Fun statistical fact: Cows are about 300 times more likely to kill you than coyotes.
Minor sidenote to statistical fact: If it was common for people to keep several hundred coyotes on their property and routinely chase them into a corral and handle them, this statistic would be different.
#some of yall in the reblogs? have not read anything with Nightwing in it#bc yeah I agree it’s babs or Helena#but oh a few ass jokes#brother he’s canonically been raped at min 3 times#and groomed#as a teenager#in the newest titans run raven reads the mind of a villain and is disgusted by his thoughts about Nightwing#he has canonically stated his uncomfortable with the things said about him and it’s been made a joke#it’s not the “oh he’s a himbo’ thing that pisses people off it’s the fact that pantha calls him a slut and asks ‘which one is better?’#its the fact they did that weird thing with catwoman#its the fact that hes canonically a serial monogamist but literally has been with 1/2 the verse bc of weird writer stuff#like he’s the male character who id argue goes through it the worst#but like OH MY GOD shut up about it being a few jokes he’s literally begged a woman to get off him and then had his author go#oh dw it’s not actually sa#or rape#like that’s a thing that did happen#let’s not rewrite history bc we r mad female characters get ignored
This (from prev). Yes, the female characters have been disgustingly sexualised throughout the comics, but ignoring what Dick has gone through isn’t right. I hate seeing how much the fandom sexualises him after he’s been raped multiple times in the comics and said that he’s uncomfortable with being sexualised like that. The writers don’t treat him well. Tbf, the writers don’t treat a lot of characters well when it comes to these things (or in general). This isn’t to take away from the female characters, but we can acknowledge what Dick has gone through too. And claiming that Dick hasn’t had it bad is just ignoring all these things. It’s not just a fandom thing, Dick is sexualised in the comics too.
I keep seeing Dick fans in this poll mention when he was raped by Tarantula as if it at all proves he’s been sexualized in comics and it’s gotten to the point where I feel like something has to be said about what the word sexualization even means and why many people in the tags and comments of this poll are failing to correctly identify it.
Trigger warning for discussions of rape.
I can only assume Dick Grayson fans are repeatably bringing this up because they either 1) don’t understand what the word sexualization means and think depictions of rape == sexualization, 2) they haven’t actually read Devin Graysons Nightwing run and think his rape was sexualized (which it wasn’t), 3) because they’ve been seeing fans arguing for different female characters on this poll bring up those times that those characters were sexually assaulted or harassed (while they were actually sexualized), or 4) because they believe certain sexist lies about Devin Grayson.
The key difference here, the one Dick Grayson fans who keep bringing up the time Tarantula raped him don’t seem to understand, is what sexualization means and when it occurs.
Sexualization of a character is the portrayal of that character in a way meant to titillate the audience, a portrayal aimed at inspiring lust in the reader at the appearance and mannerisms of a character.
Depictions of Rape do not automatically entail the Sexualization of the victim. There are plenty of depictions of rape in art which are not meant to make the viewer see the victim as a sexual object. Dick Graysons rape in Nightwing #93 is one of those depictions. There is nothing titillating about his assault. He is not sexualized in that scene.
How do I know? Basic reading comprehension for one, but because I understand that is in short supply among many of the people engaging in this poll I’ll generously provide some examples.
Dick Grayson is not shown directly during the rape, he is not posed provocatively, there are no panels zooming in on various body parts. He is shown curled in on himself and in the shots where he is lying down the ‘camera’ doesn’t hover over him, it remains at a distance. Dick is a silhouette or out of frame in all the panels that take place during the rape itself, we can’t see him. The roof is shadowed and rainy. His body is not on display. His misery is not something the viewer is being invited to act as a voyeur to.
Also, importantly, Dicks feelings, as they have been for the rest of this arc, are centered. We are invited to sympathize with him as he breaks down, we get to look inside his head.
The issue where Dick is raped by Tarantula is not sexualized, and it certainly does not sexualize Dick Grayson.
If you’re still not sold, let’s look at a scene that doesn’t contain sexual assault but which does sexualize a character.
Notice how her breasts are emphasized beyond what would be at all realistic for her costume. Notice how her body is stretched out and put on display. Her cape is inexplicably stretched to the right in a multitude of panels, so that her body is clear to see and unobstructed. Notice how in the panels where Steph is on the floor her full body is still on display, that her face her open and viewable, that her arms are splayed away from her body to show the reader as much as possible. Contrast that to the scenes where Dick was prone, where the reader saw nothing. Both scenes take place is dubiously shadowy locations, but the shadows in Steph’s scene only serve to emphasize her curves, while the ones in Nightwing (1996) cover and conceal Dicks body.
Stephanie is a child, 16 in this issue, and being actively tortured to death, but none of that stops this comic from sexualizing her to an egregious degree. I’m hoping this - and how different it is to the oft sighted Nightwing rape scene - helps illustrate the difference between a scenario with sex (and in the Dick example, rape) and a comic that is actually and actively sexualizing a character.
The point here isn’t that Dick Grayson has never been sexualized ever, but that many of the people voting in and discussing this poll do not seem to understand the question being asked or are otherwise incapable of actually recognizing sexualization in comics.
This isn’t just an issue with the rape scene Dick fans keep bringing up, this is a more general issue. Case in point, the person being cited in the tags mentioning ‘the weird thing they did with catwoman’ as evidence of Dick being very sexualized. I can only assume they mean the issue of Nightwing where Catwoman briefly flirts with him to try to make Batman jealous.
Dick Grayson is not portrayed as a sexual object in this issue, his attractiveness is not textually significant or drawn attention to - Catwomans flirtation is not borne out of attraction to Dick but of convenience. More than that, the comics art does not seek to sexualize Dick, but Selina. The “camera” pans over her half naked body as she stretches out, her body open to the eye. Panels focus exclusively or near exclusively on her stretched out body while Dicks body is kept out of frame. Large emphasis is placed on her breasts and butt through awkward posing, through the ways her costume seems to be almost painted onto her skin, literally segmenting each of her breasts. She and Dick both wear skintight costumes but only Selina’s costume shines in this issue, only her body is so strangely emphasized and contorted, only she is shown posing half naked, only her nipples emphasized through her costume. The reader is not directed to sexualize Dick in this issue, to see him as a sexual object to be admired and desired, the person being sexualized is Selina.
Nightwing #52 (1996)
For another example, someone in the tags fighting for Bruce claimed the fact that female villains were always throwing themselves at Batman is proof of his sexualization in comics, like the portrayals in every single example of they are gesturing at aren’t actually just sexualizing the female villains. They are the drawn ones boobs out, donning at times little more than a leotard (and sometimes even less), they are the ones being posed and framed provocatively. He is portrayed as a stoic ideal of masculinity.
Easy example from Batman: The Widening Gyre. Reading comprehension question time! Poison Ivy is hitting on Batman in this scene, but is he the one being sexualized? How is he being portrayed? What are the things he is saying, doing? How is he drawn? How does the “camera” focus on him? What is he wearing? Now, What about Poison Ivy?
I’m not saying it’s impossible for a male character to ever be sexualized in DC comics, (though I do think the idea that Dick Grayson should be at all winning this poll is absolutely laughable at best and downright misogynistic at worst), I just want the people discussing this poll to actually engage with the question, to actually consider which characters are being sexualized in comics, because as some very smart people in the tags have pointed out, the sexualization of female comic characters is so routine and constant that many people stop noticing it entirely. When, as comic fans, we're inundated with sexualized depictions of female characters, it is dangerously easy to become desensitized to the misogynistic realities of comics and only acknowledge sexualization (or "sexualization" in a lot of the examples being brought up in the notes) of male characters because it defies the expectation of dignity generally afforded to male characters, which female comic book characters have been consistently robbed of, time and time again. All I'm asking is for a little more critical thinking on what "sexualization" is actually occurring in comics, and who it is happening to.
So... I technically drew this 3 years ago but forgot to post it. I think I was going to clean up the end and make a nice recap, but I ran out of steam and then just left it as a wip for years. I got reminded of it because I was talking to a friend about how to draw wheelchairs today.
This covers most of what I view as the most common errors when it comes to drawing characters who use manual wheelchairs. I hope it helps you a lot.
Image description is in alt text, but there is a back up image description under the cut in case that does not work for some reason
[image description: a 4 picture long wheelchair tutorial. the background is white and the text, when it appears, is black and in calibri. each step will be labeled with "Step #" and a description of the drawing next to it, and "text" and then the text that is written to explain it to follow.
Step one text: So, you want to draw a character who uses a manual wheelchair? Awesome! I can't approve more. Drawing characters who use wheelchairs is a bit different than drawing standing characters, because of obvious posing differences. But to start, you need to know what parts of a wheelchair you will draw. So, without further ado, here are 3 wheelchairs!
Step one image: a simplified drawing of a chubby woman sitting in a quickie GPV manual wheelchair and resting her hand on the handrim of one of the wheels. this is labeled "the artist"
step two: next there is a lineart drawing of three wheelchairs. one is a tilite TR series 3. this is an ultralight wheelchair with a bucket seat (the back is lower than the front), a big cushion and a short backrest that kind of contours to the back of the person who would sit in it. the caster wheels (front wheels) are very small and the footrest is just two little metal bars. next image is a quickie GPV. this is also an ultralight wheelchair with a low back, but its caster wheels are slightly larger, the back has regular upholstery (it does not look like it was made to conform to the back of the person who sits there) and the frame is boxier -- there is no bar underneath the seat where the wheels would attach, rather each wheel is attached to the side of the chair. the next wheelchair is an invacare tracer. it is how most people imagine wheelchairs when they hear 'wheelchair'. it has no cushion and it has a high backrest with handles. it has high armrests that would be comfortable to rest your elbows on if you were just sitting. the wheels are not bicycle wheels like the previous two but are rather plastic. it has big footrests and big caster wheels.
text: the wheelchairs on the left are the ultralight, sporty kind. I have one of them (the quickie). the one on the right is a more standard one you might find in hospitals or as the public wheelchair in grocery stores or the mall.
step three: first is text to accompany the tilite. "This wheelchair has a really thick cushion - it's pressure relieving, which you need if you use your chair ufll tiem and especially if you have a spinal cord injury. This wc has the smallest caster (front) wheels. They are hte most handy for turning in small circles." next there is text to accompany the quickie gpv: "This one has the one I use -- it isn't pressure relieving, but is still useful." next is text to accompany the invacare: "this wheelchair has no cushion - you do not want to sit on it for long. This one has the biggest caster wheels - they are useful for not 'tripping' when your front wheel gets caught on an obstacle.”
step four text: like with all complex drawings, you want to break it into simple shapes first. I normally have a box underneath the seat, a rectangle for the backrest, and a trapezoidal thing for hte area from the box to the footrest. these are the most important shapes, because your character will rest on them and they will move with your character.
step four image: the lineart of each wheelchair has been put on reduced opacity, so we can see the square representing the backrest of each seat (the square is the smallest for the tilite and biggest for the invacare), the box for each seat and area underneath it, and the trapezoid for the footrests. the next step labels the images of these simplified shapes as the lineart is removed. "Note the proportions of each set of shapes is not the same - just like how you wouldn't draw all your characters with the same proportions on their faces!"
step 5: we see the same shapes to form the wheelchair, but now with blue circles drawn where the back wheels would be.
text: next shape is the wheels - two circles
step six: next we see the wheels and shapes have been reduced in opacity and the basic structure of everything about each wheelchair: footrests, caster wheels, upholstery details, axles has been drawn on in orange.
text: the next stage is everything else that's structure - front wheels, handlebars, cushions, footrests.
Step seven: we see the lineart on top of the lowered opacity sketch.
text: you can then do detailing like axles, spokes, upholstery, etc and lines
step eight: next we see three drawings of different characters. there is patience, a skinny white woman sitting in a blue invacare wheelchair. kelley, a slightly chubby black woman wearing a stripey dress sitting in a red quickie gpv wheelchair and doing a wheelie while smiling. then luke, a white man with short blond hair wearing khaki pants. he is sitting in a tilite chair.
text: once you get your wheelchair basics, you need to find out which kind your character uses. here are three characters who each use one of the example WCs. patience uses the invacare. she needs one with a better cushion, but circumstance prevents it. Notice the chair is a bit wider than her hips - it's not custom fitted. Also notice she has to turn her elbows out awkwardly to move. the high armrests prevent a smooth push. her wheelchair has big caster wheels and far-back back wheels. it is made for stability and difficult to turn,but also difficult to knock over. Her chair indicates a lack of resources or temporary injury, and is primarily a transport chair
kelley uses a wheelchair like mine - it is fairly sporty, but has a box-y frame underneath. this makes it heaver than if it didn't.she has a mediocre cushion - it protects her, but only some. her back wheels are further underneath her body than Patience's, which makes it possible to do the wheelie (demonstrated here). her wheelchair is supposed to look line one you'd use full time, but it is a little old.
luke has a spinal cord injury. he has a very thick pressure relieving cushion for medical reasons. his chair is also ultralight, with no boxyness under the frame. his chair is the newest and lightest - it indicates his wealth/resources, but also that he needs to use on full time.
step nine: just a drawing of me sitting in my wheelchair holding my hands up to show fingerless wheelchair gloves. we're looking at me from above.
text: when you're choosing what wheelchair to give your character, think of both their disability and their resources and go from there. questions to ask yourself: is it made specifically for them or is it mass-produced or a hand-me-down (if it's custom, the seat will not be too wide or narrow in comparison to their body and their feet will rest on the footplate naturally). do they want more stability (further back back wheels, big caster wheels) or maneuverability (the inverse). do they need a pressure relieving cushion? how long are they using their wheelchair per day? how long have they needed a wheelchair? Do they have health insurance? do they have access to a lot of spending money? How much can they spend on their wheelchair? are they athletic etc etc
posing steps:
step one: a sketch of two people standing up. one just shows the outline of a person's body, with legs that are ind of triangle shaped, the other shows a sketched pelvis and rib cage to go along with the bones of the legs and arm. text: step one: Most people have this sketch anatomy they put before drawing their characters for real. I kind of scribble around like on the left, but some people use skeletons on the right.
step two: there are now too sketched pictures of people in wheelchairs. one shows lightly traced human form (arms articulated, curve for a stomach, legs that are kind of triangle shaped and pointing down) sitting in a wheelchair that is just the sketch of footrests and wheels. the other sketch shows the sketch of a body with a circle for hips and an oval for a rib cage and the person doing a wheelie (lifting the front end of the wheelchair off the ground and leaning back). their wheelchair is also sketched out and defined by a circle for their wheels and 2 lines, 1 of the seat and 1 for the backrest. text: you need one of those for your wheelchair character. important: they should have both the person's main anatomy features (Usually upper body and at least hips) and the wheelchair's. for me, these are the back wheels, footrest, and seat. why simplify to just those features? Take a look at this incredibly quickly drawn wheelchair.
step three: there is a lineart drawing of a manual wheelchair with slightly cambered (angled towards the seat) wheels, a backrest, and a footrest. the frame is light and there are no handlebars. there are labels pointing to different parts of the wheelchair: Backrest, handrims, wheel, axle, seat, footrest, and caster wheels (the ones in front). text: there are a lot of parts, and not all of them are essential to your pose. trying to draw the whole thing straight out of the gate will frustrate you.'
step four text: take a character in heavy armor: if you draw her pose without taking her armor into account, her armor will clip through her body. if you draw a wheelchair using character without keeping her wheelchair in mind from the beginning, the pose won't make sense.
step four image: next we see two lineart drawings of different characters. one is a bulky woman wearing plate armor. her hand is on her hip and she is trying to scratch her back with the other hand. there is the label "shoudlerpad clips through face" and "thumb clips through chestplate." the next drawing shows a woman in a wheelchair with one foot rested on her knee and her arms rested back, such that they would be rested on the back of a regular chair, but the back of her wheelchair is not wide enough for them to actually be resting on anything. the text here reads "elbows not resting on anything" and "foot not on footplate"
step five: there are two images, one is lineart on top of a 3d modelled apartment with sketchup, the other is a colored in version of that lineart with the background also colored in and no longer a 3d modelled screencap two characters, one old woman wearing a green jacket and one younger woman wearing a white shirt and blue undershirt, are sitting on a couch. the old woman is leaning forward and the young woman is resting her arm on the couch. behind the young woman is a bookshelf.
step five text: you may say you'll just draw the chair first and then the person, but while that works for regular furniture, it doesn't work as well for most manual wcs. take this comic panel with characters on a couch for example - I 3d modeled the room and then drew the characters on the furniture. it works because you don't move furniture in most poses - you rest on it. but your wheelchair needs to move with you, especially if it's an ultralight one.
step six image: there is a flat color drawing of barbara gordon in her wheelchair. she is wearing a black sportsbra and black shorts. in the first image we see she is doing tricks in her chair, zooming through the air (as if she has just launched herself off the ground in a skater park or somethign) while her left hand is resting on a structure and her right hand is heading towards the right handrim. the next image shows her right hand planted on the ground and her chair and body above her, such that she is briefly doing a one-handed handstand, but the motion line indicates that she is moving and this will not last. her left arm is near the handrim of her left wheel.
text: take exercise Oracle - she is doing tricks. Her WC is an extension of her body. That is crucial to getting natural looking manual wheelchair users after posing.
step seven: we see a lineart drawing of paula from young justice. she is sitting in a standard manual wheelchair with high armrests (goes up to the bottom of her ribs probably) and a high backrest (goes up to just below her shoulderblades). she is setting her hand on the armrest, leaning forward, and holding her other hand out.
text: of course, there are exceptions - if you have a clunky WC, it is harder to move with your body. Take Paula from young Justice - here, i drew her resting her hand on her armrest, because she has a clunker wheelchair. her pose is already mostly static - she's sitting down - and she poses around that.
one time i told a guy with a huge punisher decal on his car that i loved the punisher but that i'm too scared to have any of his merch because in the current political climate i wouldn't want people to think i support killing police and the man had. no response whatsoever. he was smiling and completely frozen in place. i'd never seen anyone bluescreen that hard
prev wondering abt the amount of guts it takes to do this: the trick is to come off as incredibly sincere and kinda airheaded. now, crucially, i'm 4'11 and very cute so certain types of people already expect me to fit a very specific character type, and these techniques might not be as effective for others. but that's why i weaponize them on everyone's behalf
Further analysis here but the reason cops like him is that he represents the fantasy of what cops want. His actions are never called into question, he never has to answer to anyone, and he is most of the time justified. You really dont want your police to be the Punisher, but cops always want to be the punisher
Look y'all, this reveal means so much to me. So many times in movies these days there are big reveals for the audience’s benefit that mean absolutely nothing in the context of the story or to the characters in it. I’m talking the Thanos cameo in the Avengers’ stinger, I’m talking Benedict CumberKhan in Star Trek, I’m talking about every hackneyed “This character is actually this other character” when in universe nobody knows nor cares about their true identity.
But here? This reveal? This is a Big Reveal for us, Peter B Parker, and Miles, all on different levels. We and Peter both know Doc Ock is a portly dude, not a woman. We know the name Octavius… Otto Octavius. But when she says her name is Olivia Octavius we’re clued in to the fact that Doctor Octopus is a woman in this universe. And she has Peter captive.
Miles, if he was paying attention in science class earlier in the movie, would have known her name was Olivia Octavius, but that doesn’t mean anything to him, why would it? Liv has apparently been very good about keeping her supervillainy a secret. She’s in educational videos shown in high-schools. So to Miles, the reveal here is this scientist lady, who he knew enough about to know was the head scientist at Alchemax, is a supervillain. He gets the reveal a second or two after Peter.
And the movie? It was dropping hints the entire time, confident in our expectations blinding is to the truth. Olivia’s name was partially visible when Miles got to science class. Her glasses are octagonal. The lights in her lab are octagonal. We know she’s working with the Kingpin. Why wouldn’t she be a supervillain? Because she’s hot? Hell, Peter even says he needs to reexamine his internal biases. Maybe he was telling us that we should too.
It’s a reveal for us, and for our heroes. It means something, both in-universe and out. And that makes it infinitely better than other similar reveals.
I keep trying to draft out a post about batgirl 2000 and David Cain and getting caught up on my real life knowledge of how profoundly horrific language deprivation is for children's emotional and relational development. :(
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