Journal Entry:
Tue Jan 1, 2013, 9:50 PM
So recently there's been a bit of hubbub about whitewashing on artists-confessions.
And I wanted to speak my mind a bit about this, and hopefully encourage some discussion
with you guys on it.
Warning: This is a long and personal rant.
If you can't read personal views and opinions, or think that opinions shouldn't be
posted on the internet, stop reading now. I've warned you.
It seems like a growing number of people are complaining that artists, anime/traditional, etc but
especially on dA from what I've heard, don't draw or make a lot of OCs that are "PoC"s or "People
of Color".
While it is true that it is a dime a dozen to see a non-white OC, I don't think that artists are REQUIRED
to make non-caucasian OCs to be politically correct.
That's silly. If someone has an entire group of OCs, or a comic/manga with
only caucasian or asian characters they are not necessarily racist. And it's wrong to flame them or tell them so
unless they are actively being racist. Sometimes that's just the artist's preference. Not everyone finds dark skin
beautiful, and vice versa. Not all people prefer pale skin. And it might not even be that the artist doesn't like
other skin types. It could just be that they grew up around one kind of nationality, or like asian culture and want
to draw those kinds of people.
Just like it's wrong to conform to the idea of racism,
you shouldn't force artists to conform to being politically correct and force them to draw characters who are not
asian or caucasian. If they don't want to draw it they don't have to. Art is an extension of your imagination, an
extension of your innermost thoughts. Your soul, even. It is not up to others to dictate to you how you should
express yourself so that you can be more PC.
But it is good practice to try drawing all kinds of skin colors. It's not a requirement of being a good artist, but it's
a good thing to experiment. And I personally love diversity. There's so much you can learn from other
cultures, so I'd never limit myself to only learning about one.
Disclaimer:
You may say, but ehbi, your gallery is FULL OF CAUCASIANS/PALE CHARACTERS. YOU'RE A
HYPOCRITE.
I don't do a lot of personal work. Almost my entire gallery is made up of commissions from other people.
Just keep that in mind.
However, it pisses me off that there is a fucking acronym for people who aren't white.
I don't see it as that important that someone isn't white that they have to have a friggin'
acronym to generalize them into a group of people that aren't white. That makes no sense.
Just like I don't like it when people generalize others as white or black or asian when they
refer to their ethnicity. "Black" isn't an ethnicity and neither is "white".
Not all "white" people are Russian, for the same reason that all "black" people aren't from Africa.
Which is why the term "African-American" also bothers me. You only really see this in
America.
If Dolores's great-great-great-sixteen times great grandfather was
from Mongolia, but her great-great grandfather and
all of his children were born and raised in Spain, intermarried with the
Spanish people and etc, Dolores is, for all intents and purposes, Spanish
and 1/144th Mongolian. She's not Asian or Asian-Spanish.
It's not the slavery days anymore. Everyone with dark skin was not born in
Africa so why use the term "African-American" if they don't have immediate
ancestry there? Sure, maybe 500 years ago they had an ancestor
from Africa, but why are we bypassing all of the other ethnicities
that had to come into play before we were born? We're talking about 500
years of people marrying or having children with either the same race
or other races. The possibilities are endless.
In my opinion, "African-Americans" are first and second-or even third-generation Africans who either migrated to
America or whose parents or grandparents migrated to America and ONLY married other Africans who had
NO OTHER split ancestry whatsoever. Once you start adding other ethnicities in, you aren't just
"African-American" anymore. For example:
if your grandfather was Nigerian and came to America and married someone who was Balinese, your mother/father
is Nigerian/Balinese-American. Say your mother/father married a Russian-American.
You'd be Nigerian/Balinese/Russian-American or African/Indonesian/Eurasian-American.
But the way the world is today, if you had dark skin and kinky/curly hair, you'd just be "black" or
"African-American, or if you inherited your grandmother's Balinese looks,
You'd probably be classified as "asian" or even "indian" (by ignorant people).
And if you only inherited your Russian parent's looks, you'd be classified as "white".
But you're obviously so much more than that.
Don't get me wrong, I am not flaming other artists or blaming you if you have that kind of mindset. We were all
raised to think this way by the government. I'm not being anarchist here, I'm just stating a fact. Most nations like
to keep a close tab on the ethnicities that live in their country because of census and population data reasons.
When we fill out applications or surveys or school-related or court-related documents the only options to choose are
"Hispanic", "White/Caucasian", "Black/African-American/Negro", "Asian", "Pacific Islander" or "Other".
Unless you check the "Other" box, you're usually forced to choose what other option you actually identify with.
Why would we refer to ourselves or others otherwise?
One day someone came into my livestream and said something along the lines of:
"What? I didn't know you were black. My entire world is upside down."
I had to correct them. I am not "black". I was not born in Blackland.
My mother's parents are both South American (Brazilian and Guyana),
but moved to America when they had my mother and aunt. Their parents
and grandparents were from England but moved to South America and married and had children
there.
My mother married my father who was born in America, but his mother was born in Puerto Rico,
and his father was born in the Dominican Republic. Their parents were Native American, Spanish (from spain),
and Indian (from India). Therefore, I'm Brazilian/Guyanese/Native American/Spanish/European and Indian.
I just call myself American.
Discuss:
Do you think that artists should make more of an effort to draw non-caucasian art?
Do you think that it's wrong/right to refer to people with dark skin and kinky hair as African-American
regardless of where they're really from?
What do you identify as?
What is your opinion on all of this?
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
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oints:
Not if they don't want to, they're under no obligation to do so. It's not racist of someone to not draw "poc" either. Last I checked, white is a color too.
Do you think that it's wrong/right to refer to people with dark skin and kinky hair as African-American
regardless of where they're really from?
WRONG. People try so hard to be politically correct nowadays, don't they? I had someone I went to school with who was Jamaican, and everyone called her African-American. It really pissed her off.
What do you identify as?
I'm fine with being called "white" as long as it's not used in a racist way (Whitey, "little white girl", etc.). I'm AMERICAN. I was born here, not somewhere else. I'm American first, everything else second.
What is your opinion on all of this?
I can understand the frustration when the media takes a person with dark skin and makes them light skinned. The Last Airbender movie caused a stir because Katara and Sokka were cast as lighter skinned people. It would be just stupid for a director to cast a white woman as say, Storm from Xmen. It's just not right.
BUT I don't see why people get so angry when people draw white people. Like I said, no one is obligated to diversify. Everyone gets so judgmental about it and immediately calls them racist. What if they're afraid to draw "poc" because they're scared people will get just as pissed off for misrepresenting them?
I really hate the term whitewashing because it's white shaming and fucking racist in itself.
SO everyone is a big racist I guess.
I love that.
No, its up to that artist entirely if they want to go that route or make more of an effort to paint characters of different skin tones, especially a personal work. If the artist is drawing a piece for themselves, then really its no one's business to tell them what to paint, especially their own characters. If it is a commission however, i do think its a good idea to venture a bit more into that area to better represent their character if they have a darker skin tone, but other then that, its purely up to them.
Do you think that it's wrong/right to refer to people with dark skin and kinky hair as African-American
regardless of where they're really from?
No, I do not think its okay. While some people dont care, and others dont mind, not everyone appreciates to be called something they may not identity with. I'm an example of that myself. I dont identity with "African American" or "black", despite it saying so on my birth certificate(mostly likely due to skin color). I dont think its right to make assumptions about others, especially just because of the color of their skin and the condition of their hair.
What do you identify as?
Mixed. At this point, my family cant even recall everything my brothers and I are mixed with. While both my parents were born in America, as well as my grandparents, not all of their parents and grandparents were. I have been confused for so many things, its ridiculous. One girl was once shocked to find out i didn't speak spanish because of the way i look.
I will usually mark other on those sheets by the way, lol.
What is your opinion on all of this?
Honestly, I find that something like this even being brought up is a bit mind boggling. What right does anyone else have to tell someone else what THEIR character or characters should look like? Its none of mine, theirs or anyone's business. The same goes for whether the artist even wants to experiment in a different range of colors. Its that artist's choice, not anyone elses. However, I will say that the whole assumption thing when it comes to ethnicity? I think its a bit much. I agreed with all the points you made and i've even had the same discussion with my grandfather.
My opinion is, that you should draw whatever you're comfortable with, personally I like drawing characters with different skintones but it really irritates me when people actually get bothered if a certain artist has only artworks of people with white skin in their galleries and call them racist. Maybe the artist just grew up in a town where the majority of the people are white and that's just their world, that's how they grew up and how they think is not racist.
Also my mum if Phillipina and my dad is German so technically I'd be half-Phillipina and half-German. But really if someone would ask me about my enthnicity I'd answer I'm German. It's not that I don't respect my roots or anything, but I feel German, I grew up in Germany, I have German friends and I live in Germany, so why make it any more complicated and tell them something like: I'm half German, 3/8 Fillipina and 1/8 Spanish?
Just my personal reason for not making any strides towards doing something different, and why the cartoon on seejane.org makes me feel terrible about myself.
I dont think they need to make an effort... I don't believe its like that at all. If you happen to like drawing all one skintone of characters, do that. if you like to draw different skintones on every person, do that. it isnt up to the viewers what we draw, and i could care less if people ever got upset over the color i chose to draw someone. its a personal preference (and a lot of the times, commissioners have a huge influence over artists gallery and skintones of choice etc) that i draw mostly pale girls. but i mean if you look at my gallery, more than half of them aren't even human colored...
but if you are going to be working professionally, having a bit of everything is always a good idea.
Do you think that it's wrong/right to refer to people with dark skin and kinky hair as African-American
regardless of where they're really from?
I would have to say that I don't really have an opinion on this one... Seeing as I am not someone with dark skin that could be called african-american i dont really think its my place to say what they should or should not be called. i think its a person to person basis and you should just ASK someone what they prefer.
What do you identify as?
French canadian but i dont mind 'white' either. i don't really care if someone were to call me white / pale/ peach/ etc. its just not something that bothers me.
What is your opinion on all of this?
i think my answers pretty much covered everything. idk ;__;
Why do I keep getting this in my messages?
Honestly, it depends, really. It depends on what you're specialized in mostly.
Do you think that it's wrong/right to refer to people with dark skin and kinky hair as African-American regardless of where they're really from?
Yes, because it's discarding the rest of their possible heritage. People tend to tag me as "Asian", but I'm more European than anything.
What do you identify as?
Being adopted from Vietnam, I identify myself as International (my father is Italian/indonesian dutch -from the old colonies -, my mother is french and I lived 6 years in Sri Lanka and 2 years in Ethiopia)
What is your opinion on all of this?
It doesn't disturb me seeing galleries with only caucasian types, or asian types etc. Most of the people I follow are Anime/Manga artists.
People who complain about "Whitewashing" are sometimes right, but I remember this one drama moment about a Korra picture that was "whitewashed", because "Korra is supposed to be black"... when her tribe's inspired from Inuits -____- .
People tend to confuse "artist interpretation" (which could also be the lightning, ambient etc) with racism.
If I don't draw people with blond hair, that doesn't make me a person that hates blond hair.
People also forget about tastes. If someone isn't into IDK freckles, why should they draw characters with freckles? Why must it be any different with dark skin?