We watch a lot of Disney Channel, and in particular “Jake and the Neverland Pirates.” Pirate isn’t up there in the header for my blog for no reason- I’ve been a fan of pirates since I was little, and obviously, I’ve passed on that interest to my boys.
Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote about how annoyed I was about the Pirate Princess. Voiced by Tori Spelling, she was rescued from a curse by Izzy (go Izzy!) and needs to be bailed out by the kids at every turn. Not exactly pirate legend. Granted, every “legendary pirate” seems to need to be bailed out by the kids. But still- she was the first female pirate other than Izzy, so I expected a lot more.
Ignore the weird wonky eye. This was a quick sketch to sort of get familiar with the current character design. Also ignore the blue pencil that didn’t erase. Oops.
Also, the sword should be her rainbow staff. Yep, she doesn’t even get a sword. There’s a gem at the end that makes rainbows.
Problems: Other than the ridiculous colors, the first thing that struck me was the overskirt. I know that the Pirate Princess isn’t a fighter (though she could be). How is she supposed to get any real range of motion with that skirt?
Speaking of range of motion- her top is off the shoulder, without actually being off the shoulder. That’s just not very practical at all. Nor are the white gloves, or the stupid corset! Or the lowrider belt.
Here’s my redesign.
I put a lot of thought into this. The corset design is unnecessary, and makes her look like someone tried to class up a sexy pirate Halloween costume. Give her a simple gold trimmed waistcoat, and it looks a lot classier.
Instead of the skirt, I gave her a lilac colored sash. I kept the sleeves for her top, but gave her a ruffled cravat instead of the off the shoulder shirt. I didn’t like the design on her boots, but that was just me.
And the biggest change, I actually made her wand a sword (instead of accidentally like with my first sketch). But instead of the gem at the tip, her sword has a rainbow on the guard- showing that she can make rainbows with it. And it could be charged just the same as her wand.
See? Visually interesting, and it’s girly without being a weird outfit.
Just ignore the wonky boot.
So what do you think? Am I the only one bothered by her outfit at all?
I’ve never seen the show, but I’m with you completely. Your design is much more functional and frankly prettier.
your re-design makes a lot of sense. it looks a lot less “princess-y”. which is probably what the disney folks were aiming for. everything’s got to look/feel like a princess with them…
I like it, but then I am more of a pirate than princess sort of girl.
I understand what they were going for- but it bothered me for a myriad of reasons. Any woman that was called a Pirate Queen was a real pirate. And her outfit just looked like she’d spend all her time tripping on things!
Thanks!
Me too. (I’d rather be a Pirate Queen. Who wants to be a princess? It’s not like they have any power!)