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The Unexpected Bashfulness of Charity Cheeger
10 years ago
General
The cover for issue four of Rough Housing went up today ( http://roughhouse.suburbanjungle.com/comic/issue-four-final-cover/ ), and I’m quite pleased with it, but I also noticed something about it on reflection.
For a comic ostensibly set on the beach as an excuse for me to draw beefcake/cheesecake, there has been precious little cake in it. With the possible exception of Langley in her “Hello Kitty” underwear, this is probably the most fanservicey image from the comic so far.
I also noticed for the first time just how bashful Charity is. I mean yeah, in the original issue 1 cover (which looks so sparse now compared to the final version with Langley, Roxie, and Parker in it) she’s wearing a shirt over her swimsuit, but that was intended as something of a tease. In the issue four cover, she is explicitly hiding behind Langley so as to not be seen in her bikini.
Honestly… I was not expecting this of Charity. I mean, she was never intended to be an exhibitionist, but my original conception of her was that she was very much a chip off the ol’ block of her mother Comfort, who was anything ( http://suburbanjungleclassic.com/?p=2349 ) but shy ( http://suburbanjungleclassic.com/?p=1224 )! Charity was supposed to be bouncy, exuberant, and fun-loving… but as the story evolved she has ended up serious-minded, high-strung, suffering from a deep-seated need to live up to… something, and even a bit prudish.
This is the kind of thing I mean when I say that strong characters often go off in their own directions. Being in the role of “boss who has to whip the hotel into shape” almost requires Charity to be a more serious-minded character, because if she was just another party girl she’d get lost in the mix. Certainly I can’t see Comfort coming in and kicking Langley out of the manager’s bedroom; but Comfort also wouldn’t take on a managerial role, on the grounds of “What fun is that?”
As for my unexpected recent reluctance to draw fanservice… I have no idea what that’s about. I used to love to draw beefcake and cheesecake both, and I was always rather proud of drawing what I considered to be “empowering fanservice,” which showed happy and confident subjects who were in the picture because they wanted to show off. Now I’m just not comfortable with it, and I can’t figure out why. Maybe it’s that with the proliferation of porn to the near-exclusion of other things, the idea of fanservicey art just sorta seems like a quaint relic of time gone by? Who’s gonna care about characters posing in swimsuits when there’s “YCH orgy” pictures all over the place? Or maybe it’s my own attitudes towards sex and sexuality being out of synch with the world around me that’s making me want to just avoid the topic all together?
I dunno. Obviously I have my own issues to deal with, just as much as Charity has hers.
-The Gneech
For a comic ostensibly set on the beach as an excuse for me to draw beefcake/cheesecake, there has been precious little cake in it. With the possible exception of Langley in her “Hello Kitty” underwear, this is probably the most fanservicey image from the comic so far.
I also noticed for the first time just how bashful Charity is. I mean yeah, in the original issue 1 cover (which looks so sparse now compared to the final version with Langley, Roxie, and Parker in it) she’s wearing a shirt over her swimsuit, but that was intended as something of a tease. In the issue four cover, she is explicitly hiding behind Langley so as to not be seen in her bikini.
Honestly… I was not expecting this of Charity. I mean, she was never intended to be an exhibitionist, but my original conception of her was that she was very much a chip off the ol’ block of her mother Comfort, who was anything ( http://suburbanjungleclassic.com/?p=2349 ) but shy ( http://suburbanjungleclassic.com/?p=1224 )! Charity was supposed to be bouncy, exuberant, and fun-loving… but as the story evolved she has ended up serious-minded, high-strung, suffering from a deep-seated need to live up to… something, and even a bit prudish.
This is the kind of thing I mean when I say that strong characters often go off in their own directions. Being in the role of “boss who has to whip the hotel into shape” almost requires Charity to be a more serious-minded character, because if she was just another party girl she’d get lost in the mix. Certainly I can’t see Comfort coming in and kicking Langley out of the manager’s bedroom; but Comfort also wouldn’t take on a managerial role, on the grounds of “What fun is that?”
As for my unexpected recent reluctance to draw fanservice… I have no idea what that’s about. I used to love to draw beefcake and cheesecake both, and I was always rather proud of drawing what I considered to be “empowering fanservice,” which showed happy and confident subjects who were in the picture because they wanted to show off. Now I’m just not comfortable with it, and I can’t figure out why. Maybe it’s that with the proliferation of porn to the near-exclusion of other things, the idea of fanservicey art just sorta seems like a quaint relic of time gone by? Who’s gonna care about characters posing in swimsuits when there’s “YCH orgy” pictures all over the place? Or maybe it’s my own attitudes towards sex and sexuality being out of synch with the world around me that’s making me want to just avoid the topic all together?
I dunno. Obviously I have my own issues to deal with, just as much as Charity has hers.
-The Gneech
And I still have the drawing he made of Tiffany on the beach with only a towel.
Even your fanservice is good, and us droulin phnabois do like it.
-TG
BTW, I'm having a character I created drawn and I'm going to post the pic to my page as soon as it's completed. Like you, I refuse to allow her to be drawn nude or in a porn pose. In fact, she's being drawn in a bikini in the famous Betty Grable pose.
!SetBlushLevel=(Select * as % from Body_Coverage where [(isFurShowing?)= true])
Charity seems to have inherited some of the cheetah high-strungness mixed with the tiger prone-to-drama-ness.
-TG
-TG
Also there's a lot of other things going on in your life which can be causing you to have a different attitude towards things. Plus, aside from Rufo and Langley, none of the others really seem the types to be going around without most of their clothes on. Charity is too serious, Parker seems to have his own issues with his appearance, and Bounce just does not seem like he'd be doing it.
My original idea for Bounce was that he generally went shirtless; not sure how that changed when it came to production. I guess it's just that IRL "bouncers" tend to go for the black shirt uniform. Langley and Rufo are definitely characters who like to strut their stuff, tho!
-TG
I can't tell you the number of times when I start writing a script, and either Dipper or Birch comes along and says, "No, no, no! I wouldn't do that at ALL!! I'd do THIS!!"
It is disconcerting, but an incredible experience.
...well except maybe the lactose-intolerant on the later and vegans on the former
-TG
And I'll not bring up the usual Comfort pantsless jokes
Not sure why you're suddenly less into it, frankly. I know you were never hugely into FA and still aren't, but there's always been so much nudity around here that I would hardly call it a recent proliferation. Granted, you draw more female characters and I don't follow the market on those that closely ^ ^;;
And I don't necessarily want to be "taken seriously," so much as have people care one way or the other. I mean, nobody takes "Love Hina" seriously, but the characters are still very engaging. :)
-TG
Well, "seriously" was perhaps a strong word, but you know what I mean. "Taken more at face value," (literally!) perhaps?
Now I'm sorry I didn't get you to draw my girl Harley during MFF this year. She'd be quite happy visiting a beach, and not at all body-shy. (I created her as a pin-up girl, so she better not be!)
-TG
And I rarely commission two things at the same time -- but when I do it's with the artist's permission and encouragement.
-TG
I also forgot about her moms photo (in the changing room at the pool); it always struck me as odd too, for a clothing optional society.