see nothing wrong with it. Sexuality isn't good or bad. In fact, making sex taboo is usually what attracts people to using it inappropriately.
And if I were a hot warrior woman I'd wear threads that are useful in a fight. Like something that actually protects anything and doesn't ride my crotch easily.
OTGh0EMmMC8

EDIT: Not to mention if your opponent is a woman, a dragon, wolf or any other animal or any soldier who has been trained to not be distracted, it's not gonna help at all.

[Arshes Nei]

If I were a hot warrior woman I would wear sexy outfits just to be cruel and to distract my opponents. I see nothing wrong with it. Sexuality isn't good or bad. In fact, making sex taboo is usually what attracts people to using it inappropriately.

I posted this in the General Comics thread but this is relevant.

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/10/13/female-characters-superhero-comics/

Kurt Busiek (Kirby: Genesis, Astro City): My argument, over and over, is that "sexy" isn't the problem. Sameness is the problem. Don't make all women look the same. Don't make them act the same. Give us a range of portrayals, like the men.

I think your analogy is stupid because I'm tired of the male gaze. Hehe it's so funny...like I never heard of THAT line before. VARIETY fool. No one is saying no more sexuality with women, but not every woman needs to be some kind of wank material for someone's penis.

One of the reasons I liked X-men was for its diversity of women. I have to applaud Claremont for at least doing that.

For example Storm. I've seen her go through so many transformations but her core character is a strong woman. She could wear a Mohawk, she can kick ass and she can look sexy in some her outfits but not every outfit she wore was some kind of masturbation material.

Jean Grey, I've always felt was just a tool for the men around her, via Scott being in love with her, the attraction to the hairy shortstuff Wolverine, and rather creepy Xavier's lust for her too. She finally got more of a personality as Phoenix, killed a planet of people then died (then resurrected, and killed again...whatever).

Rogue, frequently covered up due to her ability to absorb people to the point of death from skin to skin contact. I guess we can easily make her the emo goth girl, but what happened? Claremont made her spunky and flirty. That's some good character exploration.


So when you have characters that display that kind of variety, I can forgive or look over the stupid outfits of the females in particular for the Hellfire club ;) because, at least there was a variety of characters, some sexy with the outfits, others are still strong characters. I can forgive them taking a purple haired British girl into a scantily clad Asian fetish assassin. :P

I like DC's Amanda Waller, you have this big Black woman that actually is a threat. That's what the audience needs to worry about, not if she's bangable. Course witht eh re-launch someone had to screw that up, along with the movies. No, I like the fact a fat Black woman is a threat. She doesn't need to be pretty to be threatening.

[Dadaist]

I read that article some weeks ago; I thought it painted a depressing, but accurate, picture of mainstream (and not so mainstream) comics. I think what we need is more women writing and drawing comics; especially drawing comics. I'm pretty sure (I hope) the writer doesn't tell the penciller to draw the heroine from an angle that allows us to see her ass, crotch and tits in the same panel. That's certainly an artistic choice. And I think women drawing superheroes could help prevent that or change sensibilities.

But, you know, where the hell are they?

[dpaint]

Lela Dowling (http://www.leladowling.com/lela-dowling-artwork/comics.html)

[Psychotime]

I read that article some weeks ago; I thought it painted a depressing, but accurate, picture of mainstream (and not so mainstream) comics. I think what we need is more women writing and drawing comics; especially drawing comics. I'm pretty sure (I hope) the writer doesn't tell the penciller to draw the heroine from an angle that allows us to see her ass, crotch and tits in the same panel. That's certainly an artistic choice. And I think women drawing superheroes could help prevent that or change sensibilities.

Amanda Conner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Conner) was the artist for Power Girl for some time. Make what you will of that.

[vineris]

If I were a hot warrior woman I would wear sexy outfits just to be cruel and to distract my opponents. I see nothing wrong with it. Sexuality isn't good or bad. In fact, making sex taboo is usually what attracts people to using it inappropriately.

What you'd wear is a bra with lots of support so the pain of your boobs jiggling around wouldn't distract you, and weather-appropriate clothing because both sunburn and frostbite really suck. You would also wear shoes you could run away in.

It's not that the clothing is sexy, it's that it's dumb. It would be like me starting a comic company and putting all the male characters in assless chaps and clown makeup and then trying to get you to treat these characters seriously. You can't. It's stupid. Nobody reasonable would do this. It's like having to put up with someone else's fetish. Like you're reading a story and getting into it and suddenly the camera seems to focus on everybody's feet in half the panels or everybody inexplicably gets into fursuits with giant genitals and goes off to fight crime. You start getting the idea that there's an agenda here you didn't sign up for. Which is too bad because I enjoyed the stories and the heroes as people.

[Tim Murphy]

What you'd wear is a bra with lots of support so the pain of your boobs jiggling around wouldn't distract you, and weather-appropriate clothing because both sunburn and frostbite really suck. You would also wear shoes you could run away in.

I think you're forgetting the most important thing Vineris, the chafing!

[Arshes Nei]

Amanda Conner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Conner) was the artist for Power Girl for some time. Make what you will of that.

I think Power girl is fine as she is, just like I don't mind She Hulk, Ms. Marvel or Wonder Woman's leotard. We have Batgirls, The New Huntress outfit (which I like much better than that bellyshirt bullshit http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/833081752/hutresshistory), Dust, Rocket etc...

Zantanna is a stage magician so I was fine with her fishnets and leotards. Even during the Young Justice cartoon, they updated her look to something more sensible vs the Corsette and pants look in the DC reboot. She still looks like a stage magician in the Young Justice cartoon.

And in Marvel, look at the new Avengers cartoon - "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" (Disney) http://disney.go.com/xd/avengers/
I like the fact that you got different body types and personalities by the women. Wasp is more cute even though she's an adult. I'm fine with that. Black Widow is more sexy. Even Mockingbird's brief appearance was interesting, and people can argue about her costume. Black Widow wasn't afraid to have boobs and ass in a cartoon - that's fine and as long as you have contrast it's better. Wasp's design actually helped with that. The team can use a few more women, but I'm gathering from teasers about the new season, that's what's going to happen.

But we already discussed variety is fine. Sameness is not.

I don't even know if "more girls drawing comics" is a solution in some ways either.

There is so much of that depressing, vacant eyed, girl in fantasy illustrations it also drives me crazy. It's like two ends of the spectrum that really should be seeking a middle ground.

[Elwell]

***
putting all the male characters in assless chaps and clown makeup
***
everybody inexplicably gets into fursuits with giant genitals and goes off to fight crime
I think both of those ideas are brilliant.

[Psychotime]

male characters in assless chaps and clown makeup

1au0xrhoxUo

[Dadaist]

Amanda Conner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Conner) was the artist for Power Girl for some time. Make what you will of that.

And Gail Simone has written Wonder Woman.

And Dan Didio is a man, and he's her boss.

[vineris]

I think both of those ideas are brilliant.

Well, I'm not getting around to them anytime soon so... they're up for grabs. Enjoy! You can't have Pack of Feral Clowns Taking Down an Elk, though. I've got the wallspace all picked out for that one.

[Ilaekae]

Every time we veer off into female "hero" types in the comics and games, I have to think there should be a law that the invented characters should age as real humans do. It can be slower than normal aging, but they should age. This enforced maturity would force artists/designers to remember that within xxx years, the exaggerated physical attributes of some of our favorite eye candy is going to have a major problem with aging/gravity and their uniforms/costumes.

Now, let's all be mature and quietly visualize Blondie Bumstead at the beach, and Wonder Woman as she goes about business in a realistic, more enlightened, manner after all these years...as Flash and Captain America relax at THEIR favorite "fortress of solitude"... "HiiIIii, Babe...come here oftphudgh? Oops. New teeth..."

Can you see it yet?

[Arshes Nei]

Every time we veer off into female "hero" types in the comics and games, I have to think there should be a law that the invented characters should age as real humans do. It can be slower than normal aging, but they should age. This enforced maturity would force artists/designers to remember that within xxx years, the exaggerated physical attributes of some of our favorite eye candy is going to have a major problem with aging/gravity and their uniforms/costumes.


"Is that a tattoo of a giraffe?"

"No it was a unicorn"

[Elwell]

I think Power Girl's boob window is a defining element because the male writers want it to be. Her breasts became progressively bigger as time moved on. In the '70s they were normal.
Actually, Power Girl's, ahem, endowments have been part of the character's make-up since the very beginning. The story (perhaps apocryphal) is that Wally Wood, who designed her, had a plan to gradually increase the size of her breasts with every issue of All-Star Comics just to see at what point DC would notice. They never did (although they did nix the boob window after a few issues).

1357822
(PG's first appearance, All-Star #58. Damn, I love me some Wally Wood art!)

[Ilaekae]

When I first saw Wally's work back in the dark ages, I knew I made the right decision when I entered art...

[Arshes Nei]

Amanda Conner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Conner) was the artist for Power Girl for some time. Make what you will of that.

I google her art out of curiosity and thought the mention of this panel was rather genius
http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Power-Girl-12_panel.jpg
http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Power-Girl-12_panel.jpg

[MidgardSerpent]

Sara Pichelli on Ultimate Spider-man! High-profile quality stuff.

[tobbA]

I don't really read a lot of american comics... But there are quite a few good female manga artists. My favorites are probably Rumiko Takahashi and Yuki Urushibara.

And trying to think of some more... There's allways Lise Myrne, if comic strip writers count :)

http://www.platypuscomix.net/otherpeople/24_11_04.gif

http://www.platypuscomix.net/otherpeople/13_11_04.gif

http://www.platypuscomix.net/otherpeople/27_09_04.gif

[sanya]

A lot of my faves have already been mentioned, but I'm also a fan of Amy Reeder Hadley of Madame Xanadu fame. I recently heard an interview with her and was flabbergasted to learn she only started drawing at all a few years prior to her work on Xanadu-- it boggles my mind to think of the hard work and talent that must have taken!

[Nezumi Works]

I think I'll just leave this link here: http://ladiesmakingcomics.tumblr.com/