Classic-Castle.com

I've been getting into designing decals for custom minifigs, and in researching techniques used by others, I've noticed that people often design female torsos to be much skinnier than male ones. A good example is the Rise of Atlantis faction theme presented on the Classic Castle main site--the male torso designs fill up the entire trapezoid, but the female ones are pinched in quite a bit. I understand that super-svelte figures are currently in fashion for women, but the official LEGO female minifigs don't have this look, just a slight inward curve at the waistline, and it doesn't make them look fat...it makes them look like LEGO minifigs. They match the male figures, in other words. The super-skinny designs look...odd, to say the least. And it seems like a waste of design space that is none too abundant to begin with.

Is there some other reason custom female minifig designs tend to get this treatment? Am I being overly sensitive? I guess it just seems weird to me that custom designers would go out of their way to create such a mismatched look.

Hi, before I'm comfortable diving into this topic I'd love for you to show us some examples of exactly what you mean. I think I know what you mean but if you had some examples that could make the debate that much better.

Okay, you asked for it...

http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... antis.html

http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... ndead.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roaglaansc ... 729849536/

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=266438

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sirdano/23 ... 725289086/

To be fair, not everyone does it. But when they do, it's really noticeable.

My guess is simply some people like that look over other looks. Some also do very, very real decals, some very cartoony looking ones, while I prefer the more official lego-like look. Just different tastes in how they want their legoverse to look.

I myself agree with you, that they look toooo thin to my eyes, but then again it is just my own opinion.

Maybe if I made some dryads or something.... I don't know.

Heir

these skinny ones may look stupid with offical lego legs.

Hmmm...I don't think your being overly sensitive but I wish I had a better answer than 'it's the supermodel effect and modern convention requires that women be size zero.' but I don't really think that's it at all. I like the way TLG does it and gives them a lovely curve. There are a ton of great dude bashing jokes but I don't feel like going off on that tangent today.

Perhaps in the examples you show, the designer felt that a super thin silhouette might lend to the aura of an alien race -- I don't know. Overall it strikes me that these are only one designer's ideas, and that there are numerous other designs floating around that have silhouettes that are more typically Lego-ey. It is interesting, though, that among the official Lego female minifigs, there is actually quite a variety of female torsos. Even in several instances where you might expect two figures to be similar, they actually have quite different outlines. And some are notably slimmer than others.

Compare:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=cas207
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=pi086
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=cas416
...or:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=cas122
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=pi056
...and:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=sw026
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=pop003
...etc...
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=cas034
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=sw070
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=fbr002

The torso decals that you see in my BS folder were the templates from CC that Sava provided. I'm not trying to pass blame, but I do like my female figures to be skinnier than my male figures. The ones you see in my folder however when printed out just do not look good. The bodies are too skinny and the head looks odd because it is too big. I have since widened the female torso's I make by quite a bit. I think alot of it is a case of just having the scale wrong with the actual decal.

Now this on the other hand is a custom torso by Arealight. From what I've seen in his flickr, the proportions look good. Not too skinny, yet enough curve to signify a difference.

Blame this official Lego fig. Sava's skinny female torsos use the same dimensions. Maybe they felt it necessary to trim the waistline so that the cloak wouldn't cover it... but yeah, it doesn't look right.

http://www.bricklink.com/ML/cas207.jpg?0

Thanks for the replies and insights, guys. It occurs to me that the default LEGO torso isn't a very flattering figure for women...but neither is it very flattering for men, what with the waist being much broader than the shoulders.

I think you're right, sidewinder--the super-thin female designs are derived from the lady with the keys. It looks a little less weird on her, probably because the edges of the robe fill in the rest of the design, and then the skirt piece matches up. Some of the older "corset" designs also look okay even with a much tighter waist because, well, it's a corset and it's only to be expected. But in general, I think I prefer a much subtler indication of femininity. I've been having fun working on some 1920s-inspired designs for just that reason.

Karalora wrote: I've been having fun working on some 1920s-inspired designs for just that reason.

Sounds interesting. I hope you'll give us a glimpse of your designs at some point.

They're posted to my Brickshelf account. My name is the same there as it is here.