Why are Trojans frequently portrayed as darker in fan art ? especially in comparison to the Greeks .
I'm curious whether or not there's an actual reason for this or is it just vibes
(and if troy is around where modern day turkey is then doesn't that make less sense )
My my! This is a difficult topic to discuss because honestly I think I am not the person that will give you the "proper answer" given that every artist has their own ideas for their art, their own conceptions of the world, their own choices etc. So the best way to deal with this for sure is to question the artists that interest you as to why they do what they do.
What I can do is reply based on what I got from my own personal experience online, looking through people's comments on social media on the topic as well as the so many discussions that suddenly almost everyone seems to make online....so here goes what I got from my personal experiences;
Mostly vibes. Although I suppose if you move closer to east you will get some darker populations or even south of Troy in Judea and such or modern day Palestine etc you can find some darker populations too but when it comes to Asia minor and such we speak more again of the Mediterranean phenotype although Anatolian populations rightfully so have their own unique characteristics
Generally we get several pieces of fanart these days that often exaggerate the darker features of both Trojans and Greek some of them based to some exaggeration of the word "tan" to the ancient texts and sometimes driven by the red pigmentation that the ancients chose to depict some figures from time to time especially men etc. So I think there is a combo of the above quite a lot of the time (especially since extra promoted by retellings who do make some well...interesting descriptions of skin tones in the Mediterranean to say the very least, sometimes denying the obvious uniqueness of the Mediterranean populations apart from their common features)
or sometimes this tan feature that they rightfully so wish to show gets exaggerated for artistic purposes so that it will show better to their art or colors I suppose.
So for once yes Troy is in modern day Turkey (although Turkish people did not live in that area at that time. We mostly speak on populations like Hittite and later on the Persian empire) and yes we also expect huge cities like Troy also that reside in passages to attract many peoples but I think it is based a lot on vibes and an exaggeration of the "tan" people of the Mediterranean are described to get or some Trojans be described as "tan" by some sources (for instance Hector in Malalas's chronicle)
Sometimes I suppose it is to show that the Trojans are "non-Greeks" so sometimes they wanna give them more "exotic" looks I suppose
I am not in artists' minds to be sure why everyone makes the artistic choices they do and sometimes is just art. People just wanna see dark skinned Trojans and they do draw them as such I suppose
However I noticed there is a great deal of pattern of people sometimes over-exaggerating the absolute fact that people of south and the Mediterranean in general have on average darker features than let's say north or northwest Europe and we do tend to tan easier than them so many times people exaggerate that feature to their art to portray it
at other times they do base their drawings on the reddish pigments that many murals used because they are more interested to show "tanned Mediterranean people" rather than "pale Mediterranean people" which probably comes as a reaction against Hollywood casting choices of the past that many are skeptical about including us here very often.
at others just to showcase the difference between Trojans and Greeks by winking at some further in Asia features such as past modern Middle Eastern regions or get inspired by some other populations in the are which is fair I suppose.
Troy is still a city in the Mediterranean, in Greek myth associated a lot with Greek culture (due to the whole use of "founding myths" of Greek mythos corpus) while historically is associated with the Anatolian populations associated with Mediterranean (East Aegean) and Mesopotamia empires especially Hittite empire but as it happens with many parts of the Mediterranean sea we do see a lot the phenomenon of the dark features of ours (skin, eyes, hair etc) being sometimes exaggerated in fanart for visual purposes or out of some inspirations artists have etc
These are some reasons I can think of from my own personal discussions with people outside the Mediterranean regions but I think the best way to get your response dear Anon is to ask the artists specifically why they do what they do in their art.
An Portrait of the Artist Singing Will Wood During Karaoke Night (and Appearing As If They Were Giving A Rather Existential PowerPoint). Digital ink on canvas, 2024.
The hate you hold as an artist is your prison, preventing you from expressing your true creative potential. It stifles innovation and keeps you confined within the boundaries of others’ expectations. Letting go of this hate allows for genuine artistic expression and personal growth.
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I want to thank @poppyseed20 so so so much for taking the time to illustrate one of my chat posts! It was completely unexpected and a real treat! ♥ You’re artistic talent goes far and beyond my own skills (which is very limited, haha). The illustration is very lovely and well done! :)
