Girls Wear Blue and Boys Wear Pink:
Breaking Gender Norms Through Character Illustration

My Master's thesis analyzed how men and women and masculinity and femininity are depicted in contemporary forms of media consumed by both children and adults and how that reflects societal norms constructed around gender. It also explored different examples that break from those norms and the critical and supportive response from viewers and readers. With this, I designed and develop my own characters within a narrative scenario with very strict social norms and expectations when it comes to gender – a prince and a princess in a marriage arrangement. I developed these characters and their gender expression within illustrations geared for the young adult market to explore their journeys in reshaping their roles and appearance from childhood to adulthood since representations of gender are present at every life stage.