Breathe Truth

Can you paint with all the colooooors ooooof the wiiiiiiinnnnd~

Oooh. You know. DC. Sometimes... you can be really epic. Thanks for the inspiration.

By Joe... I think I did it. This is Harseik's Wonder Woman 3.0, and it looks like it might stick. <3 I'm very, very happy with this. There was a while there where I was struggling drawing her face and I was like, "this is going to be a disaster - maybe I should scrap this". Two Steps From Hell kept me from throwing it away.

Apparently I can't help but apply an updraft to her hair every time I draw her. xD For the people who don't know me much, I like drawing guys way more, so I can't believe there's finally a woman in my life that I actually like drawing often.

This would be one of those times where I wish I could sculpt! Ah well, that's a beach rock she's standing on... except there's ice on it. ... Hm. STILL COOL I GUESS.

Ideally, I would've made the flag around her waist far more spangly... but stars are really hard to draw, you know? ;_; J-just pretend they're there.

Eef you, manly feet. I can never get you right.

The title was taken from Two Steps From Hell's "Breathe", from their SkyWorld album, which I was listening to the whole time drawing this. Click the link to listen. Maybe it'll enhance it, I dunno. [link]

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Okay, I'm going to try explaining why Diana has been so dramatically changed from her previous incarnation, the image located here: [link] When I drew that, I had yet to do any research on the character, and I felt that if I made her more like a battle-hardened tomboy, albeit with a naive air, then she'd become interesting enough for me to play with her. Well, while writing out a profile for Diana for the fancomic I'm working on, I started to ask myself, "who the heck is Wonder Woman?" Because seriously, the few comics that I have with her in it and the animated features didn't help at all. Did she even have a personality? I finally got curious enough to look her up on Google. The info was difficult to come by, but I finally came across a few articles that really opened me up to Diana's character.

Many of the changes are due to this vital piece of information: Her strength doesn't derive from having male qualities. It derives from her womandom. Her ability to love and be tender. She's strong because she's feminine. Her equipment, all of which are entirely defensive in nature, reflect traits usually associated with females (whereas offense is in the male spectrum, ideally). What separates Wonder Woman from many of the women in our world is her lack of submission to the notion that women are weaker than men, and her penchant for being dominating and completely free to express herself, whereas Man's World women are encouraged to be reserved. Diana is mighty proud of being a woman. She'll give you kisses, wear gaudy earrings, and clothe herself flamboyantly whenever she gosh darn well feels like. Thankfully she's been omitted of some female weaknesses, like acting over emotional, or... getting moody. LoL

One thing I like so much about her is her ability to be playful, curious, extroverted, and unafraid to try new things much like a child, yet she's also dutiful and disciplined, keeping true to the teachings of Aphrodite. I think she's just plain fascinating. Exotic!

Regarding the bracelets, I realized that making them cover the entire forearm or making them look like shinguards undermines their original meaning. In truth they are supposed to look like the shackles the Amazons were forced to wear back when they were slaves, so these bracelets serve as reminders of their past mistakes and their newfound allegiance to Aphrodite. Also, making them too big detracts from her allure and would be too clunky to hide under civvies, since the Amazons are forbidden from ever taking them off.

I changed the "metal laurels" back into a tiara so she can take it off and throw it at people a lot easier. Urhur. The red star is also an important cultural symbol for the Amazons. I didn't want to part her from that.

There's more to it, but I'd rather I didn't bore you at all. Here are the basics of who she is. :]