LADY KNIGHTS!!

Lady Knights, my epic three-color design featuring all the most kick-ass women of sci-fi and fantasy! Available as a print, t-shirt, and several other products on my Society6 shop. I may also shop it around to some of the daily t-shirt websites that have non-exclusive contracts, see if any of them want to feature it.

This is a personal project I was very invested in. Driven by my own interest in gender issues and the strong women in fiction who inspired me as a young gay boy, and continue to (I could probably write a dissertation about why many gay men identify with strong female role models in pop culture but this is my art blog, not an academic forum). I also wanted to do something positive and constructive to celebrate women's empowerment, because frankly there is just a lot of negativity surrounding feminism and gender issues on the Internet these days, even coming from people whom I agree with politically. Which is too bad, really.

I had a lot of fun doing this, particularly since I had decided to limit myself to three colors. This was mostly to simplify the design, because I knew a cluster of detailed figures would be hard on the eyes. The limit also just became a fun challenge though, generally I find imposing some limits or "rules" on a project like this fosters creativity, and makes it feel like a game. The figures are presented without face details because I wanted to portray the essences of each one, rather than attempt to capture individual actors' likenesses, or particular versions of the characters.

I am sure there will be some debate and disagreement over whom I chose to add. Some of them, like Wonder Woman, were shoe-ins. Others such as Sarah from Labyrinth were chosen because I personally looked up to them as role models. I think the design could lend itself to some really fun, nerdy arguments about which characters people would have rather seen, or left out. I also like the idea that not everyone will recognize every character; this could potentially foster group discussions among friends as they try to identify every character and her originating sci-fi or fantasy franchise.