Wow! It’s been a while since I posted anything, and I feel like I owe you all an explanation! In September, I got my first studio job and moved across the country, so since then my life has been insanely busy! Things are finally starting to settle down enough that I have time to finish the personal work I start, so expect to see more from me from here on, and thanks to everyone who stuck with me! You guys are awesome.
Now let’s talk about Dwarf women. Recently I decided to take on the task of designing dwarf women who didn’t just feel like little humans, who could be considered attractive, and who also have beards- because Dwarf women really really should have beards, even if it’s just a little. Over the course of designing them I considered that probably the main reason Dwarf women are so rarely portrayed with beards is that in our society, beards are a sign of masculinity and being women, they are often still drawn to appeal to our society’s sensibilities. But Dwarves in fantasy are an entirely separate race from humans with their own styles and sensibilities and saying that their females shouldn’t have beards because it doesn’t appeal to humans is kind of like saying a bird shouldn’t have a beak because it doesn’t appeal to cats. That all led me down the rabbit hole of thinking about what would likely actually be considered attractive in a Dwarven society– well-maintained beards; Solid, muscled bodies; dainty hands suited to detailed crafting, etc.- all in all, it was a pretty fun and challenging project!