Some Worldbuilding Vocabulary
Abeyance: When the audience temporarily suspends their questions about made-up words or worldbuilding details with the implicit understanding that they will be answered later in the story.
Absorption: The two-way street wherein the audience is immersed in the created world and is picking up the author’s metaphoric building blocks to recreate the concept in their head.
Acculturation: When an adult assimilates into another culture.
Additive: When something has been added to a secondary world, usually in the form of magic or fantasy species.
Affinity: A kinship pattern wherein the familial bond is based upon marriage.
Aggregate Inconsistencies: When audiences pick up internal inconsistencies not within the same story but from multiple sources within the shared universe.
Anachronism: Details that do not conform to their time period or culture.
Analogue Culture: Real-life cultures that the creator emulates in their work and then applies their fantasy conceits to.
Ancestor Worship: The belief that deceased ancestors still exist, are still a part of the family, and can intervene within the living world on their descendants’ behalf.
Animism: The belief that all objects, creatures, and places are imbued with a spiritual essence.
Apex Predator: The predator at the top of a food web that no other creature naturally feeds upon. Two apex predators cannot exist in the same niche.
Apologetics: In worldbuilding, the attempt to explain inconsistencies in terms of existing canon.
Appropriated Culture: Using a culture as a whole that the creator is not a member of. Different from an analogue culture in that the analogue is changed by the creator and used respectfully.
Artifacts: In worldbuilding, the observable ways a culture behaves due to their cultural worldview. This can include politics, economics, religion, education, arts, humanities, and linguistics, along with many other cultural norms.
Ascendant: In worldbuilding, a world that the magic is increasing in power and influence.
Assimilation: When an individual rejects their original culture and adopts the cultural norms and beliefs of the dominant culture.
Author Authority: When an author demonstrates expert-level knowledge in a field to their audience.
Author Worldview: What Mark J. P. Wolf calls “not only the ideas and ideologies of the world’s inhabitants, but also those which the author is expressing through the world’s structure of events.”
Autocracy: A government in which supreme power concentrates in the hands of one individual or polity.
Avatar: The embodiment of a deity in another form, usually humanoid.
B-C
Bible: In the field of television writing, a series guidebook that usually includes the pitch, character descriptions, a synopsis, as well as worldbuilding details.
Biome: The vegetation and animals that exists within a region. Terrestrial biomes include: forest (tropical, temperate, or boreal), grassland, desert, and tundra.
Black Box: In information processing, when a system is viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs without any understanding as to its internal workings.
Bottom-Up: In design, where the granular, base elements of the system are created first, then grouping them together into larger constructs over and over until a pattern forms. Also known as “pantsing” in writing and worldbuilding because the creator is building by the seat of their pants.
Callback: From standup comedy where the punchline in a joke used earlier in the set is alluded to again, eliciting another laugh from the reframing of what was already familiar.
Canon: The core doctrine for the world when conflicting information arises. Usually what the original creator made takes canonical precedence over subsequent additions.
Capitalism: The economic system wherein individuals own the means of production.
Chekhov's Gun: Often understood to mean that something must be introduced previously if it will have significance later in a narrative, but meant by the playwright that nothing should be included in the story that is not completely necessary.
Climate: The temperature and rainfall in regions over approximately 30 years. Classified as tropical (high temperature and high precipitation), dry (high temperature and low precipitation), temperate (mid temperature and mid precipitation), continental (in the center of large continents with warm summers and cold winters), and polar (low temperatures and low precipitation).
Commercial Fiction: The style of fiction that includes all genre fiction, the aim of which is entertainment. Often fast-paced and plot-driven.
Compelling: One of the four Cs of worldbuilding, which deals with how well the core concept and subsequent details maintain audience interest.
Complete: One of the four Cs of worldbuilding, which deals with the sense that the world is lived in, has a sense of history, and continues on even when the story ends.
Complexity Creep: When material gradually grows in complexity over its lifetime, raising the bar of entry for new people experiencing the material for the first time.
Conceits: Where a story deviates from reality. Usually the focus of the fiction by being what the author intends on exploring in their works.
Conlanguage: A constructed language created specifically for a story world.
Consanguinity: A kinship pattern wherein the familial bond is based upon a shared genetic lineage.
Consistent: One of the four Cs of worldbuilding, which deals with how well the material maintains its own internal logic as established by the fantasy conceits.
Constructed World: A fictional world that does not exist but was created by someone.
Continuity: A gestalt term for perception where the mind fills in obvious blanks to make a unified whole.
Convergent Evolution: When two or more species develop analogous features to deal with their environment.
Co-Residency: A kinship pattern wherein the familial bond is based upon shared space.
Cosmology: The study of mapping the universe and our place in it.
Cost: In worldbuilding, when a character must risk or sacrifice something for magic to take effect.
Creative: One of the four Cs of worldbuilding, which deals with how and to what extent the constructed world deviates from the real world.
Credibility Threshold: Where worldbuilding details must only appear plausible to a general audience rather than demonstrating expert-level knowledge.
Cultural Identity: An individual’s self-concept as distinct from others based upon nationality, ethnicity, social class, generation, and locality.
Cultural Universals: Traits, patterns, and institutions prevalent throughout humankind.
Customs: Informal rules of behavior that people take part in without thinking about it.
D-F
Deity: The most powerful of metaphysical entities, deities often exist in pantheons, have thematic powers based upon their roles, and few weaknesses or limitations.
Descendent: In terms of magic, the idea that the most powerful magics are from ages past and that magic is on the decline in terms of power and influence.
Despotism: An economic system wherein an individual or institution controls the laws and resources of an area.
Deus Ex Machina: A plot device in which an unexpected power, event, or deity intervenes to save a hopeless situation.
Differentiation: When one culture forms part of their identity by contrasting themselves with another nearby culture.
Divergent: When the creator alters something in the development of the world but it remains very similar to the real world in every detail but this fantasy conceit. For instance, a world that resembles our own but made up of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans.
Divine: The belief that something is of, from, or like a god.
Democracy: A government in which the people elect a governing body in some fashion.
Early Adoption: When an inventor or culture creates a technology long before their analogue culture did in the real world.
Easter Egg: A hidden message, image, or feature that is meant to be hunted for within the material.
Economics: The study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Education: A form of socialization in which we teach the youth what they need to know to become functioning members of society.
Effective Worldbuilding: When (a) the immersive state is never disrupted for the audience, or when (b) the immersive state is disrupted with a positive result.
Element X: N. K. Jemisin’s concept of when fantasy elements diverge from the real world. Similar to fantasy conceits.
Emic: An account of a cultural idea, concept, behavior, or belief documented as if from within the culture.
Empires: Multinational states with political hegemony over other ethnicities, cultures, or nations.
Encyclopedic Impulse: The consumer’s desire to know everything about the world or the author’s desire to expound upon all the worldbuilding details.
Ephemera: Transitionary materials that are not meant to exist for long term, such as advertisements, diary entries, letters, posters, and the like.
Ethnicity: A group that identifies with each other based on presumed similarities such as a shared language, ancestry, history, society, or social treatment within an area. Ethnicities are not dependent upon, but are often associated with, certain taxonomic traits or physiological similarities within those groups.
Etic: When cultural ideas, concepts, behaviors, or beliefs are documented from outside the cultural milieu as a passive observer with an eye for similarities between all cultures
Exsecting: When the creator removes something that exists in the real world from the created world.
Extrapolation: In worldbuilding, the belief that any fantasy conceit should be followed to its natural conclusion.
Face Validity: When worldbuilding detail appears believable upon immediate examination. See Credibility Threshold.
Fan Service: Material included in a story that serves no narrative purpose other than to please fans.
Fantasy Conceit: What the creator intends to explore in the world, it is where the constructed world deviates from the real world, usually in the form of geography, biology, physics, metaphysics, technology, or culture.
Fantasy Function: When analogue cultures are filtered through fantasy conceits to populate the created world with its output details.
Fetishes: Items imbued with cultural significance and power.
First Principles: Core belief and value systems within a culture that are often unconscious until confronted.
Flavor Text: Texts within stories, video games, role-playing games, and action figures that add depth by providing a sense of history but do not alter the game mechanics or story in a substantial way.
Feudalism: An economic system wherein there is a division between the lords that protect the vassals that work the land in exchange for protection.
Four Cs of Worldbuilding: See Creative, Complete, Consistent, and Compelling.
G-L
Gender: A social construct of how cultures differentiate the sexes.
Generalist: When every individual in a society has the same basic job, which is providing their daily caloric intake. A staple of hunter and gatherers and in contrast to specialists.
Generation: A social cohort group based around the period in which children grow up, become adults, and bear children of their own. Because of this shared timeframe and significant events in their lives, generations often share a similar worldview within the general culture.
Genre Expectation: The qualities audiences expect of their genres to be considered successful, i.e. is the thriller thrilling or the romance romantic. For fantasy and science fiction, the genre expectation is worldbuilding.
Goldilocks Zone: The habitable zone around a star where the temperature is right for water to exist in liquid form.
Group: Two or more individuals who share a collective sense of unity via interacting with each other because of shared similar characteristics.
Habitat: The ecosystem or ecological community creatures exist in.
Handwave: A writing term for explaining crucial events dismissively with minimal details.
Handwavium: As opposed to the handwave, when everything else in the imagined world fits logically together with the exception of the fantasy conceit, which the audience must then accept to continue on with the story.
Hard Deduction: When there is no narrator and no character bringing the worldbuilding details to the audience’s attention, who must then piece together the world rules based upon the provided details alone.
Hard Impart: When information is imparted to the audience through narrative text, usually through the narrator or the internal thoughts of characters.
Hero Props: Items that are necessary for a scene to take place, making them integral to the story.
Heroic Theory of Invention: When inventors and discoverers of scientific developments are treated as solitary geniuses rather than products of good luck or a part of a team.
High-Concept: A term from the film industry meaning an idea needs lots of background details, usually compiled from the worldbuilding, to be explained for the core concept to be compelling.
Hybrid: (a) In biology, a living thing bred together from two different species, which is not able to produce its own viable offspring. (b) A method the author can employ to get details across to the audience in which it appears they are using a hard or soft impart, but the audience deduces are not correct, which then casts provided information into doubt and adds new nuance.
Iceberg Theory: The theory proffered by Hemingway that so long as the author is aware of the underlying ideas, they can cut away anything from the story and it will still make sense. Usually interpreted to mean one only needs to reveal 10% of worldbuilding details or backstory.
Illusion of Completeness: The sense that the world is complete and that all questions can be answered within it rather than the creator explicitly spelling out all the details.
Immersion: The altered state in which the audience feels they are physically present in a non-physical world.
Ineffective Worldbuilding: When worldbuilding details become obvious to the consumer, thus breaking the sense of immersion and reminding them of the real world. This can be caused by internal inconsistencies or from reality incursions.
Info Dump: A sudden overwhelming quantity of backstory or background information supplied in a short timeframe.
Info Dump Equity: The idea that an author should not reveal worldbuilding information until the audience craves it, thus being able to deliver an info dump without anyone complaining.
In-Group: The other people an individual identifies with. While they may not share the exact worldview, they share the same first principles in understanding the world around them.
Innovation: The drive for change, usually technological, but also socially.
Inside-Out: How audiences process worldbuilding details, in that they pertain to the immediate understanding of the scene, which are then pieced together into an understanding of the world.
Inspired Worldbuilding: The top form of worldbuilding, which invites additional audience interaction via their imagination after the story has concluded.
Institutions: Stable organizations of individuals formed for a shared purpose, usually by performing specific, reoccurring patterns of behavior.
Integration: When an individual adopts the cultural norms and beliefs of the dominant culture while still retaining their original culture.
Interconnection: When the threads of worldbuilding are tied together cohesively. Part of Sanderson’s third law of magic systems.
Interquel: Stories set in an existing world but that do not connect with the original story.
Intraquel: Stories set in an existing world that fill in gaps in the existing story.
Kinship: How social relationships organize into groups, roles, and families. Usually consisting of consanguinity, affinity, or co-residency.
Limitations: Checks put upon magical powers, usually in the form of weaknesses and costs. Sanderson maintains in his second law that limitations are more dramatically important than powers.
Linguistics: The study of languages.
Literary Fiction: The style of fiction that aims for awards, considers itself art, focuses on the prose, and is usually slowly paced.
Locality: The small-scale community in which the individuals in a group grew up, usually comprising of a town, neighborhood, or block, which differentiates them from others in the surrounding area.
M-O
Macroworldbuilding: The first of the stages N. K. Jemisin breaks her worldbuilding process into, which consists of planet, continents, climate, and ecology.
Magic: Change wrought through unnatural means.
Magic Point Systems: Magic systems where the casters have a set amount of energy, usually referred to as mana, to spend on their effects.
Magical Thinking: The belief people can affect change the world around them through thoughts and behaviors.
Mana: A frequent generalized term for the finite resource magic users spend on their magical effects.
Marginalization: When an individual rejects both their original culture and the dominant culture.
Mary Sue/ Marty Sue: Originally a created character for fanfic who has no flaws and is inserted into interactions with the canonical characters. Now an insult leveled at characters consumers don’t like, usually claiming they are overly capable and without flaws.
Masquerade: A term taking from the World of Darkness RPG wherein the existence of magic is hidden from the general populous.
Metaphysics: In worldbuilding, dealing with deities, spirits, cosmology, and the afterlife. In essence, creatures and locations that do not abide by understandings of biology or physics.
Microworldbuilding: The second of the stages N. K. Jemisin breaks her worldbuilding process into, which consists of species, morphology, raciation, acculturation, power, and role.
Monotheism: The belief in a single deity only.
Mystery Box: The theory proffered by JJ Abrams that mystery drives audience interest, which will keep them invested in a story so long as they are promised elucidation later.
Mythopeia: Constructed mythologies, lores, and histories within created worlds.
Nationality: How an individual relates to their state. A component of cultural identity.
Nominal Change: A superficial change in the secondary world that contributes nothing to the worldbuilding.
Norms: What is considered acceptable group behavior and what people should and should not do in their social surroundings.
Oligarchy: A government in which power rests in a small group of people like the nobility, wealthy, or religious leaders.
One-Off: An intentional inconsistency meant to highlight the aberration as separate from the established worldbuilding.
Out-Group: Those that do not share the same collective worldview, which are often mistrusted or viewed with outright hostility.
Overlaid Worlds: Constructed worlds with real-world locations but with the addition of fantasy elements.
P-R
Pantheon: A categorization of collected deities based upon the culture that worships them
Pantsers: Creators who build or write without a clear outcome in mind. See Bottom-Up.
Pidgin Language: A grammatically simplified language used for trade that comprises vocabularies drawn from numerous languages.
Planet of Hats: The trope of treating a species or world as monolithic and with one defining trait.
Planners: Worldbuilders or writers who have a clear plan once they start creating. See Top-Down.
Politics: The decision-making process within groups and individuals involving power structures.
Polytheism: The belief of multiple gods, usually inhabiting a pantheon.
Porcelain Argument: In worldbuilding, the belief that technology stagnates at the level at which magic or a fantasy conceit is introduced.
Portal Fantasy: A subgenre in which the characters from the real world travel to a secondary world.
Prequel: Stories set in an existing world that precede the original story. They do not need to connect to the original story but often do.
Primary Sexual Characteristics: The sex organs used in reproduction.
Primary World: The real world in which we all reside and draw our experience from.
Prime Mover: A conceit that cannot be removed without the story world falling apart.
Profane: Something that is religiously blasphemous or obscene.
Prologue: An opening sequence in a narrative that establishes background details to create context, clarification, and miscellaneous information for the audience
Promise of the Premise: The term coined by Blake Snyder for the point in the story when the setup is complete and it examines its core conceits. An author breaks the promise of the premise when the story is not about the promised core concepts.
Pull Factors: Factors that draw immigrants to an area.
Purple Prose: Descriptions that becomes overly ornate and extravagant, to the point they break the sense of immersion by drawing attention to themselves.
Push Factors: Factors that drive immigrants out of an area.
Race: (a) In biology, a grouping of populations below the level of subspecies, and is rather imprecise in distinguishing the differences between them. (b) In the fantasy genre, usually understood to mean “species.”
Racial Attributes: The assumption that any one fantasy race shares not only certain abilities like flight or the capacity to speak with animals, but certain demeanors, temperaments, and biases.
Reality Incursions: When the outside world interjects itself into the created fantasy experience to remind the consumer that this is indeed a made-up world. They usually occur when the consumer has expert knowledge in a field that is not depicted correctly in the narrative.
Reciprocity: When people respond to actions with similar actions. This can be positive, as in the exchanging of gifts, or negative, as with punitive eye-for-an-eye punishments for crimes.
Relativism: The belief there is no real objective universal truth and that we base all understanding upon perception and consideration.
Religion: The cultural system of behaviors, morals, ethics, and worldview in which humans deal with supernatural, metaphysical, and spiritual conceptions.
Retcon: Short for “retroactive continuity,” the term comes from comic books when previous canon or facts are ignored or contradicted so as to assimilate new stories or understandings in current storylines.
Reverberations and Repercussions: The understanding that any change within a world creates many expected and unexpected changes to the whole.
Rituals: Formal customs often involving gestures, words, and objects performed in a traditional sequence.
Rule of Cool: The understanding that the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to its level of “coolness.”
Rule of Law: The idea that laws extend to the lawmakers as well as the general populous.
Rule of Three: In worldbuilding, the concept coined by Randy Ellefson in which an author should alter at least three components of a trope to make it their own.
S
Saturation: Mark J. P. Wolf’s term for when there are simply too many details for the audience to fully absorb, which he maintains makes the world stronger since it invites the audience to reexperience the material again and again to glean something new each time.
Scarcity: When people put higher value on rare things and assign lesser value to things in abundance.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: The distinguishing traits that distinguish the sexes, such as human males’ facial hair or females’ breasts.
Secondary World: A created world that does not exist.
Selection: In biology, the preferential survival and reproduction or elimination of individuals with certain traits. Can be either artificial, natural, positive, or negative.
Separation: When an individual rejects the dominant culture in favor of preserving their original culture, which often leads to minority enclaves within the dominant culture
Sequel: Stories set in an existing world that follow the original story. They do not need to connect to the original story but often do.
Set Piece: An iconic scene that exemplifies the story even though it might not actually be necessary to the story itself.
Shamanism: The belief that specific individuals have access to and influence over the spiritual realm, usually derived by ritual and entering altered states.
Show Don't Tell: The understanding that the audience prefers to experience the worldbuilding details and storytelling events in action rather than having them explained.
Smeerp: Unnecessarily renaming something to make it seem exotic. Derived from James Blish’s sarcastic use of the term when describing rabbits.
Smeerp Hole: When one seemingly minor change contributes to a whole slew of other changes on the author’s part that add little to the audience experience as a whole.
Social Class: The hierarchal social stratification of groups, usually manifesting as upper, middle, and lower classes.
Socialism: The economic system in which the workers or government own and manage the means of production.
Socialization: The process in which a group passes on the worldviews, norms, and customs to their children.
Soft Deduction: When a character with knowledge of the worldbuilding takes action based upon specific information to get the worldbuilding rules across to the audience.
Soft Impart: Information presented to the audience not through narrative text but through a trustworthy side character or source. Can often come about from an overheard conversation or explanation from another character.
Specialization: The divisions of labor and creation of occupations when the population does not individually have to account for their daily caloric intake. As opposed to generalist.
Species: A group of living creatures capable of exchanging genetic material and producing viable offspring.
Speculative Fiction: An umbrella term for fiction that inject elements into the story that do not exist in the real world. Fantasy, science fiction, horror, historical fiction, alternative history, and dystopian and utopian fiction are just a few genres that qualify as speculative fiction.
Spotlighted/Lampshaded: A potentially troublesome concept or idea that is intentionally brought to the audience’s attention before it becomes problematic to highlight that it is intended as a fantasy conceit rather than an accidental anachronism.
Stasis: The drive to maintain the current order, be it social, political, or technological.
States: Organized governments overseeing a specific territory that can interact with other states.
Streamlining: Part of Sanderson’s third law of magic in which worldbuilding details should be accounted for by already existing fantasy conceits instead of creating whole new conceits.
Suspension of Disbelief: When an audience makes a choice to suspend their critical faculties to allow for a patently unreal concept to be considered logical for the sake of entertainment.
T-W
Taming: When an animal has been taught to tolerate human presence. As opposed to domestication.
Technobabble: When a character spouts a number of details to establish their expert credentials in the field. Technobabble is not meant to be understood by either the audience or the other characters, only to establish the character’s authority on the subject.
Terra De Facto: The implicit understanding that anything that is not accounted for by a fantasy conceit must therefore abide by the rules of the primary world.
Terrain: The vertical and horizontal proportions of land masses, which includes how high it is above sea level and at what slope.
Theocracy: A government where the religious leaders and practices control the laws in addition to the religious norms and rituals.
Toehold Details: Descriptors that specifically trigger the assumption of an analogue culture and time period, and therefore help the audience to mentally populate the scene.
Top-Down: In design, when the underlying idea or system is formed on a grand scale, then with all subsequent subsystems being added and refined until everything is mapped out. Also referred to as “planner” or “engineer” when it comes to writing or worldbuilding.
Totems: Imbued emblems representing a group of people tied to a specific spirit.
Transmedial: When a story or world exists in multiple mediums.
Tropes: Reoccurring motifs, images, plots, and characterization that exist within a genre.
Unchanged: When the creator does not use a particular fantasy conceit and leaves their created world the same as the real world in regards to this fantasy conceit. See Terra De Facto.
Unobtanium: In engineering, the term used for materials or technologies that do not yet exist but will one day solve current problems. Frequently used in science fiction worldbuilding.
Upmarket Fiction: The style of fiction that aims for creating discussion. It often blends literary and commercial fiction, deals with universal themes, has accessible language, and is character-driven.
Weakness: Limiting factors that diminish the power or the person using it. Part of Sanderson’s second law of magic.
Worldbuilding Capital: Time and mental energy sunk into a world, which is why authors frequently reuse the existing world instead of forming a new one for subsequent stories.
Worldbuilding Kudzu: When too many worldbuilding choke out the pertinent information by sheer volume, thus disrupting immersion.
Worldview: How a society or individual orients their knowledge and point of view towards the world. This includes philosophy, fundamentals, existential postulates, values and ethics, ideology, and attitude. It encompasses the concept of why the world works the way it does and the “correct” way to act within it.
Worship: The act of religious devotion towards a deity or ideal.
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“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!
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hii! I hope youre doing well ^^ n I have a request!
Fatherhood Gojo, Yuta and Suguru (separate) seeing their daughter have a love interest
let’s say the daughter is like 4-5, just started school with a strong start, one day when they come to pick up their kid— they see a boy that’s also 4-5, giving their daughter flowers or something, how would they react?
(I can imagine mother!reader being delighted at the sight, gojo being dramatic, Yuta being stressed out, and Suguru having a polite smile but yet clenching his fist LMFAO)
“I WILL THROW HANDS AT ANYONE EVEN A KID"
— gojo, sukuna, and suguru seeing their five year old daughter with a love interest (f!reader)
a/n: here you go go <33 i am so sorry bae that I couldn't include yuuta 😭
GOJO SATORU:
your daughter is naturally charismatic.
satoru wholeheartedly believes that it is something she has inherited from him.
you disagree because you can’t remember anybody who remained friends with satoru after actually talking to him, aside from those forced to, of course.
now another thing that satoru believes is that said charisma is a double-edged sword. from one side, his daughter is able to make friends quickly which gives him a piece of mind.
on the other side, the thing that makes his vein pop is the fact that filthy dirt-covered boys approach her.
he thought he had solved that problem when he scared away that last kid during her ballet class , but it seems there are always people who are competing for her heart.
he didn’t expect to run into one today though, especially not one blatantly gifting her a bouquet in front of the school gates.
the kid is a blushing mess as he gives the bouquet to her, and your daughter is nothing less than ecstatic. she jumps around, really happy with her bouquet and squealing about how pretty it is.
the little boy smiles timidly as he fidgets with the hem of his shirt, mumbling something that satoru can’t be bothered to care about.
the only things occupying his mind are two: the kid who dares to even speak to his daughter and you with your cute smile because you’re happy for her.
so, he arranges things as he prioritizes him.
he presses one big smooch to your cheek and squishes you in an ever so love-filled hug.
then he proceeds to make his way to deal with the kid who is making moves on his little baby.
he towers behind the boy, and before his little girl greets him, satoru carries the kid from his scruff and throws him in the ball pit conveniently placed beside him.
the kid screams as he falls into the ball-filled abyss.
hurriedly, he gathers his daughter in his arms and showers her with kisses. he nuzzles his nose into her cheek, “how was your day, honey?”
“it was so nice, papa!” she says happily them gets out the bouquet she was given, “and I even got this bouquet!”
“oh, really?” he hums as he takes the bouquet from her hands into his. he inspects it, distaste filling his expression.
you walk to him with a little pep in your step and place your hand around his shoulder, while you kiss your daughter’s cheek.
she squeals a delightful, “mama!” and throws herself into your arms.
you guys quickly get caught in your own conversations, not noticing satoru quickly releasing his technique blue at the poor bouquet making it effectively disappear from existence.
another day saved.
RYOMEN SUKUNA:
being the daughter of ryomen sukuna had its perks.
people strayed away and kept their distance. however, your daughter was a natural sweetheart—ironic considering her father but anyway.
that meant that little boys around estate had a tiny little crush on her which they would never act upon since they do want to continue living.
of course, there is an exception to the norm.
and that exception came in the form of a little servant boy presenting your daughter with a bunch of flowers that he had plucked himself.
your daughter was taken back, and she got flustered but accepted the flowers, nonetheless. on the other hand, you were watching from the side lines and were cheering both her and the boy on.
it was an innocent little gesture between kids. no harm done, so there was no need for—
“what the hell is this?”
you feel your husband’s menacing aura, before you hear his words. you turn to him and rest your hands on his chest and say, “d/n got flowers! isn’t that cute?”
“I can see that,” he grumbles, pinching your cheek in annoyance then directing his gaze to the kids, “but why the hell is a little good-for-nothing servant approaching my daughter? in fact, these servants should not be allowed to talk to her so casually.”
“sukuna, it’s not that big of a deal. just let them be,” you huff, “it’s not like she will fall in love with him, and he will convince her to overthrow you when they’re older.”
your husband stays quiet for a few moments. the man looks like he is actually considering the scenario that you just suggested.
and judging by him slowly approaching the kids, sukuna is going to go with the “better safe than sorry” approach.
you quickly run after him and jump on his back, “love, love, I was joking! please don’t kill him!”
sukuna groans, “and why should I listen to you?”
“cause you love me, and I love you? and we’re husband and wife, y’know?” you smile nervously, and he sets you down, so he can look you in the eye.
“I don’t love you,” he states.
“so I don’t love you?” you inquire.
he smirks, “no, that’s different. you’re obviously infatuated by me.”
“no, loving you is an effect of you loving me, so according to you,” you turn your back to him, “I don’t love you.”
he is about to retort when he feels something holding onto his leg. he looks down, and he sees his daughter beaming up at him.
she raises the flowers as high as she could and chirps, “dad, I got these flowers!”
sukuna’s eyes snap to where the kid was and finds no one. he fled, and he didn’t get to memorize his face. he slowly turns his face to you, and you stand there smirking at him.
he quirks an eyebrow at you, “oh? well, I will deal with you later tonight.”
GETO SUGURU:
you were busy watching over your daughter playing with her playdate. the little boy was your neighbour’s son, and, in general, he was good company.
the boy was polite and knew how to treat your little girl right. similarly, your little girl cherishes him very much and always rambles about him at dinner.
now, initially, suguru was okay with it.
he thought that maybe she was excited about her playdate and that it would eventually wear off, but then she started talking about him every single day since she met him.
suguru prides himself on being rational and collected. he wouldn’t stoop down to a level that gojo would. gojo was a manchild, but suguru? suguru is a grown man, a husband, and a father.
so, no, he won’t do anything to the boy.
and he certainly isn’t rushing to the playdate location, so he can stop the boy from making his daughter talk about him more.
one of his curses was watching the kids, and said curse picked up on the boy sneaking a flower behind his back. suguru concluded that he was definitely going to give it to her.
your husband finally arrives, handing you your ice cream and kissing the top of your head, “your ice cream, just how you like it, love.”
“aww, thank you, suguru,” you say as you hug him and pepper his face with kisses. suguru gets lost in your affection, forgetting about his supposed mission.
it’s not until that he notices the boy’s parents standing with the two kids that he remembers it.
“how about we go and see what the kids are up to?” he asks you, a bit urgently, and you nod, knowing what your husband is thinking.
it’s lowkey funny.
the boy’s mother takes notice of you two approaching, “oh hello mr and mrs geto!”
“hello miss c/n! are the kids getting along well?” you smile while patting your daughter’s head.
the mother giggles, “more than well, in fact. our little boy has given little d/n a flower today!”
from the corner of your eye, you can see your husband’s smile tighten and his face get stiffer and stiffer by the second.
you take his hand into your own and slowly rub it with your thumb. it does little to calm him down.
he claps his hand lightly and steps in front of the parents and says kindly, “please take your little shi—”
he feels you kick his foot from the back and quickly corrects his wording, “please distance your ki—”
you discreetly stomp on his foot, and he tries his hardest to keep his smile. he sighs defeated and hangs his head low, defeated as he mumbles, “have a nice day.”
you nod in satisfaction, and your daughter giggles.
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