galacticglados

[galacticglados]

Some General Notes, Week 1

(in no particular order, no you don't have to agree, no they're not "the right answer", no I'm not going to argue. They're just my thoughts!)

-What I definitely enjoyed seeing was (the discomfort and frustration of, rightfully so!) people realizing just how much writing and character design go hand in hand, when told they could not consider the writing! Context is a beast, isn't it? People unfortunately judge with their eyes a lot faster than they bother to read and comprehend (‼️‼️‼️) and so sometimes we have to think about what we've drawn, and what we're trying to or could possibly SAY with that design. It doesn't have to be super detailed, but little things can go a long way.

-White folk tended to overcorrect, with more negative opinions about certain designs than Black and NB fans of color. I don't think it came from a bad place, as much as a place of concern with some lack of understanding.

-Black viewers are overall quite gracious about Black character design if it looks like you cared enough to try (contrary to popular Tumblr and Societal Belief, we don't bite!) But it did sometimes feel that it was to the point of being too nice. There are a lot of Black people who will accept the bare minimum just to feel included, and I hope to one day see less of that. We deserve the effort!

-Measured in three separate groups, we actually tend to be on the same page about design! We won't see the end result of the polls til next week (sorry ahead of time about the poll notification onslaught) so I could be wrong, but usually after the first thirty minutes, our bars tended to trend similarly from what I saw. This is likely due to the bias of my userbase; I'm sure if this poll reached The Unfortunate Masses of Fan Racists, it would be different. We shall see!

-There is usually a beginning wave of NB fans of color that actually find designs better than Black people will, which I found interesting, but then it evens out over time.

-Professional artists seem to be real big fans of the fade. The fade and the killmonger. The fade is funny because fades have been around for decades, and no one ever cared this much, but suddenly there are fades every other character. I wish there were more teeny weeny afros and short locs and just loose curls. Twists too!

-A lot of people were surprised about some characters who were supposed to be Black (and actually were). Which is telling, both on your side as the viewer and their side as the artists! Because that means something was not conveyed, communicated, or understood when you consumed that media!

-Black folk, I love y'all, I'm saying this kindly and I want you to hear me: I think there were times where your emotional attachment to the design affected your answers, even when told to only base it off visuals (e.g., yes, I know that particular character wears wigs! I know that's in the writing! I hear y'all! But unfortunately, when told to look at that character with the pictures provided, without the writing, given the genre, no, that is not an apparent piece of information. I am sorry.)

-I think NB fans of color especially understood this concept, which is just because a character isn't Black doesn't mean they aren't still a person of color. I say that to mean, some of these people felt ambiguously brown to a point that yes, they could be anyone else! 80% of the blue haired characters submitted (and the majority of the gacha ones) fell into this category, imo. Like, we should not all have to share the One Brown for Representation.

-I definitely didn't think that people would assume that the answers were "is this design Black, nonblack, or white"... I must admit that it doesn't make much sense to me 😅 it explained some of the answers I saw, though. Felt like some folks had to be trolling. Unfortunate, not something I can control once posted. Moving on.

-I do wish more people understood that this was meant to be a thought exercise moreso than "this is the right answer" (though sometimes, there was a right answer lmao. Beau is trash IDC.) It's not to gauge "do you know" as much as "based off of what you know, what would you say". It's for you (and me) to gauge where you are! It's okay to realize that you don't know what you don't know!

[galacticglados]

Funniest Outcomes

Alastor & HH

Okay, to give fairness to the creator: I don't think Alastor or really any of those "Black" characters were meant to look Black, bc none of the characters in the show look like humans. That said, I get asked about coding, and if we were supposed to understand that these characters were Black-coded... I don't think Anyone Liked That. 🤣 Consistent nahs across the board for that show 😅. Like if no one at all guessed, I don't think the "coding" was intentional, and if it were, it did not succeed.

Hobie (ATSV)

The way Spiderverse Hobie stomped 🤣 like the other ones weren't even bad, but like... There was "yeah these are Black guys" comic Hobies and then there was "this design CLEARS 😤" Spiderverse Hobie.

Beau

😑 no. There were bad ones, but I think by far that one was the worst for me.

Honey Stoneman

I know he's got a real name but frankly I don't think he deserves it. Like... No. I think looking into the details of that was textbook "this intent was good and kind, but goodness and kindness don't prevent racism, and the delivery was incredibly so".

Nah (White)

Peak memery. Excellent job Tumblr 👍🏾

[galacticglados]

Something cool I saw on the Internet today!

[galacticglados]

14 Days with You - Bad Black Character Design

This design is not okay for a Black man. I don't care if it was created by your discord server because at some point you need to put your foot down and be respectful.

Haruka and Moth are acceptable at best.

Beau? This is not okay. This is a white man painted Black and that is absolutely NOT okay. This also tells me that you do not actually care about representing people appropriately, you gave NO effort or care in his design, you genuinely just slapped together design options instead of making a character cohesive and respectful.

This needs to be addressed yesterday and he needs a complete rework. Haruka I have some notes but honestly this post isn't about her. It's about the blatant disrespect towards Black people this developer has done instead of actually taking the time to give a shit.

All three of the Black characters have non-brown eyes. Even moth has half blue eyes! Are you afraid of brown eyes???

Each of them have those stupid tiny anime noses and thin lips that don't show any care. Even in anime these things can be done well so you cannot use art style as an excuse.

I highly suggest learning how to draw Black people before you come back to this game or put out any updates. This is extremely rude of you to put out without any thought whatsoever of how this would affect Black fans.

The blog CreatingBlackCharacters would do you wonders. Check out her syllabus here.

Do better.

If anyone wants to complain about "its just the style"

Thank you Ice from CBC for everything you do 🙏

[galacticglados]

Some interesting things to note about THAT server

[galacticglados]

Another character from 14 Days With You, Moth (the players best friend)

they are south african if that helps at all

Rubric

[galacticglados]

Another character from 14 Days With You, Beau (Haruka's father)

Unless he dyes his arm hairs I'm pretty sure his natural hair is white (supposedly he was made by group vote in a discord server where they picked different traits they wanted and mashed them together)

Rubric

[galacticglados]

For the visual design submission, Haruka from a dating visual novel, 14 Days With You

She doesn't have any other art, just this character sprite (teal eyes, straight hair, is not mixed as far as I know. Her father is just an anime nerd(?)

Rubric