A Tribute

A Tribute

Yvonne Craig passed away today. As the original Batgirl actress, she was the first female hero on screen, introducing the idea of superheroines in a fun way just as feminism was about to become a greater part of the culture. She even used that platform to star in a Department of Labor Equal Pay PSA! (Watch it, I’ll wait here…) Followers know I love Craig-inspired Batgirl art and the Batman ‘66 comic version of Batgirl, also based on her portrayal.

I’m part of the BTAS generation, but thanks to reruns, my childhood composite image of Batgirl was heavily influenced by Yvonne Craig as well. And while childhood me already loved anything Batgirl and had a thing for purple, I can now see elements to Yvonne Craig’s performance that my adult self still looks for in favorite female characters.

The show was fun and delightfully campy, of course, but Craig’s Batgirl was also the super smart librarian who often figured out some crucial piece of information and foiled the villain’s plot. Being smart was shown as a superheroine’s real power- a power that could best both male physical strength and material resources.

She took part in those “boom! pow!” fight scenes, too, but it was very graceful and ballet-like, as were many of Craig’s movements on screen. Before becoming an actress, Yvonne Craig was in fact a professional ballerina with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. (The ballet training currently in canon Batgirl’s background is a lovely nod to the actress.)

You would never confuse Craig’s Batgirl for one of the guys. She would never make you think being graceful was something to be ashamed of. One of the enduring things about every version of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl is that she is unapologetic in being both an intelligent and a feminine character, even during times when that combination is unpopular in media. And for that, our original thanks should go to Yvonne Craig, who so charmingly managed to show both. 

(via 'Christmas Cheer ' Greeting Card by Amy-Fay)

This sweet little snowman is now for sale: perfect on mugs, postcards, greeting cards, you name it! 

An old Arrowette redesign I had a lot of fun with back in 2018! Pre-Wacom tablet upgrade, though, so the sensitivity on the line-art is a bit...blocky. 

Linking from my waterfall.social account; feel free to have a click for the LONG wall of text that follows this! Trust me, I can ramble for hours!!

Batgirl, rolling out! - Amy Fay

She's bold! She's brainy! She's the Best! Bat! EVER!! Batgirl's rolling on in to strut her stuff to show the likes of Robin just how it's done!!

Batgirl’s rolling in to bring a bit of joy to your life! This print’s now available from my artpal shop for your viewing pleasure!

Oddworld: The Promised Neverland homage (pt.1)

‘Kay, so I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole that is Oddworld lore…and I was *already* a big fan of the whole concept thanks to “The Promised Neverland.”

Surely this has been done before, but I couldn’t help paying some homages to the series—especially because it fits so damn well for obvious reasons!

And honestly…this is the most fun that I’ve had with my art for a long, long time. It’s like I remembered what I love about creating, and even *how* to do it. I remember loving symbolism and the significance of imagery…like here? I loved having the plates act as a kind of sick, ironic commodity: like the Glukkons absolutely would sell off “authentic” style dish wares with which to serve their workforce up on.

And even though I’ve only been able to play both the New n’ Tasty re-release and Soulstorm, I had a lot of fun trying to kind of reconcile the designs some for Abe and Alf? Alf especially; I liked the idea of him wearing his overalls down 90’s-ish style because it kind of acts reminiscent of his old loincloth, but still keeps him as visually distinct as Abe or Toby.

Originally Posted to my Waterfall!

So let’s have a context-copy-paste from there: 

The old-ish stuff! (part 2) Classic Batgirl!

Now we get to the good stuff, AKA, Batgirl!

(Done pre-Wacom tablet upgrade.)

Now if you were to ask me what my favourite incarnation of Barbara Gordon is, honestly, I'd be torn between two:

--Batgirl of Burnside

and

--1966 Batman

Interestingly enough; Batgirl of Burnside draws incredibly heavy on Yvonne Craig's influence on Batgirl, and it's not hard to see why.

See, originally, Batgirl as an identity wasn't meant to be a side-kick (that was a 1990's post-zero hour retcon! And a messy one at that!)

Batgirl was basically meant to stand on equal footing with Batman; she was an ally, not a copy. Inspired by but not working for nor under. That was pretty much established in her debut episode, in fact! She loved what he stood for, but had her own way; a much more empathetic, working-with-the-people approach!

That carries on to the current run today! So, wheras Bruce nowadays is happy to inspire fear and act as a semi-urban-legend, Barbara wants to be right on the street with the people--using a combo of criminal psychology with the most updated tech!

It's fascinating really!

But I digress.

While Burnside put emphasis on the practical design, the 1960's were all about stage presence! Something I wanted to capture here, using Yvonne Craig's history as a champion Ballerina!

It's actually a lot of fun to see how or if you can truly meld fight-coreography with the grace of dance...and ya know, I think it can be done. But I wanna explore and push it more!