Fan Art: France

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when I read the history of this country and little cultural details scoured from various articles and on various media (movies, TV), I get this strong masculine energy emanating from this country. So it's a bit surprising how France is depicted as female by Humon and Brazilian artist Andreshanti -- btw, I miss the latter as he has been inactive for over two months now. What's up with him?

Russian artist Provass has a take on a male France, which I find nicely drawn but a bit too cutesy for comfort. He lacks the cocky arrogance and aggressive swagger that I feel is characteristic of Frenchmen.

So I decided to come up with my own concept of the default male France, and here is his character profile:

SATW Character most alike: in terms of seducing women, Italy, but he's often more successful at it than that character (he is unlikely to be knocked out by Lady Germany's breasts, for one). He also has the sex drive of Denmark--though he is open to experimentation, he is predominantly into women.

Real-life equivalents: I envision him as blessed with the looks of Gilles Marini, with the charisma of an Alain Delon in his moviestar prime, and the Playboy proclivities of Hugh Hefner's public persona.

Other character traits:
1. He has extreme pride in himself and in his ways--he always has the belief that his ways are the best ways of doing things; sometimes he's justified, but more often than not this attitude is viewed as arrogance.
2. He likes to keep his 35-hour workweek sacred--that is, he doesn't want to work for more than 35 hours in a week and he definitely relishes his extended vacations. This is because...
3. He takes his leisure time VERY seriously, perhaps to the point that it may have become his actual work. He definitely has a very full leisure time schedule: cooking, painting, sculpting, various sports like fencing, cycling, basketball, rugby, soccer, running, gymnastics, savate (a martial art like Thai kickboxing), judo, etc. plus he dabbles in parkour. He often exudes an extreme competitive attitude to the annoyance of his colleagues.
4. He often excels in the various leisure activities he pursues. And he takes no hesitation rubbing that fact in. He would accept defeat graciously if he feels that he lost fairly, but otherwise he would throw a hissy fit.
5. He also throws a nasty hissy fit if anyone suggests to him that he would need to work more hours or cut back on his leisure activities.
6. Even if he's such a playboy and doesn't like to be committed to a monogamous relationship, he's still irresistible to women all over, and most of the time, the women know what they're getting into--they just like his company so much and admire his culinary, artistic, and, um, other skills. To his credit, he actually knows how to take care of the women he sleeps with, and he treats them with great respect--you will see key examples in the next few comics I will make. This is probably why he rarely has a bad breakup with his sex partners.
7. Because of all these activities, it is no wonder despite the extremely rich (as in fat and calories) reputation of his cuisine, he still manages to maintain a lean, sinewy, athletic frame.
8. He is the only male who could dominate Sister Sweden--though sometimes he could become Sister Sweden's willing submissive victim, more like a tit-for-tat deal.
9. Countries he's often in fierce rivalry with are Italy (especially in terms of romance, cuisine and art--sometimes Spain joins in the fray) and England. But despite the history of conflict with the latter, lately he and England would end up in the same alliance, especially with England's son, America.
10. Speaking of America, America's famed big ego derives from him hanging out with this character--and America has since outdone him in many ways.
11. If his hair is left unkempt, it will resemble Denmark's hairstyle, albeit in a brown color. Usually, as you would notice, his hair is styled in a pompadour.

As I mentioned in a previous comic, I love Humon's France character, but for my purposes, I will refer to her as Sister France. It is not necessarily because I want to relegate her to a subordinate role, but it was for the reasons I have already mentioned above. She does share several of her brother's traits, but she's not as egotistical or cocky. As we have seen in Humon's strips, she's very naughty, and chic and stylish, too. I'm sure we will see her walking along on the beach topless (she already appeared topless in one of Humon's strips already). A real-life personality that I feel Sister France is most alike is their current First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy--if one reads about her colorful lovelife, she stays friends with the men she slept with. She is often seen partnered with Italy, but one might wonder if either they keep on breaking up and making up, or that they are in an open relationship that they are still allowed to see and sleep with other people. (I would say the latter). One can also wonder if she and Sister Sweden sometimes compare notches on their bedposts.

Sister France copyright by Humon as "France".

By: josephvitug 8th July 2011