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Description
The official Challengers Challenge, verbatim:

*****

CA #143 Theme: THE NEW BATGIRL
Our “new” themes continue w/ Batgirl. She’s still Barbara Gordon, but she’s got a whole new look.

*****

This was a lot of fun to draw, because the new Batgirl (and her new outfit) are just straight up AWESOME.

Batgirl's been through a lot of tough and dark times through the years, so to have her return as a bright-eyed young adult, more happy-go-lucky and a bit reckless, sounds like a recipe for fun times!

So for this week's Challenge, I wanted to draw Batgirl jumping recklessly into the fray with a smirk on her face, against one of the DC Universe's deadliest enemies, to her and even to Batman.

I tried to think of the biggest, baddest behemoth to contrast with Batgirl's small frame, and one baddie fit the bill pefectly: Bane.

(LOL I could just imagine Batman watching this fight unfold, his eyes rolling in disbelief at how nonchalantly Batgirl is approaching this battle with one of his deadliest enemies.)

But Batgirl is young, optimistic, and sure of herself, so she'll be ok!

Rather than drawing her delivering a standard punch to Bane's face, I thought her attack should be more fun and creative, perhaps something like...a SUPER ATOMIC NUTCRACKER!

(Since stores are already putting up Christmas displays, I thought it'd be fun to get a jump on the holiday references

I think the reinvention of the character's persona is really great, but what really caught my attention was the new costume design.

I can honestly say that Batgirl's new costume is pure genius.

Man, you HAVE to see Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr's costume design notes - they're incredible.
You can see the official DC Comics design notes on Batgirl's new outfit here.
Everything about it is perfect - it's not your standard form fitting spandex - it's a separate leather jacket (with zippers!) and leather pants and army boots.

The color scheme is so well balanced too, in terms of accessories and remaining true to the "Bat" motif.

But I think my favorite part of the costume is the snap-on cape.

There are so many situations where a cape would be cumbersome, so to have a removable cape, with just four circular snaps - pure genius, from a design perspective.

Since I was blown away by this design revelation, I HAD to include it somehow in my drawing.

So I thought, what if the quick-snap feature of the cape was critical to Batgirl's survival?

That's when I came up with the idea to draw Bane punching and grabbing her cape, but Batgirl quickly ducking under, and her cape un-snapping, allowing her to slide forward and finish with the SUPER ATOMIC NUTCRACKER!

Batgirl's a smart cookie - she used her cape's quick-release feature to save her own neck.

If the cape was firmly sewn into her costume, Bane would've easily grabbed her cape and bashed her around like a rag doll.

I keep gushing on and on about the cape, because it's such an elegant, practical design.

(It's like when a housecat pounces on a lizard's tail, and the tail breaks off, and the lizard just runs away. It's a survival technique, and the lizard just grows another tail eventually.)

So yeah, I'm a HUGE fan of the new Batgirl, in terms of the character's spunky attitude, as well as the perfect costume design.

MAD PROPS to Cameron Stewart, Brendan Fletcher, and Babs Tarr for being visionaries.

I hope my humble fan artwork in some way does justice to their vision!

Original official post: CA! Week 143: (THE NEW) BATGIRL

Description
The official Challengers Challenge, verbatim:

*****

CA #143 Theme: THE NEW BATGIRL
Our “new” themes continue w/ Batgirl. She’s still Barbara Gordon, but she’s got a whole new look.

*****

This was a lot of fun to draw, because the new Batgirl (and her new outfit) are just straight up AWESOME.

Batgirl's been through a lot of tough and dark times through the years, so to have her return as a bright-eyed young adult, more happy-go-lucky and a bit reckless, sounds like a recipe for fun times!

So for this week's Challenge, I wanted to draw Batgirl jumping recklessly into the fray with a smirk on her face, against one of the DC Universe's deadliest enemies, to her and even to Batman.

I tried to think of the biggest, baddest behemoth to contrast with Batgirl's small frame, and one baddie fit the bill pefectly: Bane.

(LOL I could just imagine Batman watching this fight unfold, his eyes rolling in disbelief at how nonchalantly Batgirl is approaching this battle with one of his deadliest enemies.)

But Batgirl is young, optimistic, and sure of herself, so she'll be ok!

Rather than drawing her delivering a standard punch to Bane's face, I thought her attack should be more fun and creative, perhaps something like...a SUPER ATOMIC NUTCRACKER!

(Since stores are already putting up Christmas displays, I thought it'd be fun to get a jump on the holiday references

I think the reinvention of the character's persona is really great, but what really caught my attention was the new costume design.

I can honestly say that Batgirl's new costume is pure genius.

Man, you HAVE to see Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr's costume design notes - they're incredible.
You can see the official DC Comics design notes on Batgirl's new outfit here.
Everything about it is perfect - it's not your standard form fitting spandex - it's a separate leather jacket (with zippers!) and leather pants and army boots.

The color scheme is so well balanced too, in terms of accessories and remaining true to the "Bat" motif.

But I think my favorite part of the costume is the snap-on cape.

There are so many situations where a cape would be cumbersome, so to have a removable cape, with just four circular snaps - pure genius, from a design perspective.

Since I was blown away by this design revelation, I HAD to include it somehow in my drawing.

So I thought, what if the quick-snap feature of the cape was critical to Batgirl's survival?

That's when I came up with the idea to draw Bane punching and grabbing her cape, but Batgirl quickly ducking under, and her cape un-snapping, allowing her to slide forward and finish with the SUPER ATOMIC NUTCRACKER!

Batgirl's a smart cookie - she used her cape's quick-release feature to save her own neck.

If the cape was firmly sewn into her costume, Bane would've easily grabbed her cape and bashed her around like a rag doll.

I keep gushing on and on about the cape, because it's such an elegant, practical design.

(It's like when a housecat pounces on a lizard's tail, and the tail breaks off, and the lizard just runs away. It's a survival technique, and the lizard just grows another tail eventually.)

So yeah, I'm a HUGE fan of the new Batgirl, in terms of the character's spunky attitude, as well as the perfect costume design.

MAD PROPS to Cameron Stewart, Brendan Fletcher, and Babs Tarr for being visionaries.

I hope my humble fan artwork in some way does justice to their vision!

Original official post: CA! Week 143: (THE NEW) BATGIRL