Quote Originally Posted by Talakeal View Post
On a related note, what is the proper ratio of male to female characters in artwork? A common sense answer would obviously be 50/50, I have had several people comment about how there are already too many drawings of women despite them only making up about 40% of the artwork.
To go further down that rabbit hole, do you think male gamers are more or less likely to be interested in a game with lots of female representation in the artwork? And vice versa?
And, a little deeper, does it matter how sexualized the art is? I try and avoid out and out cheesecake (its tough, I have found that a lot of artists want to draw it even if not requested), but most of the illustrations are of conventionally attractive people regardless of gender. Likewise, while I am trying to display a wide array of clothing styles and body types, a large portion of the illustrations do depict people who are scantily clad or with unrealistic physiques.

Thanks!
As a man, I think if the artwork is entirely female characters I am more likely to buy the book.

If I were making decisions I would probably weight in favor of underrepresented groups, not sure I could say an exact ratio I would be aiming for. I personally think diversity and quality are related, so I would be more focused on the art being high quality.

My personal take on sexualization is consistency is more important than severity. If the men and women are sexualized about the same, I think that is fine and easier for people to accept. if one is more than the other, people will question it. Past that, I think whatever fits the tone best would be the best to aim for. If you are going for high fantasy, conventionally attractive and unrealistic physiques are probably fine. If you are going for something more realism or gritty then the art probably not.