Long time no see folks! Sorry for delays, last few months have been hectic and has left me little time for personal projects, I’m hoping that will change for 2013. Anyway, here’s a Christmas present for you all, the continuation of my Female Avengers team following my Iron Maiden design I did a while back. Next up Miss America, portrayed by the lovely Alison Brie. I went without the helmet for two reasons, 1 – I couldn’t find an suitable image to fit the direction of the head, and 2 – I just love Alison. ❤
EDIT – Sorry, I noticed a slight error on her arm that I had to fix, all good now. BTW hope to have the next character done in a couple of days – hint she’s blonde. 😉
SECOND EDIT – Next character. Thora
Fan Art Exhibit 
I love this, and I really do not like the Avengers at all!
But why would she not simply be called Captain America?
Merry Christmas to you! : )
I love the image and i love your work however i question the need for the midriff cut on the outfit. i’m not really sure that’s necessary nor is it very protective of that area
Eh, she looks hot.
I think if women ruled the world then making sure that the female superheros looked hot would be further down on the list of priorities than adequate stomach protection.
Complete waste of time and resources. Ludicrous. Typical shrill, irrational, histrionic “grl power” horse sh!t.
Agreed with Brian; if you were going into battle you wouldn’t have your stomach exposed like that.
Geez lighten up people.
As impressive as this is it makes curious to ask, for manips like these do you use the wrap tool or do you paintbrush on the pictures from scratch?
Combination of both.
I really liked the video you made….made me understand a bit how you do that… it’s AMAZING! congrats you have talent! btw what is the original picture of alison?
It’s a shot of her as Annie Edison from Community holding a gun.
Nice work! Beautiful execution. It’s asuperhero world, so her abs are stronger than any armor plating man can produce. people need to lighten up. Superheroes rock!
hahahahaha…some of you people. Great image. anyone complaining or griping, stfu and make something of your own.
I really don’t see why she has to have her midriff exposed like that. How can she possibly fight if she doesn’t have adequate protection? That’s what the suit is for, and if she’s exposed like that, she’s as good as dead.
I really don’t see why she has to have her midriff exposed like that. How can she possibly fight if she doesn’t have adequate protection? That’s what the suit is for, and if she’s exposed like that, she’s as good as dead.
Everyone complaining about the mid-rff how about lightening up a little bit? It’s not real.
Yeah!
The exposed midriff is silly!
Just look at Conan!
He has a…ummm…loin cloth….
Or Sub-Mariner! He wears…ummmm…fish scale speedos…
Or Hulk! He has…torn pants…
Tarzan…loin cloth again….darn….
Josh, you’re completely missing the point of why people have an issue with your rendition of the ‘Miss’ America costume. It’s not because they have no sense of humour or that they are boring people; it’s that sexism in comics and related media is rampant and unapologetic. Women in comics are drawn in sexualized poses, wear sexualized costumes, often both, as a way to appeal to the straight bro-dude comic book fans. Drawing or rendering a female hero unnecessarily in revealing clothing is sexist, and people are perfectly within their rights to call you out on that.
You know I could have easily made her more revealing had I wished, had her cleave out , gave her some sexy underwear, but I didn’t, you all know there are a crap load of female superhero images out there that are far more sexualized than this. The truth of the matter is the reason I used a midriff is because I couldn’t find a suitable image of Captain America’s mid-section to manipulate on top of the body, so this became a compromise. If people are so bent out of about a slightly exposed mid-section I suggest you compare her to some of the other female superhero images out there, if anything this is conservative. So how about we lighten up a bit, it’s not like Captain America’s suit was bulletproof to begin with.
Chiming in with some others here. Why is her midriff exposed? Why would she not still be CAPTAIN America?
See Above. As for the name, I just feminized it for the sake of this series, although she’d still be a captain.
Why does it HAVE to be feminized? I don’t understand. Enlighten me, please.
Because I’ve given feminized names to all the gender swap pieces I’ve done. It’s not a big deal.
It is a big deal. You’re perpetuating misogynist ideals, whether you intend to or not. You’ve created something, and you’ve just told me that because she’s a woman, because “feminizing” is something you did with your other pieces, that she cannot have the rank of Captain.
That is not what I said Megan. I even said to you ‘she’d still be a captain’. For the sake of the series I’ve called her Miss America, that is all, you can either accept that or not, I don’t really care.
How about Stephanie Rogers then… that is the feminized version of the name Stephen Rogers. : )
^ You read my mind. 🙂
Hey @Megan, try not to have your head explode with the following images.
This rendition was tasteful as far as the realm of design goes for female superheroes. Instead of perceiving this characterization as the strong archetype that it is, you have to go ballistic with the ball stomping extreme feminism bit. Give it a break.
Also, learn English.
@Brian, like it or not Megan does have some points and she made them fairly without being insulting.
Josh stated his reasons why he did what he did and he is an extremely skilled and talented artist, and his renderings are always tasteful. I am big fan of his work.
Megan has a right to query what has been presented, and despite what you said Feminism is not “ball stomping.” or about “ball stomping”
Yes there are some really sexist tasteless pap out there in comparison, but because there is please do not use it as reason for Megan to be grateful for that is truly condescending.
I think supermans wearing his underwear outside of his suit is sexist too. Why is it different when its only a woman?
I think everyone needs to get a hold of themselves and stop with all the red tape. Draw your own.version of a female captain America in a nuns habbit.
Lets not start getting narky at one and other, I don’t want to start censoring comments. People have the right to voice their opinions, I’ve given my reasons for what I did, people can either accept that or not.
You can still call her “Captain America”, since it’s a non-gender specific rank. Maybe the midriff thing is because the suit doesn’t breathe? Otherwise awesome.
Wow, some people need to chill. Good job on the image.
@Hepburn3
Feminism is not about “ball stomping” but note the prefacing of “extremist” usually does involve some degree of that, figuratively, sometimes literally.
Also, don’t platform your own conclusions through my point blank post. RE: “please do not use it as reason for Megan to be grateful for that is truly condescending.” Those are your words, not mine.
If you’re not as equally prepared to take a grain of abrasiveness on the internet, then this is not the place for you.
@ Brian I did qualify what you said because you gave comparisons to Meagan to show her that there are “worse” Images.
And telling me that the internet is not the place for me because I said something in response to what you wrote? That is a tad condescending.
I only used what you gave me, and you should heed what you say as well.
peace and let us end this discussion.
thanks ever so.
Note the alpha male bro dude in his natural habitat – belittling women (and their issues with sexism) on the internet! You sir are a true hero.
Calm down people.
@Brian I have made my feelings on this piece known, I will not continue to harp on it. I don’t see why her midriff had to be exposed, nor do I entirely agree with her being relabeled as Miss America as opposed to Captain America. I have expressed this to the artist, and he replied with a great deal more tact than you have.
All that being said, I do give Josh kudos because it takes a remarkable amount of talent to render such an image (I have little to no artistic merit, so I can only marvel at those who do). While I don’t agree with some of the things he has taken artistic licence with, I can appreciate some of what he has done here.
If you would like to continue this conversation elsewhere, we certainly can. But I will not flood Josh’s comment page with a back and forth over my “ball busting feminism.”
@Hepburn3
Megan cited Josh’s work as “misogynist”, dictionaries define misogyny as ‘hatred of women’. His work, along with examples I provided are hardly drawn in comparison to that ideal.
Your initial defense supports that fact, and the nature of my response is only to that of yours; what you’re considering of me, you’ve displayed all along.
I’m not going to further entertain this petty qualm, it’s filling up the page with banter, and at the end of the day the point some can agree upon is that Josh is talented and tasteful in his work.
Good-day.
@Brian… Egads.
@Megan
See my last, citing Josh’s efforts as “misogynist” hardly supports your words of endearment to his work.
Stating you will not continue to harp on your position, then immediately doing so afterwards, really drives it back. Everyone will not agree with you, and certainly don’t have to appease to your emotions while doing so.
To portray a female protagonist as a vision of strength is a proper nod to the image they were created in. Blame social development and media perception for the identification of demeaning efforts if you choose to.
At the end of the day, perception of these images is to cite them as individual they were characterized to – honor, loyalty, sacrifice; red, white, blue – identifying them as their own, whether by image, or name.
Kudos to the creator, takes a great deal of patience to deal with the efforts involved.
Alright, I’m putting a halt to this conversation. I’m not publishing the next comment in regards feminism or misogyny. It’s over.
Side note – I’d like to apologize to Alison Brie for the influx of @ reply messages she’s getting on her Twitter account in regards to my manip of her. Sorry Miss Brie.
Happy New Year and a big hug.
Don’t know if this comment will be posted, but I thought it’s worth a shot.
I like the pic. The artist is clearly talented, and there are far more sexualized female comic images out there every day. I think that maybe part of the issue here is the title – “If women ruled the world.” Because really, if women ruled the world, she’d be wearing real armor, not a midi shirt. And her title wouldn’t be “feminized.”
I’m not offended at all by the artwork, but I can see why implying that this is what the character would look like if women were in charge could be seen as insulting to some. Clearly, the reason that she’s drawn this way is because MEN are in charge.
These are gorgeous and extremely skilled depictions. I know they were meant simply as fun fan art, but really Josh you should feel proud that the work you have done has started some important conversations about how we depict both male and female heroes. I wonder if your name was Janice or Megan’s was Mark if the conversation would change. This is good, well crafted, thoughtful work And –even if unintentionally– potentially important. Keep it up!
Seriously Brian, just stop talking.
Josh, your work is awesome. Extremely skilled photoshop stuff going on here.
Like others who have commented before, I am not crazy about changing her from Captain America to Miss America, because it’s a little infantilizing. I understand why you did it, but since it’s gender-neutral, I personally would have preferred that you didn’t. It obviously wasn’t intended as a slight, but to some of us, it seemed to suggest that her gender defined her rather than her rank. I think a good compromise would have been to just title the piece as Captain America, Stephanie Rogers. And the midriff, while by no stretch as bad as most other female super hero costumes, is clearly impractical since her suit contains body armor, and exposing skin would really not be a priority for the wholesome American hero. I realize that sexualizing the ladies’ outfits is just a standard part of female superhero fair, but it’s part of a tradition that’s sexist and reductive. So long story short, I get why you did what you did, and the art work is amazing. But just things to think about going forward. Challenge the status quo, Josh. I believe in you.
Annies Boobs….
Having read through all the comments, I feel like there are some fairly crucial points that people have failed to make. Before I begin though, let it be known that I am an ardent supporter of both feminism and comic books.
Anyways, a few points about manips in general. I see gender crossovers all the time, like yesterday there was a really clever photoset called lesbian Disney princesses, wherein stills from many Disney movies had been photoshopped so that all the princes were women. With each new princess, people came up with nicknames for these newly found women, such as Girladdin, and no one threw a fit over the feminized name because they were women. To bring that back to this post, I feel like the artist, in making Captain America a woman, felt it appropriate to change the name accordingly, not because Miss America is at all inferior because of her sex, but a manip deserves a clever title that is a twist on the original name.
As for the semi-sexualized costume, I agree with one commenter that the suit is probably not very breathable. If we’re assuming realistic conditions, the suit would have to allow for a full range of motion to ensure proper hand-to-hand combat technique. Thus, it would be very similar to skintight running clothes, which are rather uncomfortable if they cover too much of the body. So the midriff is bare to allow for maximum breathability, much like women’s running tops typically cover bare their midriff.
Not that it matters anyway though, because both Captain Americas’ armor isn’t bulletproof anyway: his shield is. Captain America is shot and wounded because he missed a bullet with his shield and his suit didn’t protect him. If we’re remaining canon, the artist’s female rendition of Captain America would likewise not be protected by her suit alone, so it wouldn’t matter whether she was covered by it fully or not.
tl;dr
Stay logical and the artist is justified in doing what he did.
i have to /facepalm at the thread of comments here. @ the artist, thanks for the great work and keep it up! who the eff cares if he called her miss america or captain america, just enjoy it and move on. and who the frig cares that her mid-section is uncovered as said above.. Cap always gets injured when he misses something with his shield, the armor is a decoration used to inspire patriotism, not protection.
I love the image. I just have one objection: the title. Miss America is okay, but America Dream is better. Especially since she would make an excellent America Dream from the MC2 universe of Marvel Comics.
There is an Miss America and she is going to be in the new Young Avengers. There is also Valkyrie and Pepper Pott as Rescue.
Her midriff is exposed because Josh couldn’t find a suitable Cap image to use… having spent hours messing in photoshop, these things will happen. Serious, as a feminist I know the difference between subtext and pragmatic decisions. No subtext there. At least she’s not whacking out her back like here http://justsayins.tumblr.com/post/14957660366/this-needs-to-stop-and-let-me-tell-you-why
This is an awesome strong and much needed image for little girls like mine. Avengers with its few women was disappointing. Where was Wasp, at least?
Make them all women, Josh!
Why not call her American Dream, the name of a real Marvel Comics character?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_%28comics%29
I’d just like to say that people justifying the midriff being exposed as unimportant because Cap’s armor doesn’t shield bullet wounds is a little silly. You can see the blood on her stomach. While the armor might not be very protective, considering Cap mainly finds protection in his shield, it seems pretty practical that you’d have it over your stomach anyway. Even if just to shield from dirt that could infect your wounds. That being said, I understand why the artist didn’t add a midriff and I’m not so much upset about that as I am about the people who are being apologists about it.
having read why you decided to go with bare midgrief, i’m only slightly less annoyed. just having seem images of several of the avengers gender flipped, my beef is not primarily in them looking sexualized (and no the fact that most female super heroes are worth is NOT a good excuse)
my beef comes for the fact that both captain america AND Thora you chose to actively change their costumes into showing more skin, looking “sexy” if male Thor and captain America have their bellies and legs covered, why do female equivalents have to have them exposed? (technical issues with cap aside) this is the part that’s sexist, and unequal. its fabulous photomanip from technical standpoint, but I wish you didn’t chose to modify original outfits that heavily, just because they are women. I mean… just look at Sif’s outfit in that very same movie. she’s covered, she’s armored, she’s wearing pants.
this practice of making identical outfits skimpier when worn by females, has been annoying me in video games for years.
and yes I would be just as annoyed if these manips were done by a woman.
Well here is where you are wrong Leah, I didn’t choose to to show more skin for Miss America, it came down to technical limitation I had in finding the right photograph to manipulate. As for Thora, I chose to give Thora a skirt because guess what? Women wear them. Why do that? Oh geez I don’t know, because otherwise I may as well just photoshop a girls head on the male costume. It’s boring. It was nothing about showing more skin, it’s about adapting the costume into something more feminine. As for showing more skin, did you forget during Avengers that Thor for the most part fought with bare arms? Where’s the outcry from that? To be perfectly frank it wouldn’t matter how much I de-sexualize these girls costumes, people would still complain that they are too sexist, either the costume would be too tight or the boobs to big. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but people who think these designs are ‘sexist’ are arguing for the sake of it.
Aw man, LOVE how you used Alison Brie for this one. I mean, I can’t even see it’s not actually her! I’ve seen quite some photo-manipulations already and to this day don’t dare to do ‘m myself in fear of screwing up, but this .. this actually makes me want to try it again. It’s very well done. Even signed in especially to WordPress to write this comment and all. It’s that good. Congrats on a job well done.
Josh, please allow me to say what a great job you did with Miss America, and also let me express my sympathies for all the fallout you’ve had to deal with just because you gave Alison Brie a bare midriff (and Amber Heard a short skirt as Thora). Purists can cry “sexist” and “unrealistic” till they’re blue in the face, but women in the real world have been wearing halter tops and very short skirts for decades now (of there own accord, I should add) and it stands to reason that if super-heroines actually existed, at least a few of them might to choose to dress in a like manner. I think your work is terrific, and if anyone chooses to rake you over the coals just because they don’t go along with all your decisions (be it with costumes or name changes), please don’t let it bother you too much.
GirlGeek’s comment gave me a thought, though: have you considered doing any manipulations based on current or previous Avengers who are already women? Personally, I’d love to see your take on the Wasp or the Scarlet Witch, should you get the time and the inclination to give it a shot. Best of luck to you!
Hi Christopher DC. While I agree that it’s kind of ridiculous the way people have been reacting to the small amount of skin shown, I think your point is a bit off. The reason these people are so upset is not because one artist tried to depict a woman who wore less clothing than her male counterpart. It is because almost every female hero is depicted this way. It’s a bigger problem than just these pieces of work. I strongly believe that a woman can wear whatever she wishes, but I feel like in the realm of heroines it has gone from “can” to “must.”
That being said, it’s hardly the artist’s fault that this is happening and I don’t think this is the right place to argue about it, considering the reasons were explained and he obviously meant no harm. Just wanted to put in my two cents.
Holy Crap Dude! You take a lot of flak for your (outstanding) work!
I would advise your nay-sayers to maybe focus there equality energy on places such as the more extreme parts of the middle east? The masonic lodges perhaps? European sex-trade? Stuff that’s a little more important.
Anyway, the matter at hand (ye can be confused on what that is from the comments) – Excellent work! Coming on Leaps and Bounds from the Dark Night ladies, I look forward to your next set. X-women? Justice League? The Sisterhood of Evil Feminists?
Anyway, keep up the Great Work and don’t let the Man (or Woman) keep ye Down!
I believe some people are arguing for the sake of arguing. Next time just stick her in this to avoid all this banter:
http://www.jumpinjammerz.com/captain-america.html
In more important news, great job on the ps!
I wonder if so many people would complain if you made a female version of Tarzan but didn’t take the artistic liberties to give her a top. Wouldn’t that also be a modification of the original character’s costume? According to a number of the comments on this picture it would be sexist to alter the outfit just because it’s being put on a woman. The same people would complain on the other side of the argument.
Job well done, good sir! Keep up the great work. Now let’s hope miss Brie will sign on for this movie…!
@sinisterbassist As far as I can see, josh has not really been taking much “crap”; most of the ire has actually against people (notably Brian) trying to defend him with rote dudebro responses/attacks. People have acknowledged Josh’s claim to be unable to find a midriff piece to manipulate, though the defense seems weak.
In fact, it’s exactly that sort of kneejerk caustic, denialist response to and hyperbolic misrepresentation of cogent, respectful feminist statements like Megan’s that illustrate how pervasive the problem is. It’s actually been eloquently addressed online by a number of people, male and female, in the past year or so.
As to the name, a good response would have been “She would be called Captain America, but the point of this was to gender-switch the character and I reflected that in the name of title.” Which is something like what Josh in fact said.
But it’s a double problem in this case (unlike “Thora”) because “Miss America” already has a meaning, and it’s specifically of a woman whose primary purpose is to stand around looking pretty, while simultaneously the authority is removed from the name. (There’s a reason “Mr. America” wouldn’t really work so well as “Captain America”)
That said, this is really amazing work. And I suspect that’s a big part of the problem: it could have been just *perfect* if it were not for the one problem of the midriff (and without that, the issue of the name also probably would have been overlooked.)
You’re entitled to your opinion Capt Scorp’yo, however I take umbrage to the supposed ‘weakness’ of my not filling in the mid section. Photo manipulating these type of characters is difficult, it’s not the same as working with a blank piece of paper and a pencil where you can draw whatever the hell you want, these type of artwork pieces are far more restrictive in what you are able to accomplish with them. You’re hand cuffed by several factors, one being finding imagery that matches the body position you’re working with as a base, if the body position is stretching or crunching you’ve got to find images that do the same otherwise it looks strange, on top of that they have to match not only the body position but the lighting direction as well. These aren’t always easy to find, in fact I can spend 2-3 hours sometimes just doing images searching on google or flickr or some photo sharing site. The problem is when I can’t find a piece that I need, I generally have to do a mish-mash of images to get what I want, and that wasn’t an option for Captain America’s outfit given how it’s designed, I needed a specific shot of his mid-section to have the the right lighting and folds in it to attached to Miss America but couldn’t find it, and believe me I looked. So with that in mind I hope you see that my using the mid-riff comes more from a problem I encountered my than the desired result, even if I am still happy with the result of the piece.
I’ll also say this, I won’t lie and say I’m not trying to make these ladies from a male perspective, of course I want them to look attractive and desirable, but I’m also wary about not getting carried away with it, it’s about finding a balance and I believe I have done so. Frankly, the debates I’ve read on website regarding Miss America and Thora (and even to some extent Iron Maiden) really has me perplexed – discussion of skirts and mid-riff and even metal breasts makes me think some people would prefer it if I just stuck a girl head on the male costume, but where’s the fun in that? What’s the point in translating the exact same costume from one person to another? And even if I did debate would probably still rage on, people would complain about the size of the breasts or the positions of the body looking too seductive or the pants being too tight or something, I mean where does it end? At what point do I have to stop defending the artworks? In the end I feel as if these pieces are perfectly fine compared to what’s out there and that some of the discussion has blown things out of proportion. The most important thing I think people are missing is that these are suppose to be a bit of fun, the way some people are taking them so freakin’ seriously is kinda ridiculous.
So people are talking about the lack of protection around her waist…do people wear full body armor? No. There are still plenty of places on a human body still exposed. Why not put everybody in full iron man outfits? Be safer right? Its his designs and his creations, you don’t like it? Make your own!
Now, let’s talk about a female Green Lantern? Any chance of that happening? And do know you did the superwoman pic custom, do you normally offer them? If so what’s your price. And sorry if you have it posted on your page, I hate reading.
Keep up the great work!
If I may quote tumblr user chillaxton…
“are you kidding me no this is not good in any way do you even understand how bodies work
thor would get her fucking sternum crushed why would you shape armor in the shape of her boobs that’s not safe in any way at all and also just like male thor she should have her legs covered in protective armor
there is absolutely no logical reason for captain america to have her stomach exposed do you even realise that that is a very important part of your body to protect
i do not understand the iron woman costume like the armor is way too small how would she even fit in that how tiny is she that armor is the normal size of a womans body the only way this would work is if all that metal was actually a skintight catsuit
who fucking designed these they’re an idiot these aren’t practical or safe at all”
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
This is gorgeous. I hope you’ll be doing more of these 😀
It looks like someone is ripping off part of this piece from you and claiming it as their own.
Thanks for pointing it out.
funfact: loudestdork never really claimed the piece as hers seeing everyone knows it’s someone else’s work. she only claims on “editing” the whole piece but not the body because she knows how “claiming ones work that isn’t theirs” is wrong af. 🙂
Hi Josh! I would like to say that your work is amazing and I am a fan. I just want to say that i never claimed the work of the body as mine because i know that it is yours and to be honest i am not the only one who used it. as respect to your work, i would like to apologize that i wasn’t be able to ask for your permission first and using the body of your work. I hope you understand and the next time, i’ll be using it, i promise to talk to you first.