I got shit-faced last night, and somehow this happened. It's a pretty familiar story.
Sorshen is (c) Paizo Publishing. All rights reserved and all that stuff.
Got a question for Our Lady of Lust? Feel free to Ask Sorshen: [link]
No question turned down, but many questions will be mocked, so ask yourself: am I smarter than a multi-thousand-year-old wizard queen? The answer is most assuredly no.
A bit of trivia, Sorshen's Guisarme was meant to have two blades on one end rather than one on each end. James Jacobs doesn't like double weapons and blames the timing of the Phantom Menace trailer.
Me, I'm neutral about the whole deal, but loving your fanart. Pity Sorshen's ask blog isn't getting any visitors besides me...
She probably shows up naked a lot more than is illustrated, but that's because Paizo can't put a bunch of boobies in their books without losing customers.
Personally, I'm only turned off by gratuitous nudity. Since there's every reason for Sorshen to be depicted in various states of undress, I can't really bring myself to find anything offensive about any such depictions, and indeed, find it a little offensive that some people are too prudish to accept that. But yes, I do totally agree with you, many publishers overuse nudity and skimpy outfits, and I absolutely love what they did for Seelah, giving her an outfit that looks like real armour, without sacrificing femininity in the least. (Also fond of Kyra's design.)
That's why the first art piece I did for her was a fanservice deal. Especially since a lot of the in-game descriptions of her statuary specifically said she was nude. Hell, the first "image" we had of her was from the side of the Sunken Queen, where she's clearly nude, but also far enough away so no detail is obvious.
I know Paizo aims for primarily a PG-13 audience for several reasons. First off, a lot of wee ones play the game (my 9-year-old stepdaughter being one), and roleplaying games shouldn't need to lead into sex ed. Second off, as their toe dip into "Mature" content showed with the Book of Vile Darkness sealed adventure in Dungeon, some folks just won't cotton to no noodie bitz in their gaming materials, and scaring off a section of people otherwise happy to throw money at you is a bad business plan. That said, they do push the envelope in a few very positive ways, and I'm glad to see a gender-progressive company in a field that is often pretty regressive.
The chainmail bikini concept of female armor always drove me up a Goddamn wall. Sure, in some games, impractical armor makes the setting (Dark Sun all but requires people to run around looking like they picked their armor out of a post-apocalyptic trash can). But in a classic sword & sorcery game setting, people should dress practical for their profession, and in the case of front-line combat types, that's practical armor designs.
'Course, the back-row spellcasters are pretty free to dress like fops or harlots all they want, I suppose.
And one of the reasons I love your designs is exactly that: you dress people in practical armour/clothing that looks like stuff someone would actually wear... EVEN when it's somewhat more 'fan-service-y' pieces like your palette cleanse depiction of Xa. Most of the more ridiculous (regressive) designs out there are things I can't imagine actually being able to wear without liberal usage of super glue to get it to stick to my body. Not so with most of your (or most of Paizo's artists') designs.
It's a big selling point for Paizo for me, too. I've been tooling around in Paizo-land so long, I actually get shocked when one of the many insulting comments/games/designs drifts into my gaming worldview. I keep forgetting that not every gaming company (indeed very very few) are like Paizo in that regard.
And I thank you for your praise. That might be the most flattering thing anyone's said about my art, actually. Even though I love to do silly fanservice doodles, those are intentionally designed to be taken with a grain of goofball salt.
Cool robe, like that one. The face has a bit of a certain "Voldemort" but still good. Shoes could be a bit more elegant than what you do normally. Today she would probably be wearing Paolo Mano high heels or something other very elegant and expensive but also sexy i think.
Me, I'm neutral about the whole deal, but loving your fanart. Pity Sorshen's ask blog isn't getting any visitors besides me...
One of our PCs is now inside a Sorshen clone, so I might get a chance to re-do her in something more fun.
I know Paizo aims for primarily a PG-13 audience for several reasons. First off, a lot of wee ones play the game (my 9-year-old stepdaughter being one), and roleplaying games shouldn't need to lead into sex ed. Second off, as their toe dip into "Mature" content showed with the Book of Vile Darkness sealed adventure in Dungeon, some folks just won't cotton to no noodie bitz in their gaming materials, and scaring off a section of people otherwise happy to throw money at you is a bad business plan. That said, they do push the envelope in a few very positive ways, and I'm glad to see a gender-progressive company in a field that is often pretty regressive.
The chainmail bikini concept of female armor always drove me up a Goddamn wall. Sure, in some games, impractical armor makes the setting (Dark Sun all but requires people to run around looking like they picked their armor out of a post-apocalyptic trash can). But in a classic sword & sorcery game setting, people should dress practical for their profession, and in the case of front-line combat types, that's practical armor designs.
'Course, the back-row spellcasters are pretty free to dress like fops or harlots all they want, I suppose.
And I thank you for your praise. That might be the most flattering thing anyone's said about my art, actually. Even though I love to do silly fanservice doodles, those are intentionally designed to be taken with a grain of goofball salt.
Shoes could be a bit more elegant than what you do normally. Today she would probably be wearing Paolo Mano high heels or something other very elegant and expensive but also sexy i think.