Sketch Update... Catwoman On A Hot Tin Roof!

[Stuart Sayger]

While at the conventions I do a lot of sketches that don't see print anywhere! They are drawn on the spot and whisked away to a private collection. I love it that these pieces are given a loving home, but they also need to be shared and enjoyed by everyone!
THAT'S WHAT THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT!
Every two weeks I"ll update the link below to display a different convention drawing! If you have one of my convention sketches, or even a full blown commission, send me a scan and I'll be sure share!
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First off.. I should say that I had a super fantastic time at Megacon this last weekend! Everyone was so very nice to me! The young artists that I met from the Ringling art college were great to talk to and infact very VERY talanted. I was so very impressed by their work as well as the university's idea of having a booth for its students to showcase their work! You guys, rocked and will soon be gobbling up all the jobs that I want!

While at the convention I knocked out a nice new Catwoman piece! I've always enjoyed the character, but have never been 100 percent in love with any of her costume designs. When ever I draw the Catwoman her costume looks most like the Julie Nuemar outfit from that Batman T.V. With a full mask covering her head and ears! ( I make not apologies for saying that I HATE the current "Jim Lee goggles wearing Catwoman") I know, I know.. running on roofs while wearing high heals probably isn't very practical... But I always lean towards the more theatrical...

In the case of the Catwoman I usually try to make her as LONG and lean and I think that I can get away with.. Though, I might have entered in to "Mark Beachum" territory with this piece... Anyway.. here she is in all her glory first in unaltered black and white, and then again digitally colored ,tweaked, and twisted.. ENJOY!

http://users.mw.net/~karza/forum/catwoman.sample1.jpg

http://users.mw.net/~karza/forum/CAT.SAMP1.jpg

[Kristin]

Stu, you're so wonderful...i'm over the moon about this piece. Catwoman is my all time favorite character and i just love what you did with her.
i completely agree with you on her current redesign, ew. i'm loyal to the Jim Balent version myself.


please please please tell me that this'll be made into a print. i'd love to have her on my wall.

[ValhallaComics]

I totally agree with you about the current design. That's no catwoman... that's just a burglar in spandex/leather... and goggles.

I really, really enjoy this piece. I love the design, and your style on the character (even the colors are fantastic). The only thing that's bothering me are the ears on the costume. They look like they're out of place. It seems like her right (our left) ear should be pushed forward a little more, closer to the side of her head, instead of further back, like it is.

Otherwise a magnificent piece.

[Stuart Sayger]

.. yeah.. I hear what you're saying about catwoman's ears... One thing that i've always done when i've drawn catwoman is make her ears and tail look...well.. I guess "stuck on".. in comics there is a real tendancy to make such things look as if they are actually part of the physical being.... That is to say make her tail move the way a cat's tail would move if she were in the same position. I really like the idea that catwoman is a woman who puts on a costume. unlike alot of other comics fans I think that Selina Kyle is the real person and that catwoman is the mask.. ( this is exactly how i feel about bruce wayne and batman too!).. in the case of catwoman the ears look sorta "stuck on" to show that she's a woman, not a cat-person...

this is my same attatude towards Batman, but with one major difference... I really buy in to the line about criminals being a superstitious and cowardly lot... for that reason, I think that batman's ears and cape look to be more of a part of him because we are seeing him through the criminals' eyes.. through their fear... with Catwoman you might get a sense of mystery, or even lust, but not fear...

I don't know.. to some extent each artist has to find a way in which each character will work for them...An angle in which they think that the character can actually operate. Batman acts all tough to scare people.. I think that catwoman is wearing a cotume to sorta rub it in their nose that she's robbing them... she does it for kicks. for Batman it's a tool...

anyone who wants to chime in on this is certainly welcome.. I can talk about this stuff, and these two characters all day!

[ValhallaComics]

I think it's very cool that you look at Catwoman that way. In fact, I've never really given her attitude, to why she wears a costume, a thought. I think I've always felt that she's had a kindred bond to cats and that's why she wears a costume. However, given her personality, I can certainly see how she'd like to flaunt her theft in her victim's face.

I can see it both ways, I suppose, but I really think that the suit serves as a symbolic embrace of her love, bond and relationship to cats.

Now, there's seemingly been a lot of origin stories for her in the movies, cartoons and comics, so it's difficult to determine what she actually is and how she got her "powers" or abilities. Honestly... I still don't fully understand her character. Does she even have any powers or is she simply a very successful and skillful thief/burglar?

[Stuart Sayger]

Man.. those are great questions!.. I mean it, you should knock on the door at DC and ask for an explanation.!

My personal hang up is that I've always felt that catwoman has about as many "powers" as batman ( which is probably zero ) My understanding of most all of these characters comes from their comic book stories... and even then I usually default to the oldest origin ( or atleast what seems to have been popularly accepted as their origin by about 1970... My first knowledge of a character is rarely replaced by a new origin, or reworking of the character.. ).. With that In mind, i've never felt that Catwoman has ANY bond with cats, other than that she thinks that it makes her look sexy and maybe intimidating... I can't think of a single reason that she'd be able to climb a building or jump from roof to roof other than she might have just too much confidence/ arrogance which lets her do things that everyone else would know is proabably a dangerous idea.
I like the Catwoman character, but sadly I don't give her that much credit as a thinking developed character. Most all of the stories with Catwoman in them till I was age 12 seemed to have her wanting to steal some Egyptian cat statue ( only because she wanted it ... much like a fan who just had to have every appearance of Wonderman).. or else she was trying to get Batman's attention for whimsical romantic reasons ... I swear that she just likes the game... For her it's the getting, not the having.

By the way.. these are some of the reasons that as a Batman fan I could never see Bruce and Selina together. He'd be so bored with her. She really seems to care about nothing past the immediate moment.

Having said all that, I know that DC has published Catwoman consistantly in her own title for well over 10 years... So there must have been some character developement along there somewhere... Quite often I know that I have a rather "old fashioned" idea of a character.. often with not enough "bad ass" for many of today's comics fans...

I just can't see the girl in the Catwoman comics ever being Julie Nuemar.. and really.. that is my big problem, right!?

[Kristin]

i'm a long time fan of Catwoman, so i'm going to throw my two cents in.

on the subject of her costume..in the mid 80's 4 issue mini, Selina is a teenage prostitue and her pimp makes her wear a fetish cat costume for one of the clients- that's really the first time the cat outfit appears. a few months/years later when she is beginning her life of burgalry, she sees Batman in person and decides she wants a costume as well (they go into more detial as to her exact reasonings but it's been a few years since i've read the books). she starts out wearing the fetish outfit, and eventually moves into the gray costume (with tail) and finally the purple one from the 90's series.

a quick look at her history: her mother killed herself when she was a little kid, her father drank himself to death soon after, she was abused at her orphanage, lived on the streets and eventually became a teenage prostitute. after being beaten close to death by her pimp, she decides to learn to defend herself. she trains with WildCat (i'm blanking on his real name), and later on down the road studies with a sensi- so that is a bit of an explaination as to her "abilities." she eventually takes down her pimp (wearing that same fetish outfit mind you) and then goes and on her own and really becomes Catwoman. they did a pretty good job at fleshing out her character in the 90s- there's actually an issue that deals with her stealing an Egyptian artifact that's got some depth. ;)

now this is all from the Frank Miller's Batman/80s mini/90s series... they could've messed this all up in the current title -i haven't read more than a few issues. once DC fired Balent and they went and changed that costume i quit reading.

so anyway, that's the Catwoman i grew up on. not some super powered alien (like most of the DCU), a real person who went through hell and made it out alive. it struck a cord with me when i was a youngin and she's still my favorite today.


and just for the recond, i adore Julie Newmar's Catwoman.

[Stuart Sayger]

There are elements about her 90's story that I can handle...But I really hate all the rape that has shown up in comics from the 1990s' and after. It's just unneccessary, and I really don't like revenge as a motive.. ( By the way.. before some of the folks who know that I'm a big Batman fan point out that Bruce Wayne's parents were killed and that started him down the path to becoming Batman, I let you know that I've never thought that revenge was Batman's motivation... I can go in to this at great depth if everyone is interested.. It's occupied my mind for about 25 years...)

One of the things that I'd like to know about is Catwoman's orgin before the 1990's Michael Bair mini-series... I know that the catwoman first appears in Batman #1.. but my memory says that her origin was not revealed... I should probably see what is said in Lois Lane ( #92 or so..? her first silverage appearance ).. there might be some back story there as she was re-introduced then... It seems really unlikely that there will be any mention of prostition or rape in those issues... Yes that's who she is now.. but what are her roots..? (Mike Quilligan if you are reading please take a look in your Fleisher history of Batman and help us out!)

Great thread though.. I'd love to hear what the rest of you all think!
Kristin... volley to you!

[Kristin]

Wikipedia to the rescue:

Catwoman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catwoman)

[Stuart Sayger]

what an exhausting tangled web.. THE CATWOMAN HISTORY IS A MESS!.. no wonder I have no clear idea of what her origin is!

by the way.. who's the father of catwoman's baby in "52".. ( PLEASE NO... Not batman from hush!) Gettin' it on with Talia taught him nothing!

[ValhallaComics]

what an exhausting tangled web.. THE CATWOMAN HISTORY IS A MESS!.. no wonder I have no clear idea of what her origin is!

by the way.. who's the father of catwoman's baby in "52".. ( PLEASE NO... Not batman from hush!) Gettin' it on with Talia taught him nothing!

Ted Grant's (Wildcat) son. =X