asweetsorelle - Tumblr blog

[asweetsorelle]

This past Friday I published this post which featured a photo of a monitor showing Katara and Aang’s grown-up children, Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. Later that night at work I saw Colin’s answer to an anonymous “ask” (I can’t figure out how to link or reblog it properly in my browser, so the screen shot at the top will have to suffice). It is a shame the anonymous asker drew an incorrect assumption based on one image created in relatively uncontrolled conditions, and I feel that Colin’s answer hit the nail on the head.

Normally I would leave it at that. I prefer to stay out of this type of discourse on Tumblr and let the large body of work Mike and I have put out there over the years speak for itself (which obviously DOES NOT include the gross misinterpretations and misrepresentations of our work in this guy’s work). There’s nothing perfect about me or my work, but I am proud of it and the diverse, inclusive, atypical-for-American-TV world it portrays and the characters that populate it, and what it means to many people all over this globe.

But, like most people, I don’t like seeing the spreading of misinformation, nor being falsely accused of something, nor fans of Avatar and Korra believing we have let them down regarding a very sensitive issue when they are mistaken. The claim that “none of Katara and Aang’s kids share Katara’s complexion” is unequivocally false. Kya’s color model shares the exact same skin color as Katara’s; Tenzin’s skin is a touch darker and less saturated than Aang’s; and Bumi’s is just about in the middle of his siblings’. I made a color swatch chart above, with all the colors taken directly from the characters’ normal color models. I included Korra’s and her parents’ skin tones on there as well, just for reference. I also compiled screen shots of all the characters with the color picker open, sampling their skin tones. You can see for yourself that Katara and her daughter Kya share the same color code: #bd916f

Depicting diverse characters is an issue that is very important to me. But as an art director, depicting a variety of lighting situations, light temperatures, colored light sources, color atmospheres, contrast levels, dynamic ranges, tinted filters, tones, styles, moods, exposure settings, diffusion levels, etc., is all very important to me too, all in an attempt to make great, inspired, sophisticated, beautiful art that reflects something of the complex world in which we live.

Real flesh and blood skin is shiny in places, matte in others, translucent, reflective, uneven, smooth in places, textured in others. It reacts to light and color in such complex ways that while most people rarely even think about it in our normal day experiences, the properties are so intricate and subtle that mastering its accurate representation eludes students of painting such as myself for years on end. On the other hand, 2D cartoon character skin is a flat field of projected or printed color. It is an abstracted, simplified representation. If one adds lighting to a 2D animated character, that whole color field of skin tone is lightened––uniformly, unless you apply a few of the limited techniques at our disposal in TV animation involving gradations. If one adds lighting to real flesh and blood skin, highlights and core shadows are formed, light models surfaces and bounces onto others, colors are reflected from surrounding objects… on and on. 3D animation certainly has many more tools at its disposal to depict skin in a realistic fashion, but even that isn’t a cakewalk and many attempts plummet into the uncanny valley.

As Colin made reference to, color theory is an incredibly fascinating, frustrating, and bewildering pursuit. I’ve been studying and trying to apply it for twenty years, and I’m still in its awe. There are so many factors to consider before trusting your own perception. For example, in the image above with the characters’ heads, Kya’s skin appears to my eye to be slightly lighter than Katara’s, despite the fact that I know they are absolutely the same color. This is most likely due to the effect of simultaneous contrast, also known as contrast effect: in simple terms, colors are pushed lighter, darker, warmer, and cooler based on what other colors are next to them. I’ve taken a sample of Korra’s normal skin tone and applied it to an illustration with a painted background and all of a sudden it looks green. On another background it might appear gray. Or bright orange. The average 2D animated show out there in the world has stock normal color models for its characters that they use for almost every scene (occasionally with a “night” version that is a bit darker and cooler). Typically the character models are presented in a vacuum, with no change in lighting, atmosphere, contrast, etc… no regard for any of the artistic properties mentioned above that I am trying to utilize in my animation art direction.

I’m not going to make that kind of show. Instead, I’m going to add lighting, change contrast levels, mix up the colors of light sources, try to inject some atmosphere into the world we’re creating. And as a result, characters’ skin tones are going to appear different depending on the context of the scene. The colors on a normal color model sheet are what’s called local color in color theory. This is the color of an object in neutral, even light. But it’s just a starting point, a flat color field in a vacuum. On Avatar we dialed every single color model from its normal model to match the lighting and color atmosphere of the background painting for each sequence in all sixty-one episodes. On Korra we do that too, and take it many steps further by adding lighting and atmosphere effects in the compositing stage, all in a pursuit of a dramatic, cinematic aesthetic. Sometimes it works out and I’m satisfied with the results. Sometimes the effects are too heavy-handed and even I’m saying, “His/her skin looks too light!” Unfortunately, this is a TV show production where we are frantically making dozens of episodes at once and we don’t get to finesse the final composites like they are able to do in feature productions. I fix what I can in retakes and color correction, but there’s only so much I can do. But I’d rather have a few fumbles in the pursuit of good art than make a flat show with no lighting or atmosphere.

And I enjoy sharing sneak peeks of the work we’re making with you guys, which often means I take a snapshot on my iPhone or DSLR of a screen and post it on Tumblr. Take a look at the last compilation of images above to see how differently colors, particularly skin tones, can vary depending on their sources. This opens up another vastly complex subject of which I am a frustrated student: photography. Take color theory and multiply it by optical engineering and then by computer science and then pull all of your hair out as you try to get your meticulously processed photo to appear the same color and contrast level on a variety of digital devices and non-color-managed web browsers and non-color-calibrated monitors. Or try the simpler task of taking a picture of something on a TV screen and see how different the photo looks than the image you saw. Everything goes out the window. While you’re at it, take digital pictures of the same red apple at different times of day, in different rooms, under different lights, outside in different weather. Then pull all of those photos into your computer and make color swatches of what you thought you knew to be “red.” Then try painting a picture of that apple using just those sampled color swatches. You’ll start to see how complex this all is.

I am all for social justice and breaking down ignorance and oppressive, hurtful social constructs, particularly when the path to that is to inform, educate, open minds, and promote empathy and equality. I am not a fan of self-righteousness in any form and I struggle to keep from drifting in that direction with my own views and convictions. The internet provides a great platform to call BS on a lot of things, and I encourage people to use it for that. But now that you have the official local color swatches of these characters’ “normal” skin tones in the image above, I can assure you that using it like some Behr color chip ammunition to lambast every fanart depiction of Korra that doesn’t match #a08365 is a flawed pursuit. Ask yourself if any of the things listed above in this post might be factoring into a color variation before you shoot from the hip with your judgement. And if the depiction of Korra in some fanart is without a doubt offensive to you, consider phrasing your response in a way that could help them see it your way. Art is hard! Maybe he or she is trying to get the hang of painting and working with color (skin being one of the hardest things to master). Maybe he or she is still ignorant to the worldly views that are obvious and significant to you. You could take this opportunity to turn it into what they call in parenting “a teaching moment.” You could open some eyes and educate someone who might turn around and share his or her enlightenment with many others.

I haven’t even scratched the surface of all there is to discuss on this topic in this overlong post. But I urge you to consider any number of the factors listed and described above before you jump to false conclusions, get your feelings hurt, or lash out with self-righteous condemnation based on a variable rather than a constant.

Love, Bryan

EDIT: I guess the files were too tall to upload at full resolution, so I just split them up in the hopes they will show up as intended this time. And I fixed some typos. Thanks for reading.

[asweetsorelle]

RIP Chadwick Boseman. A video of him speaking about communicating with kids who had cancer. Unknown to the public, he was already battling his fight with cancer.

You were a rising star! This generations league of great Black Actors! You had so much ahead of you! And I appreciate all you have done for cinema! I hope your family finds peace and consolation. You will never be forgotten.

[asweetsorelle]

THE PROBLEM WITH THE Y2K AESTHETIC

There’s no denying that the early and mid-2000s fashion is making a comeback in recent years. The era of fashion that people used to ridicule for its low rise jeans and bold fashion statements is now the inspiration for the new generation 20 years later. This isn’t new in the fashion world, this is described to be the “20-year rule” the concept that something popular now will be popular again in 20 years. So in 20 years’ time, studded platform boots and emoji leggings will make their comeback in 2040… or for our sakes don’t. 

However, the Y2K aesthetic is not as accurately represented as one presumes. It seems like nowadays people watch Mean Girls, A Simple Life, and House Bunny once and think that’s all there is to Y2K fashion.

It’s no surprise that the aesthetic quickly became whitewashed with white people taking the pink, the rhinestone, the playboy, and mini skirts and said, “YUP that’s the 2000s!” when that’s far from the truth. The 2000s fashion is more than just Paris Hilton’s closet and I’ll tell you why. 

Before we start it’s important to differentiate the different subsections of Y2K fashion. 

There are the early 2000s (2000-2005) this is the era that most people are fond of as the style was still heavily influenced by the late 90s. 

Then there are the mid-2000s (2005-2007), this is the era with the questionable fashion choices like dresses over jeans, skirts over jeans, think young Ashley Tisdale on the red carpet. 

Last, there are the late 2000s (2007-2009) that most associate with the 2010s, this era is kind of a mixed bag, from 80s fashion inspiration to the boho “hipster” gossip girl fashion. 

My problem with the Y2K aesthetic (take a shot every time I say that), is that people fail to acknowledge the heavy influence of black culture. Without Black Americans, the trends we have today would be nonexistent. Ever heard of Nike Air Forces? Thank Nelly and other black artists of that time for popularizing it. Bandanas, chunky jewelry, tracksuits, bucket hats, are just a FEW of the trends that black people created. 

One big trend that is usually looked over is Logomania, which is the practice of wearing garments with designer logos all over them. Daniel Day, better known as Dapper Dan would illegally screenprint luxury brands logos all over his designs. Black artists of the 2000s are the REASON why high fashion couture is so mainstream now within streetwear. 

Brands like: Apple Bottoms, Baby Phat, FUBU, etc, and fashion icons like Lil Kim, Beyonce, Megan Good, Christina Milian, etc are often overlooked and not appreciated as much as the white celebrities of the time. What makes the situation worse is that, when black girls now in 2020 take inspiration from the 2000s they are labeled as “ghetto and trashy” but non-black people do it, it’s “yes y2k queen!” There’s racism in the y2k community that needs to be addressed especially when black people are the main creators of the trends we wear. 

To conclude, the next time you want to take inspiration from the early 2000s, try looking at other celebrities, specifically non-white ones for inspiration. Because, the world has passed the need for Paris Hilton (who’s racist by the way).

Sincerely,

Aminee

[asweetsorelle]

as a bunch of new fans are getting into atla via netflix and there’s been a resurgence of fan content (as well as whitewashed fan content), i’m gonna say for artists looking to make fanart of atla:

google images is probably not the best place to pick your references, unless you’re going to be critical about which ones you use. a lot of the images are lightened. i see people defend themselves for whitewashing by showing they used a reference, but that reference was lightened too. 

i’m going to use some pictures of katara i found on google images as examples: 

[id: three images of katara from avatar: the last airbender. each image is a side by side comparison of the coloring of a scene. in the first image, she is from the waist up, smiling and looking at her friends who are off camera. 

the second image is of katara sitting on a staircase, leaning down and putting her face in her left hand. she looks exhausted.

the third image is a closeup of katara’s face, with her looking up at someone off screen. the screenshots on the left of each image are picked from google images and significantly paler than the ones on the right, which were screenshotted directly from the show. end id.]

the ones on google images are paler than the show. this is also a problem i see with gif makers putting filters on katara and sokka. i would not use edited gifs as reference either.

this post is not saying you shouldn’t use google images at all for reference, or that all images found on it are bad. a lot of the katara images on google look just fine! i just wanted to bring awareness that people should not blindly trust their references and instead pick directly from the show if they can. if you do not have netflix or the atla dvds, avatarspirit has had an archive of screenshots from each episode of the show for a long time.  i also advise choosing references that have a similar background and lighting you’re going for. colors will appear differently if you’re using them on red, or blue, or etc. 

this post is not defending or giving excuses to artists who whitewash by saying they just picked bad references. this post is specifically to point out how to AVOID whitewashing by not picking bad references.

this post is also not arguing over if whitewashing is bad or not. if you comment about how whitewashing is not racist, i will delete your reply and/or block you. 

[asweetsorelle]

couldn’t find the original post but here are screenshots - this is a musician’s nightmare y’all pls be careful

[asweetsorelle]

[asweetsorelle]

marvel: should thor be fat in the next movie ha ha

me:

[asweetsorelle]

[asweetsorelle]

BNHA Name Meanings #2

Hello! It’s me again, and I’m back with some more names! This time I’m doing the names of all of the Class 1-B kids!

If you have any correction feel free to let me know; I’d be happy to hear them!

Keep reading

[asweetsorelle]

Fun statical facts time that I think you Mighty Bitches will enjoy! It's said that Asian Americans earn more than their White counterparts, but that is only half of the truth! In reality, we are paid 8% less on average than White people in the same jobs with the same level of education. (1/?)

(2/?)It's just that Asians get more degrees and schooling than White people on average, not because we have more or better opportunities, but because we are oft forced to scrape and crawl for those opportunities for ourselves and our children- because it is a requirement of being hireable at all. We are also expected to be savants in everything we do in the workplace, are afforded no room for mistakes, and to do the jobs of everyone else, all for less pay.

(3/?) My father has dealt with this his whole career- he's expected to outperform his White co workers, do their jobs for them, and gets paid less to do it. If he succeeds at perfection, he keeps his job - any less than that and he gets laid off or fired. It's happened MULTIPLE times now.

(4/?) It's the same for me as it is my dad. And ofc, colorism plays a role, too, as well as immigrant status. If you're not a light skin Asian, or if you have an accent, your pay grade is going to be even lower. We're often left out of the discussion about the racial wage gaps because people refuse to look past the initial statistic of "Asians earn the most" without ever questioning why or how, when the why and how is the DIRECT RESULT of the racism we face.

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK: The model minority stereotype is racist and harmful.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this information on the racism the Asian American community faces here. It’s got me mad as hell, and I’m so glad you piped up so we could share your story. 

For anyone looking for more information on how racism affects Asians, Asian immigrants, and Asian Americans, check this out: https://theundefeated.com/features/why-we-must-talk-about-the-asian-american-story-too/

Also, here’s a good bit on the model minority stereotype: https://time.com/5859206/anti-asian-racism-america/

Lastly, everyone should familiarize themselves with the Jackie Robinson Principle. While not specific to Asians, the tl;dr is that the first or only minority in a majority-dominated field has to work twice as hard and be twice as good to achieve the same level of success. 

[asweetsorelle]

i never see enough tips for trans women/transfem people so. here’s a video that came up about tucking :] (don’t worry she doesn’t use tape at all despite the thumbnail)

[asweetsorelle]

How Wack Artists Become Famous

spot on

[asweetsorelle]

The cast of “Sophisticated Ladies” on Broadway, starring Judith Jamison, Phyllis Hyman, Terri Klausner and Gregory Hines photographed in December 1980.

Photos by Jack Mitchell

[asweetsorelle]

If History had a Face

Pt. 1 of ‘If History had a Face’

Jody Watley, Phylicia Rashad

Patti Boulaye, Betty Davis

Phyllis Hyman, Teresa Graves

Freda Payne, Debbie Allen

[asweetsorelle]

Witch on the go!🔮🚐

[asweetsorelle]

My Lemony Town of Nowhere // 4B00-008A-F6F5

Grass // Wood Steps // Stone Path

[asweetsorelle]

Models Who Gained Weight Are Sharing Before-And-After Pics to Promote Self-Love