Just One Of The Guys

One thing I strive to avoid with my central female characters in Forever 16 is having them be defined by anything that's viewed as stereotypically "girly". You don't see Michelle or Jocelyn or Kendra going on shopping sprees or exchanging makeup tips in the bathroom or having giggly conversations about boys, because that's the same damn thing everybody does with teenage girl characters. (Admittedly, Lindsay does fall into these habits, but I use her to make fun of that sort of thing.) I try to define my characters by their personalities, not by their genders.

So I drew this scene of Michelle acting decidedly un-ladylike at the pizza parlor, no doubt waiting for Joel to arrive with his lunch. She may be really hot and super-smart, but it doesn't mean she can't be a slob once in a while too.