New art, new insight into the design of Batwoman

Prism Comics, a non-profit that which supports LGBT comics, creators and readers, held their annual “Gays in Comics” panel at SDCC and from all accounts it was another great panel (though unlike other years the panel was all male).

They also had an auction to raise funds that included this original artwork of Batwoman by Alex Ross:

When Batwoman was famously first announced in the New York Times, Ross’ designs were part of the package of materials provided to publication:

Ross’ design was based on his redesign of the Batgirl costume when there was a pitch to return Barbara Gordon to the role. (More on that here).

During the Prism panel, Chip Kidd, the graphic artist who has worked on numerous DC book designs, said that Ross based Batwoman’s face on the actress Traci Lords. I hadn’t heard that before. Here’s a graphic of Lords along with Ross’ original design, Keith Giffen’s pencils on her first appearance in week 7 of 52 and Joe Bennett’s pencils from week Eleven. Do you see a resemblance?