Hey, I mean this so genuinely. You can't say you weren't the problem. Like I understand that person went way too hard—but like, as a person of color who has been drawn white because someone didn't care enough to really take my skin color into consideration—it is a deeply violent act. It's a reminder that people don't see an issue with drawing characters lighter because they like them. They default characters in their mind to lighter because it's "easier," "more familiar," etc. It's looking at a character that looks like you and represents you or is the closest thing you have to a mirror in a show and having people not take care in portraying it because they rather make them whiter and in their mind prettier, or more aesthetic, or better, or easier—than just appreciate the character for as dark as they are. Which most times isn't even conscious and it subconscious and something that needs to be unlearned.
You definitely have room to grow and you did a lot better in your second iteration. I encourage you to keep learning how to draw darker skin tones and how to reference show images because the lightest color on the screen isn't always the actual color of a character of color's skin. There are a few YouTube videos you can look up if you like.
But also taking accountability in white washing a character is knowing even if it was an accident it was your fault. Which sucks to hear. But it also means that you're the one who can do better. If it's not your fault then you have no control in fixing the problem or growing. But you have control here. And full accountability is of the utmost importance.
But hey, I'm just a person of color on the internet sharing my opinion. I'm not a monolith of people of color, but I am a voice from the community and it's important to listen to the communities you harm and take from them how you can do better. I truly wish you well in your art journey and that you take this as a learning opportunity and keep moving forward 💜
Yeah, I totally understand. I’m really sorry that happened to you, by the way, that was actually evil, and you didn’t deserve that 🫶
Problem is, I had already acknowledged it, apologised like 6 times, removed the problem, this woman has been continuously insulting me, without once talking normally. She called me all sorts of things, used swears when I didn’t even use one, and despite all the arguments I’d used throughout two days (I thought maybe she’d see my perspective and we would find at least one common ground), she still kept going about my fault. Bc genuinely, I worked on my stuff for weeks, and throughout the time I had constantly picked colours of Sevika, the original images, other artists’ work, and mine is definitely valid because, once more, it fits in the colour category of Sevika’s official skin tones.
I was saying that bc I understood finally that I shouldn’t have even apologised to a woman like her who only accepts Sevika in a darker tone. I understand that too, like you’d said, people tend to viewpoint characters the way they see them, and that’s totally fine. I don’t support whitewashing, and I didn’t do that. I had deliberately colour picked from an original image and figured out how to draw the rest of skin (I haven’t done that in a long while), but I think lashing out at someone while being a 31 yo when a character doesn’t look the way they like is a bit too much.
We have over 30+ comments in her own comments section under the post “white women vs not being racist all the time”
My valid points are these:
1) I didn’t draw her with the same colour of skin as mine, I deliberately colour picked from Sevika’s original images and fanarts to be accurate and picked somewhere in between the two official character sheets
2) I fixed my mistake of putting a lighter filter/colouring on the edit, bc when I was uploading my work, I wasn’t looking at the skin, more so to the movement of I made the tweening look close to natural as I could
3) Sevika’s colour palette has changed throughout the seasons, and she has looked both whitish brown and much darker (maybe the artists of the show hadn’t made their mind about her skin idk)
4) I was kind and understanding all the time and asking for criticism from the moment of drawing her (not insults in my face)
5) Everyone is used to accepting characters in their own way, and that’s definitely okay. But when someone draws her a little differently (but still canon) it doesn’t give a right to continuously insult and swear at someone
6) My second upload is the original, without any filters or colourings, so that’s what should be mostly looked at (and I left my first work to redirect people who had reblogged it to the other work. I didn’t want the confusion of liking an artwork and then coming to find it later but it’s no longer there)
7) Responding maturely, I took the accountability, fixed it, apologised despite all of that.. Buuut that woman kept writing me long ass comments about how I’m contributing to racist behaviour, which again, I never did. And she wasn’t even trying to listen to my points, nor acknowledging she was barking up the wrong tree. Whilst I read carefully all of weird points of hers which was 90% insulting me more than anything.
blakekathryn
germansingergirl
pixelskylines
areudirty
jimmyeatworldofficial
