Trans* Magical Girl scribble
Jun. 14th, 2014 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetScribble time! Or, well, somewhat more sophisticated than a scribble. An actual drawing, if you will. Working costume design/partial character design for Ruby for the trans* magical girl story that I am still working on, I promise!
My prevailing thought in designing Ruby and her costume was, "She must be cute. CUTE!" I think I pulled it off ;)
Ruby only transitioned recently, so she's still growing her hair out. She wants it to be long and pretty/elegant, though she may decide later that she likes it short and cute. I love the design of the traditional pointy hat, especially when it's kinda rumpled/floppy on top, so I included one.
Oh, that reminds me: tentative magical girl title for Ruby (and possibly the series) is Wolf Witch. I know that real witches today don't exactly go in for the pointy hats, and it's not actually a Thing, nor was it ever actually a Thing. To the best of my knowledge, pointy hats were a style for all women, or at least women in a particular age/culture/geographical area, which is why it is associated with witches in the first place. Possibly all people in the age/culture/geographical area. Also, early European immigrants to North America - though even then the hats were considered old-fashioned, and a number of "pilgrim" paintings that depict the pilgrims wearing them were making fun of their subjects in that respect. (Which, if it was just women and not all people, er. Wow. Extra level of un-fun there. Ick.) I'm not sure if I'll get the opportunity to touch on that, though I do hope to at least cover the fact that "witch" is a unisex title, and "warlock" means"evil witch" "oath breaker" or something similar (thanks, waywren!), not "male witch". (Corrections on all of this welcome.)
Hmm, what else. She's got lots of ribbons and lace, because cute! and feminine! The shaded parts of her costume and the ribbons I'm planning to make red, with the possible exception of her normal-heeled boots (because even if I have no idea how actually practical lace-all-the-way-up-to-the-knees boots are, heels are not so much, especially for someone who hasn't had much practice with them), which could be brown or possibly black/charcoal. I haven't decided on a race or ethnicity for Ruby, so no hair/skin/eye-color yet, though I'm thinking possibly she will be Jewish. Maybe. What's a little more research on top of learning everything I can about teen and pre-teen trans* girls and transitioning at that age?
I still need to pick out an every-day style for her, which will definitely be femme, as well as design her transformation item and her magical weapon(s). And then there's her friends and allies, her enemies, her parents, her teachers (particularly her trans* teacher), her magical wolf companion's combat and human-ish forms, and anything else I'm forgetting. Plus there's more detailed plotting to do on top of that. But at least her costume is potentially mostly designed!
Oh, the puppy is her magical animal companion/sidekick/love interest in "mundane"/passing-for-harmless form. Just FYI.
My prevailing thought in designing Ruby and her costume was, "She must be cute. CUTE!" I think I pulled it off ;)
Ruby only transitioned recently, so she's still growing her hair out. She wants it to be long and pretty/elegant, though she may decide later that she likes it short and cute. I love the design of the traditional pointy hat, especially when it's kinda rumpled/floppy on top, so I included one.
Oh, that reminds me: tentative magical girl title for Ruby (and possibly the series) is Wolf Witch. I know that real witches today don't exactly go in for the pointy hats, and it's not actually a Thing, nor was it ever actually a Thing. To the best of my knowledge, pointy hats were a style for all women, or at least women in a particular age/culture/geographical area, which is why it is associated with witches in the first place. Possibly all people in the age/culture/geographical area. Also, early European immigrants to North America - though even then the hats were considered old-fashioned, and a number of "pilgrim" paintings that depict the pilgrims wearing them were making fun of their subjects in that respect. (Which, if it was just women and not all people, er. Wow. Extra level of un-fun there. Ick.) I'm not sure if I'll get the opportunity to touch on that, though I do hope to at least cover the fact that "witch" is a unisex title, and "warlock" means
waywren!), not "male witch". (Corrections on all of this welcome.)Hmm, what else. She's got lots of ribbons and lace, because cute! and feminine! The shaded parts of her costume and the ribbons I'm planning to make red, with the possible exception of her normal-heeled boots (because even if I have no idea how actually practical lace-all-the-way-up-to-the-knees boots are, heels are not so much, especially for someone who hasn't had much practice with them), which could be brown or possibly black/charcoal. I haven't decided on a race or ethnicity for Ruby, so no hair/skin/eye-color yet, though I'm thinking possibly she will be Jewish. Maybe. What's a little more research on top of learning everything I can about teen and pre-teen trans* girls and transitioning at that age?
I still need to pick out an every-day style for her, which will definitely be femme, as well as design her transformation item and her magical weapon(s). And then there's her friends and allies, her enemies, her parents, her teachers (particularly her trans* teacher), her magical wolf companion's combat and human-ish forms, and anything else I'm forgetting. Plus there's more detailed plotting to do on top of that. But at least her costume is potentially mostly designed!
Oh, the puppy is her magical animal companion/sidekick/love interest in "mundane"/passing-for-harmless form. Just FYI.
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Date: 2014-06-15 04:46 am (UTC)A fun silly character development exercise if nothing else :)
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Date: 2014-06-15 05:15 pm (UTC)I'm thinking probably petticoats, since her skirt is so poofy, and then possibly puffy shorts. Maaaaybe an additional pair of panties/underwear under that, Just In Case/because Ruby is subconsciously slightly paranoid, and (in-story, at least) a lot of the costume's design comes from her subconscious.
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Date: 2014-06-15 12:45 pm (UTC)GEnerally what I heard in the neopagan circles growing up was that 'warlock' meant 'oath-breaker.'
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Date: 2014-06-15 05:16 pm (UTC)Thank you, that does make more sense. *edits post*
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Date: 2014-06-16 07:27 pm (UTC)Can't get over the adorable. <3
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Date: 2014-06-17 12:35 am (UTC)*coughs* Not like any of that is news to you, of course! I guess I just had a rant in me.
I am so glad she's passed the cuteness test! I feel like cuteness is an important part of magical girl costumes and paraphernalia. Most likely because it sells things better, but I'm not really expecting to get a huge merchandising deal out of this. Mostly I'm hoping to make at least a few people feel more represented and included and like they matter, because they do, and that's the most important thing I've ever wanted out of my original work. I have a story in me and Ruby seemed like a good fit for the role, so I'm going for it!
Wow, that went someplace I wasn't expecting. Hm. It seems like I might have an extra essay in me about motivation and perceived arrogance and so forth. I didn't actually mean for this comment to turn into the giant essay repository, though!
Anyway, yes! Practical-ish shoes and cuteness, good.