Riza Hawkeye

While the story primarily revolves around the lives and actions of the males, the women of Hagaren are by no means sitting on the bench watching the game. They play very important parts and without them the men would get into a lot more trouble than they already do. They are feminine but at the same time they never give up their strength. Perhaps it’s because the manga-ka is, herself, a woman but either way I always find it refreshing to see beautiful, formidable women in key roles.

This is First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, sharpshooter and second officer to Colonel Roy Mustang. Her fierce loyalty to Mustang becomes even more evident as the manga goes on (you see it too, in the anime, but the manga has yet to be completed). More than once, she has ended up saving the Colonel’s behind when he gets too smug for his own good. (“Stay back, Taisa. You’re useless when it rains.” )

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Sketched and finished in Photoshop with a lot of references from the manga and anime.

Wee… she took me all night to finish, but she was a lot of fun to paint. I got to play with some pretty and pale colors, too. Again, I opted for a simple background (I went for a sort of retro look reminiscent of a 60s cop show) because I want to spotlight the characters and not their surroundings. The dialog is from a conversation that she has with Winry Rockbell when the military first shows an interest in the young Elric brothers. And holy crap, I am totally in love with that broken-typewriter font.

I hate drawing guns, though. >.<

Riza Hawkeye, Hagaren, and all related characters I’ve mentioned are copyright Hiromu Arakawa.