I have done a quick and dirty photoshop scrubbing out Vampirella’s right leg and placing it in a more plausible position. The result isn’t perfect, since it looks like she is leaning back into nothing, but the artist may have originally had more weight on the left leg. I think this shows pretty conclusively what the original idea was. I also think it is likely that her cape was positioned to cover up the change.
Makes you wonder why it was altered, and also how much of the carnage in this blog should be blamed on the artists and how much on the editors (who generally aren’t named and thus get away scott-free). It’s like they have a competition every month for who can construct the most nonsensical pose.
I think sometimes the artist (especially if the artist is not a “big name”) is definitely given direction on what to draw, or specifically told to change something to make it sexier. I also think certain artists know what they’re hired for, and that certain artists are hired because they draw a certain way or a certain style.
I know that sometimes some people have the impression that I think only the artist has anything to do with the art, but I completely understand that this is more than just individual artists. That’s the point of my blog, to show that this is an issue with the culture of mainstream “geek” media, and it can be about how artists choose to draw, and it can also be about which artists are hired, and what artists know they need to do to be hired, and what they’re told to change, and etc etc… it’s all of those things working together, both individually and systemically.
Conversely, I often see defenses that act as if all of this is merely just individual artists doing what they want and how dare I criticize their personal art. Except it’s not their personal art. It’s product. And product can be criticized. If this is their personal preferences, then those preferences are being selected for in the hiring process, and in whose art gets promoted and which artists get more freedom to draw what they want than others.
(This is also why I don’t post commissions, because that is merely a reflection of what one single individual wants, rather than a reflection of what the industry is producing.)
Oh, and to your redraw. Excellent work. It does seem as if she was meant to be in that pose and it was hastily redrawn at the last moment.