#black history art

[everynowndthen]

"Miss Braided" by me @blavdraws

[saber-monet]

[southpauz]

Black History Month Art Challenge

DAY 14: A.J. - The Fairly Odd Parents

[creatingblackcharacters]

“That One Hairstyle? RETIRE IT!” Black Hair is an Art (pt.1)

(This is part one of two lessons, with this one focusing on how our hair itself! The next lesson will encompass how to incorporate its existence into your writing. It'd be a massively long post otherwise.)

So! Black hair. Black hair is a CENTRAL, ESSENTIAL part of our culture and identity. Writing and drawing it means understanding the vulnerability and trust that comes with access to it, and yes, it is racist to suggest that ‘it’s just hair’ when our hair serves such an important role in our history and art. I already wrote a mini-lesson and ask on the topic, but being aware of what our hair looks like, and what means to us, will help you to understand why we care that you put in the effort to get it right.

Hair Textures

We are not a genetic monolith! However, for the sake of this series, we are focusing on 3C-4C, because 1) it's most likely to be seen in life and 2) least likely to be seen in popular art! When you are creating your characters, consider the style and care for THESE textures. I will get more into this next lesson.

Let's get into SOME of the hairstyles!

Afros (36 Afro Hairstyles)

“So, what’s the phenomenon behind the Afro? Well, it’s our hair in its most natural form, but that’s only part of the phenomenon. It’s a way to fight the status quo without saying a word.”

-Ebony Magazine, The History of the Afro

When nonBlack society hears ‘afro’, they think completely picked out, Black power imagery, political statement. And it was, and is! But in actuality, afros are just the natural hair growing out of a Black person's head. The same way your hair grows out of your head. Our texture. Even my hair is not allowed to be ‘hair’, it has to ‘assign’ my Blackness; my distance from whiteness. Imagine, the hair growing out of your head being automatically associated with how you should be perceived. Just by existing, it is making a statement in a Eurocentric society.

Braids (31 Braid Styles)

There are SO MANY TYPES of braids and ways to wear them. If you can imagine a design, I bet there's a Black braider that can do it!

CORNROWS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY BRAIDS! Internalize this! They may be used in the same style, but they are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS!

Braids are considered a protective style; that is, a hairstyle designed to let our hair 'rest' and grow without having to manipulate it. If you have a Black character that's constantly on the go and/or doesn't have time to focus on their hair, and you want an accurate, more true-to-life experience for them, braids can be a crucial part of character design.

Locs

(Yes, while that link has plenty of examples, it was also self-indulgent. Locs are gorgeous, Black men with locs are gorgeous!)

"Locs vs Dreads": As someone in the loc community, there’s been a push to refer to the style as ‘locs’, rather than ‘dreadlocks’. Some people with the style will not care, but others take it very seriously, so it’s something to keep in mind. There’s a societal stigma behind having locs, that they’re ‘dirty’ or ‘unkempt’ or ‘lazy’ and that is NOT true. Locs are beautiful, and they take far more effort than people seem to want to believe lmao.

Locs, though there is currently a positive revival, are still highly discriminated against. Kids have been expelled from school and even have had their hair forcibly cut off to be allowed to participate in sports. Many places won't hire you if they think your hair is 'unprofessional' or 'dirty', especially if you're a Black woman. To consider yet another example of the hair that grows out of my head 'dirty' is extremely racist.

LOCS ARE NOT BRAIDS!!!!

Locs are also a protective style, albeit a much more permanent one, and one that comes with a long history and culture behind it. Many Black people consider the biblical story of Samson to be a man with locs, and that our locs hold power within them. That not just anyone should be allowed to touch your locs. So, if you're interested in mythology and powers, that might be an intriguing way to go, that would be possible if you had a Black character with locs!

In Professional Media

The lack of awareness and concern about our hair isn't just a fan or amateur creator experience. It is ubiquitous in the professional media world. Black actors, actresses, and models have discussed having to do their own hair when working, because no one would properly care for it on set if it wasn't familiarly white. It’s admittedly grown better- however! After decades of not having options other than ‘stereotypical afro’, ‘box cut’, and ‘white people hair’, it is LONG PAST TIME to stop settling for the bare minimum in Black character design. We can tell when "one of us" (with some sense, at least) wasn't in the room to make decisions in popular media.

If you were curious about the lesson title, here's a current example of what I'm talking about in video games. Tell me if you see a pattern:

This style? The Killmonger? We seent it!!!! It has become the “hairstyle to show I understand the exaggerated swagger of a young Black teen” option, the "I know the Black people!" go-to, and frankly, we are all tired of it. Okay it was cute on Ekko. The Black Delegation DEMANDS the professional video game industry pick something else! We have SO MANY DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLES!

I'll give you an example on the other end (not trying at all; refer to Lesson 1) from one of my favorite games, Hades:

This is my blorbo. My favoritest guy. I’ll fight for Patroclus being Black til the day I die. While I begrudgingly settled in my excitement, I can tell you no one Black with any voting power was in the room at Supergiant when they approved this design. Why? His texture! Locs were such an easy option if they wanted long hair! Locs existed BEFORE Ancient Greece! The man did not have a flat iron while fighting in a war! A good Black designer would have considered that!

To give him a more accurate design, some artists (myself included) lean into giving him locs (one of my favorites is @karshmallow 's Pat; a phenomenal example in caring about your Black characters). It’s something Black fans find themselves doing- redesigning Black characters. That's not something we should have to do at all, especially in media we pay for!

But if you REALLY want your Black character to have straight hair, that leads into the last style of this lesson:

Straight Hair

We do have straight hair. But it’s not straight because it grew out that way! It will still look and be thicker! It might be a wig or a sew-in (human or synthetic), it might be flat-ironed (while relaxed? While natural?) It takes effort to get and maintain straight hair.

'I think it looks better good this way!'

If you catch yourself thinking this, this is a racist statement. Whether you’re aware of it our not, there is a bias towards Eurocentric/white features in our society, and that includes in our media. When you think “I only drew [this Eurocentric hair texture and style] because I think it looks good on them!” I want you to PAUSE and think about the WHY. WHY do you think that this Black person’s natural features are unattractive in comparison to the white hair texture you gave them? And how hurt might a Black peer of yours would feel hearing that you find their natural features not worth drawing because they’re “not attractive”. It requires approaching your own internal biases, recognizing them, and then working to unlearn them. And that means practice! Using references to draw our hair and styles, and growing used to using OUR features on US!

Doing it in Art

Me personally, I think if you think drawing thinner hair textures is easy, thicker hair textures should be a BREEZE. I was curious, so I challenged myself and-

(it took me about thirteen minutes total to do ol boy's hair and it's still not right. I'm sick fr y'all don't even know 🤢)

@ackee has a really good art lesson on the how-tos of drawing Black hairstyles. I highly recommend checking it out, as well as following and supporting a fellow Black artist (who is far better than I!)

Hair Brushes

Finally, an option you can use for painting is downloading Black hair brushes! Vegalia has an amazing array of brushes with different types of curls, locs, and braids at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on social media to see how she applies them, and support yet another amazing Black creative!

I know this was a long one, but you made it! Just keep going. Remember, it's the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

[undr]

Arthur Pollock. A helicopter delivered a model dinosaur to the city’s Museum of Science (Boston). 1984

[eirene]

Wet Veil, c. 1937

Photography: Erwin Blumenfeld

[marsoid]

Hi if you're Black/Black mixed and make a comic/webcomic, reblog this post w pics/info/links!!! I WANNA SEE AND SHARE EM!!! (or alternatively recommend your faves by Black creators!)

[rawlsartgallery]

Socia Justice Art & Streetwear

Website: https://www.rawlsartgallery.com/

Ty Rawls's work is inspired by the universal human struggle for justice. His intention is to evolve the understanding of justice and fairness through the subjects and colors in his painting practice.

About the artist:

For Ty Rawls painting is a way of life. As a child, it was a way of coping with constant racism and the pain of never seeing his absent father. The drawing was therapy, and he drew a lot. In many ways he was destined to be a painter. The Rawls family held fine art in the highest regard and recognized Ty’s talents, finding advanced art classes for him at a young age. After spending three years at Wayne State University studying fine art and design, Ty left to start his first big project, and in the year 2000 he became known around the world as the creator of the hit Graphic Novel, “Smoke”. In 2001 after success with “Smoke” and a move to Boston, Ty had the good fortune of meeting Paul Goodnight and began training with the master painter. It was a dream come true, and during this period he acquired the specific skills that make him the painter he is today. In 2009 Rawls had a series of shows in Hollywood Los Angeles. Ty experienced L.A.’s amazing gallery scene getting attention for his work, and having an incredible time. In 2019 Ty was introduced to the incredible Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club and in just a few months sold more pain/ngs than he had thought possible. When the pandemic hit, people kept buying Ty’s work and in 2021 he started planning his first gallery show since 2009, with a new body of work that is more meaningful and vibrant than anything he’s ever done.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paintrag

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawlsartgallery/

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RawlsArtGallery?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

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[lionofchaeronea]

Black Bear Cub, Mori Shūhō, 1799

[mrmousetolliver]

Francisco Moncion, Fire Island, 1948 by George Platt Lynes

[nicodrawings]

Black history month isn’t just about celebrating the people we know, but uplifting the people whom we might not know.

This was truly a labor of love as I spent that past few weeks learning about Tina Bell’s life and the impact she and BAM BAM in general had on the Seattle grunge scene.

I would love it if you read about her story and share this with others who are passionate about music and black history, I want her to be just as much of a household name as Kurt Cobain.

Also please listen to their album! Its incredible!

Happy Black History Month to all my Black grunge guys gals and pals!!!! We were always here!!!

[allurahomeofbeauty]

Edited and directed by Lok Hong

[croxovergoddess]

Black Puff Magic✨

[southpauz]

Black History Month Art Challenge

DAY 7: Frances - Big Top burger

[tygerland]

Artist Bisa Butler has been creating decorative quilts since 2001. Here - in her New Jersey studio - she examines one of her newest works,Young, Gifted and Black, based on a portrait by Black photographer, Roy Francis. (Photos 2023 by Celeste Sloman.)

[undr]

Philip Jones Griffiths. A young couple seek a tender moment in a doorway, London. 1960s