reminders for making diverse picrews
locs, cornrows, twists, and other Black braids do not usually reflect light as sharply as straight hair does when it's down. If you aim for realism, don't make them ultra silky/shiny. It could be perceived as whitewashing.
freckles are not a bunch of tiny dark dots all over someone's face. they vary in size and color and are not usually completely random. also, if you have darker skin tones in the picrew, don't forget to make the freckles darker too!
if there are different body type options, make sure there are different face and feature options that will make sense (by this i mean, I see a lot of picrews with plus size body options but only slim face shapes and features)
two-toned lip options >
also for lips, its nice to have different shapes and thickness options.
different blush colors are necessary for different skin colors! In the picrews I've seen, light pink doesn't work on dark skin.
stop making dark skin tones grayish and ashy-looking! don't just dim down the brightness on pale skin!
please have more than one brown eye option! and don't make all of them light brown! Add some dark brown and brown-black color options. most dark skin people don't have light eyes.
curly hair options need more than just loose curls. where's the type 4 hair? (._.)
dark skin doesn't just come in medium brown and dark brown. lots of different colors!
if you have a chance, I know a lot of people who would appreciate a hazel eye color option <3
this post explains how to color scars on different skin tones
hijab options are NECESSARY for a lot of folks
I've never seen picrews with options for partial heterochromia, so that would be cool, but I understand if that's not a priority for most, since its pretty rare.
YOU CAN AVOID SO MANY OF THESE THINGS BY LOOKING AT REFERENCE PHOTOS!!!
coming from a white person so feel free to correct
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I started loving art more when I broke out of the extremely narrow mindset that I HAVE to only draw skinny people with smooth, hairless skin, small noses, and no “imperfections” whatsoever.
I started loving bringing so many different beings to life and declaring them beautiful and ethereal and magical, because they are. Seeing diversity is magical and beautiful and ethereal.
And when you break out of that mindset, that brainwashing, you start to notice many, many, many artists tend to draw exactly the same.
It’s the same formula for EVERYTHING: Thin bodies, small noses, white features, smooth skin, nothing different, and they all claim it’s “just their style”, but… why tf is that one “style” everyone’s “style”?
Almost every single artist, especially mainstream artists, has that typical formula where they draw a woman with a small upturns nose, skinny body, and doll-like features. Same with men. Always super thin with muscles, always angular features, always the same exact body type and features. Every. Single. Time.
Even with nonwhite people, it’s the same formula. Cause everyone is doing that so-called “style”.
And that is brainwashing. But people are so brainwashed that they don’t even believe it’s brainwashing, and simply tell you it’s “just what they gravitate to”.
Yeah, sure, after years and years of being told only certain features and bodies are acceptable and the beauty standard, of course. Of course that’s what you’re going to gravitate to in order to fit in, be acceptable, not rock the boat, etc. Of course it’s what you find beautiful after having it being thrown in your face since birth.
And if anyone ever deviates from this style, if you decide to draw a bigger body, or a large nose, or wrinkles, or even a woman with body hair and a mustache and a unibrow, everyone gets quiet… they get uncomfortable? Why did you draw this person fat? Why is their nose “so big”? Why does this woman have a hairy body? Why would a woman have a mustache and a unibrow? Shouldn’t she shave it? Why this? Why that? Why why why? Why deviate from the norm? Why aren’t you like us? You make us uncomfortable.
I legit saw someone question as to why someone’s artwork of Aphrodite was fat, and it pissed me off so much, especially as someone who sees her as fat. I also saw people questioning why someone decided to make a Bratz doll with a large hook nose, and complained about the nose being “too big”. They claim the doll was beautiful, it just need to have a smaller nose. The casual fatphobia and antisemitism is so fucking disgusting, and people don’t even fucking stop to ask why they even feel this way.
And yet they swear up and down it’s “just a style”.
If it was “just a style” then a being having a fat body and a hook nose wouldn’t be a problem for these people.
Let’s just get one thing straight, a body is not a fucking style. And actual style is macabre and morbid art, fantasy art, whimsical art, flat art, cartoons, realism, surrealism, painting, sculpting, all of that shit is an art style. NOT A FUCKING BODY.
Just say you’re a fucking bigot.
I remember feeling a discomfort as I decided to draw a feminine being with facial hair for the very first time. I did this because I was so tired of seeing hairless femininity, but as I did so, the mindset that I had to stick to what I knew came over me.
But that discomfort was a part of my being programmed by white supremacy to only do what is “acceptable”. To only follow the crowd and never deviate. And one day, I just said fuck that. Cause why tf do I need to do that? Why the fuck do I need to do only what’s “comfortable”.
Fuck you and your comfort. I am a feminine being with facial hair and a hairy body, and I deserve to be seen. And so does everyone else. Period.
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