How do you design a character that mostly attracts women?

[DeeNaMeeTay]

Look no further than comparing these two from the same franchise:


-Chris is a lot more brooding and roided out than Leon. His sailor outfit makes him appeal to gay men:

Yeah…I believe that women find Twinky men more tolerable to the point that they simp for Onceler or Vivziepop characters built like twigs. Personality counts too; women like softness in their men like Leon who is jokey/purehearted but also troubled. It also helps that he is naturally charismatic and ‘yearns’ for Ada Wong. Women do love that Chris took care of Rose as a baby though.

And one of the most crucial elements to making a female gazey design is THE HAIR

Who is this? He looks hella generic without his blonde side-part. That’s why the capcom women still keep his luscious locks because it’s so iconic to him.

---

As for female character designs, I only speak for myself here since I’m not a lesbian, but I like female characters who dress a little business-y/formal while still maintaining their femininity:





And

These two, like Lady Oscar, who wear the
habit à la française, a three-piece suit popular in 18th century France. They also have beautiful long hair and pretty faces.


Lady Maria from Bloodborne and

Marie Joseph Sanson from Innocent/Innocent Rogue.

 

[The Ugly One]

I was told by an actual woman that she finds Sherriff Jim Hopper on Stranger Things incredibly sexy.



Something about him looking like the kind of guy who would fight off a mountain lion rather than a marble statue who would shatter.

 

[Safir]

@weirdMcGee

My personal favorite female character designs are tall, lithe, feminine, GORGEOUS long and thick hair, mature. The face, especially, is unmistakably adult. Long with a high nose bridge. Beautiful instead of cute. I think Leiji Matsumoto draws some of the most enchanting women.

This is an extremely awesome post. A few notes, because I want to sperg about anime tits:

Matsumoto hair was originally porn hair! He started drawing long hair on nude women to get around restrictions on showing unmentionables.

Generally, on tits: Maetel (the lady on my avatar) shows them a lot, in fact she almost shows them in her very first appearance in the book ("I can't be a globohomo cyborg, look at these!"). But the pèlerine on her coat completely covers the tit area. Your characters should dress modest (and feminine) in public -- upskirt shots, "pantsu" and such puts women off, don't commit sex offences against your characters! But you can still have them get naked in appropriate circumstances.

Character abilities and plots are also extremely important. Maetel is awesome at fencing, the best sharpshooter in the universe, can drink manly man Captain Harlock under the table, but she has flashbang grenade earrings, kills robots by reflecting lazors with a make-up mirror, and (in the book) destroys the globohomo planet by accidentally marking its only weak point with lipstick. (Naturally she also gets captured a lot and needs rescuing.)

@Arbiter posted Emeraldas (the lady in the red bodysuit), here's Mori Yuki, look at her tits in 1974:

Now look at this udder from the 2012 remake:

Spoiler: torpedo alert, make evasive maneuvers

her ass is fat and jiggles, too

The coomer who did this fell off the deck of the Yamato and drowned. Good fucking riddance.

Sometimes Matsumoto's women wear reeeeeeally low-cut dresses:

Left: Starsha (1974 cartoon, I can't find original art of her that shows the décolletage). Right: Queen Promethium (Matsumoto's art).

Nishizaki's porn folder again:

Spoiler: porn

(do not do this)

Reminds me of the cover of Savant and Sorcerer that was widely considered to be the worst piece of tabletop RPG art ever:

Spoiler: PORN

(probably a ~*~*pure coincidence*~*~ that the book was written by a gross tranny)

@weirdMcGee Homework: analyze this Matsumoto pinup.

Both 1 and 2 also help make the character visually interesting and distinctive rather than falling into "nondescript, generic male protagonist" territory.

In the anime boi picture, 2nd row rightmost has hair puffy enough to be distinctive.

edit, on dykes:

Like for example, how do you make a female character attractive/sexy to women who like women?

Women who like IRL women like normal IRL women's ideas of beauty, so everything @Arbiter wrote about female characters and everything I wrote still applies. To target specifically dykes, as opposed to women in general including dykes, there are two more options:
(1) beautiful woman but short hair and/or unisex clothes
(2) take a kpop or anime bisausage male and make him a woman (no dick, narrow waist, other slight skeletal changes, and A-cup tits if/when naked)
As an extended example of (2), let's turn Arbiter's stable of poofy-haired males into women:
pic 1: girl, girl, girl, fag (needs a softer expression and thinner nose), girl
pic 2: britoid meltyface fag, needs a new face
pic 3: girl
pic 4: leans boy but could pass for a rebellious girl out of the box, needs more graceful eyebrows
pic 5: pooner, needs thinner eyebrows and a less soy expression to be attractive as a female
pic 6: would be a smoking hot dyke with a thinner neck
pic 7: normal man, resists feminization (you can put a woman in these clothes tho)

I've no idea how to make a male character who appeals to dykes as a male character. There are some characters who appeal to some dykes some of the time (e.g. oldtimey lesbian Japanese authors drew a lot of gay comics for women)

Spoiler: tard-baby rapist tranny

but no surefire recipe.

 

[SoleniyKraut]

Twink or cute animal, works like a charm.

 

[Bees]

Vampires?

Yeah for certain Nandor can get some.


even this Nandor (or should I say especially)

 

[Arbiter]

Yeah for certain Nandor can get some.

Can you believe that's all his real hair?

For me, it's Viago

Spoiler: and sometimes Deacon

 

[PutridusVictus]

Yeah for certain Nandor can get some.
Wyświetl załącznik 8677621

even this Nandor (or should I say especially)
Wyświetl załącznik 8677627

Can you believe that's all his real hair?

For me, it's Viago

Spoiler: and sometimes Deacon

Wyświetl załącznik 8678174

Huh, women have truly bizarre tastes. I don't know what they like anymore, muscular but not too much? Feminine but not that weak? Beards but only on certain faces? Long hair I guess... These last two confuse me; the only thing they seem to have in common is long, black hair.
They're not ugly, I suppose, but I didn't expect them to be here.
Whatever, I've noticed that female character designs made by women focus more on style than on physical appearance; in a way, they emphasize attitude and clothing more than curves or an overdetailed sexy face, like the characters from Candy Candy, I don't really know how to describe it, an ethereal and platonic beauty?

Fukkkkkkk i'm sperging on the hag side of the kiwi, I shouldn't have been drinking, sorry witches, I'm leaving.

 

[Shakira Flabbergasted]

Huh, women have truly bizarre tastes. I don't know what they like anymore, muscular but not too much? Feminine but not that weak? Beards but only on certain faces? Long hair I guess... These last two confuse me; the only thing they seem to have in common is long, black hair.

If you visit the video game husbando thread, you'll see at least one woman thirsting over Shadow the Hedgehog. There are some things (lean musculature, taller than average, nice hair) that most women like, but those aren't hard-and-fast rules and are more like guidelines to follow if you're trying to design a male character who will appeal to a majority female audience. Beard or no beard, long or short hair, twink or DILF, cartoon hedgehog or human male — these are down to individual taste and will vary greatly depending on the woman (and how old she is).

 

[Arbiter]

these are down to individual taste and will vary greatly depending on the woman (and how old she is).

Absolutely, female tastes are incredibly varied. If you got a group of men together and gave them a lineup of women, they could probably fairly easily come to a consensus on which woman was the most attractive. It would be harder to get a consensus among women. Here's a study on exactly that. Still, like you said, there are some guidelines you can follow when designing male characters that will generally attract women and repel men. Part of why I love female fandom spaces is just how much variation there is. It's fun seeing all of the different characters people husbando and why they are drawn to them.

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

Can you believe that's all his real hair?

For me, it's Viago

Spoiler: and sometimes Deacon

Wyświetl załącznik 8678174

I'm Team Laszlo, I like hairy dad bods/fat slags. Not exclusively though and idk how reflective my tastes are of the average woman population. See above for the variety among us. I remember sperging out with friends when I was a teenager over which famous dudes we fancied and it was always an argument with lots of "euuurgh you like HIM?!". That's why boybands usually have multiple archetypes represented in them, some girls like "the tough one" or "the dorky one" or "the ambiguous ethnic one" etc.

 

[ThePozzedOutCritic]

what's the beefiest male character (as in he still appeals to men) that women still find attractive?

 

[Neurotypical Mantis]

genshin twinkslop

 

[I was a Teenage “JA”-man]

Thin with long/medium length hair
When I was an artist that seemed to be the case accidentally creating the tumbr sexyman archetype

 

[soryu2electricboogaloo]

Female characters that appeal to women, like others have said, are more modest (but not entirely not showing skin) and elegant. For me, they have this underlying cute factor, too.
Movies/TV examples:

Video game examples:

Anime examples:

 

[Arbiter]

I'm Team Laszlo

I love that we are collecting fangirls of every WWDITS guy here. We need someone who’s favorite is Vladislav next. Maybe even Collin Robinson.

what's the beefiest male character (as in he still appeals to men) that women still find attractive?

Jason Voorhees, my beloved. Honestly Venom is pretty fuckhuge in canon, and he’s so normal to thirst after that he’s not even considered a “hear me out.” But, again, look for masked characters or inhuman monsters and you’ll find female fans into the upper end of beefiness.

 

[ThePozzedOutCritic]

Jason Voorhees, my beloved. Honestly Venom is pretty fuckhuge in canon, and he’s so normal to thirst after that he’s not even considered a “hear me out.” But, again, look for masked characters or inhuman monsters and you’ll find female fans into the upper end of beefiness.

what about if they're human and you can see their face?

 

[Arbiter]

what about if they're human and you can see their face?

Hmm I'm trying to think of who has a substantial fanbase. Maybe Jojo? The Jojo characters have a lot of fangirls, I will admit, even though I personally can't stand them. There's also Captain America and Thor.

 

[2mm and 99 others]

I'm not gonna be original. I like female characters that are somewhat close to what would be my self-insert, but not too much because it would be weird. And they should have rich, thick hair. Sorry to the non hair-endowed people, but 5 limp strands of hair, 3 to the left and 2 to the right, just don't work for me.

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

I'm not gonna be original. I like female characters that are somewhat close to what would be my self-insert, but not too much because it would be weird. And they should have rich, thick hair. Sorry to the non hair-endowed people, but 5 limp strands of hair, 3 to the left and 2 to the right, just don't work for me.

Bald is fine IMO (like a few of my fave video game husbandos, and of course Jason Statham is thirsted over by tons of women), but balding is absolutely haram. No Cyraxx lookalikes and no stupid Skrillex cuts please. If they're going to have hair, go nice and thick or don't bother.

 

[DeeNaMeeTay]

Look no further than comparing these two from the same franchise:
Wyświetl załącznik 8672586

-Chris is a lot more brooding and roided out than Leon. His sailor outfit makes him appeal to gay men:
Wyświetl załącznik 8672629
Yeah…I believe that women find Twinky men more tolerable to the point that they simp for Onceler or Vivziepop characters built like twigs. Personality counts too; women like softness in their men like Leon who is jokey/purehearted but also troubled. It also helps that he is naturally charismatic and ‘yearns’ for Ada Wong. Women do love that Chris took care of Rose as a baby though.

And one of the most crucial elements to making a female gazey design is THE HAIR
Wyświetl załącznik 8672637
Who is this? He looks hella generic without his blonde side-part. That’s why the capcom women still keep his luscious locks because it’s so iconic to him.

---

As for female character designs, I only speak for myself here since I’m not a lesbian, but I like female characters who dress a little business-y/formal while still maintaining their femininity:

Wyświetl załącznik 8672682
Wyświetl załącznik 8672766
Wyświetl załącznik 8672776

And

These two, like Lady Oscar, who wear the
habit à la française, a three-piece suit popular in 18th century France. They also have beautiful long hair and pretty faces.

Wyświetl załącznik 8672703
Lady Maria from Bloodborne and
Wyświetl załącznik 8672708
Marie Joseph Sanson from Innocent/Innocent Rogue.

Ooo also… if you wanna make her feminine, give her florals, face paint, and a long flowy dress. Those are my weaknesses


the flower lady from the book of life


Sonia from TotK


Belle from…you guessed it, Belle! (2021)


I hope they at least allude to her backstory in the upcoming Mario movie. My bet is that she’s peach’s sister.



Lucille from The Monster of Paris, her tooth gap is so cute everyone else in that movie was chopped though

Spoiler: And lastly some Mavka!

I’ve been waiting for the full movie to come out since 2017 when the animated short aired. Then the pandemic and the Russian vs Ukraine conflict happened. The Ukrainian studio still released it but it felt like an undercooked Little Mermaid ripoff. Shame character designs are gorgeous.