[Grandmaster]

Considering the position she's in, she could do worse than getting "winged"…

Speaking of getting it worse, the muscular villain Khimaera does some heinous things to people starting in issue 53!

[Grandmaster]

Surely in the case of Chun Li, the disproportionate size is to emphasize where her strength lies. Plus, more men objectify and lust after (or simply notice) women's legs and buttocks more than their arms (which may be another reason the manga artists draw the big boo-tays)…

[Grandmaster]

I've noticed some of the manga artists draw big butts for their muscular and fit women. Why do they do that?

Are you talking about realistic drawings or cartoony, exaggerated growth drawings?

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the human body, and as part of the gluteal group (sounds like the name of a financial advisor the aforementioned Sir Mix-Alot would patronize) it is one of the strongest, serving to keep your trunk erect…so it's more logical that drawings of expanded women of a fantasy nature have big butts. It certainly makes more sense than the over-sized breasts.

Do you think that since Japanese people are not known for prominent buttocks, that manga artists should ignore the possibilities?

I think the only reason you don't see more muscle artists drawing big butts (as evidenced by previous responses) is because they don't particularly like them as much as t*ts.

[Grandmaster]

does it seem orange? i've tried to colour her as a "light-black" girl…

I assumed it was meant to be a light brown, but yes, it comes across as orange on my monitor. Are you using "web-safe colors"?

[Grandmaster]

Is the skin intended to be orange?

[Grandmaster]

It looks interesting and I'm thinking about ordering it but I don't want to waste my money, so I want somebody elses opinion on it. 😉

What did you decide, Jay?

[Grandmaster]

I have both titles.

Modern Amazons, from 2002, represents the more recent style of photography that's on Bill Dobbin's website today. For pretty much the price of the book (used), you could join the online gallery and see more photos than in either of these books. Of course, that's a monthy fee. I suggest you browse the site. This will give you a pretty good idea of what you'd be getting in the latest book (although the most recently uploaded photos aren't from the beginning of the decade, obviously–and like an good artist, Dobbins's style has evolved).

These are the women in Modern Amazons (MA):

Nicole Bass
Laura Binetti
Andrulla Blanchette
Chris Bongiovanni
Th-Resa Bostick
Yvette Bova
Michelle Bradley
Monica Brandt
Cynthia Bridges
Sharon Bruneau
Ursula Buckanes-Henry
Tatianna Butler
Chris Cander
Valentina Chepiga
Melissa Coates
Robin Coleman
Tazzie Colomb
Deborah Compton
Laura Creavalle
Danijela Crevar
Leilani Dalumpines
Toni Dee
Latia del Riviero
Dina de la Llana
Amber Deluca
Diana Dennis
Beate Draebing
Desirée Ellis
Astrid Falconi
Melissa Frabbiele
Colette Guimond
Bethany Howlett
Yolanda Hughes
Trudy Ireland
Summer Kalish
Ericca Kern
Joanne Lee
Lesa Lewis
Timea Majorova
Janet Marchi
Sharon Marvel
Denise Masino
Debi Massey
Rachel McLish
Lenda Murray
Karla Nelsen
Yaxeni Oriquen
Shelly Paolinetti
Betty Pariso
Cathy Priest
Tyra Risby
Mona Roberts
Nicole Rollolazo
Christine Roxx
Martha Sanchez
Stacy Simons
Viviana Soldano
Heather Tristany
Michelle Tuggle
Marietta Zigalova

If you weren't into female bodybuilding in the early '90's, you may not see any favorites in The Women (TW), which is a 1994 publication:

Erika Andersch
Michelle Bradley
Sharon Bruneau
Kim Chizevsky
Laura Creavalle
Leilani Dalumpines
Diana Dennis
Bev Francis
Nikki Fuller
Sue Gafner
Carey Hensley
Dorothy Herndon
Raye Hollitt
Yolanda Hughes
Suzan Kaminga
Drorit Kernes
Debbie Kruck
Anja Langer
Joanne Lee
Lesa Lewis
Debbie Muggli
Lenda Murray
Sha-Ri Pendleton
Sue Price
Latia del Riviero
Denise Rutkowski
Heather Tristany
Hannie van Aken

Thumbing through the books quickly, I see:

There are more B&W photographs in TW than in MA.
TW has more pages with multiple photos per page.
TW suffers (my personal evaluation) from too much white space.
TW is almost exclusively studio shots. MA has more location shoots.
MA has larger images, more pages total, and more (and mostly) full-bleed pages (the images extend to the edge of the book page).

The photos in MA run a wider gamut of locales, body parts, and themes than TW's, but neither collection focuses on bland stage-poses (whether shot in a studio or the desert), but "contortion" to show the physique's dimensionality, and the semblence of movement of the body. There are very few "pretty" faces or come-hither looks, and they are not pornographic (in the Muscle Elegance sense).

I hope this is helpful.

grand

[Grandmaster]

Very amusing! 😆 I like the simple, unmuddied color, too!

grand

[Grandmaster]

Thanks for the link, Fett!

grand

[Grandmaster]

Thank you everyone for your comments! I wanted this drawing to express something about the characters and their personalities, without adding any biographical text–I hope that's coming through.

By chance, is there a bit more of a story on this picture?

That's up to Airnel. It's all his story. Ask 'im.

…or possibly a growth scene?

As we say at my house: "Maybeeee…maaaaybe…"

…What's with the bandaid?

Luningning's knee wasn't registering as a knee to me, so I added the Band-Aid to emphasize…knee. (No Holy Grail jokes, please.)

grand

[Author]

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