Well, there is a matter of shading and such, as well as what filter you put on your drawing and what the lighting is like in the scene you’re drawing, what kinda mood you’re trying to get across, if you’re using a restrained palette.
Here to illustrate my point is Connie Maheswaran from Steven Universe
Lightening a skin tone in art is more complicated than just writing down the hex code for what a person’s skin color should be. I’d imagine a lot of artists don’t even realize they’re doing it when they lighten a skin tone past what is acceptable.
A good rule of thumb (that I need to follow more) is not to eyeball a character’s skin tone but make a starter palette than adjust it to the lighting as necessary. If you’re doing a piece that’s artsy fartsy, or has a three color palette or something, make sure the contrast of the skin is still intact. Dark skin shouldn’t pop as much as light skin against dark hair.
Also, while this is a lesson that applies just as much to amateur artists as it does to professional artists, remember, a lot of artists on Tumblr are still new and learning. Depictions of characters that might seem fatphobic or racist at a first glance might be the result of someone still struggling to break past fatphobic or racist caricatures in their art that were picked up from other mainstream sources.
We’re all here to improve and get better, so let’s do our best to help each other make art that is inclusive and celebrates diversity.
Thank you for giving this post some semblance of logic. I hate to see artists who make these completely unintentional mistakes get slammed for trying to do lighting and palette colors correctly. Everyone has to start somewhere. Please consider your words before you go off on someone.
