Remember that time when I told y'all some of you need skin tone helps? I had time. Using some commonly used FCs, some actresses that I know of, some brown charts and things, for us to simply take a look at people and SEE COLOR. Because, whether or not we pretend to (and from the lightwashing we see in artwork and aesthetics, there's proof that many people have issues), there is color in the world, and in our skin tones.
Sometimes, it don't matter beyond having a wider scope of representation and sometimes, it is important to stories (colorism storylines need dark skinned characters involved) or to original concepts (whitewashing and lightwashing previously darker characters is a problem).
I am merely here for less of a discussion of those things and more of a guide that you can pull up to put that FC idea or that fan art project next to and realistically say, "This is it" or close to the goal.
Let me start out by saying that a lot of the FCs that I see people use for Black characters are often biracial face claims.
The fact of the matter is that we're living in a time where multiracial entertainers are able to get the most visibility and are cast in roles that maybe they aren't the ideal image for. Now, we also have far more blended families onscreen and in stories probably than ever before, so they have plenty of opportunities to be properly cast. And some are a quarter Black, which, to me, means that they should also be considered for characters that may appear white. If you are fine with casting multiracial girls for Black girls, get fine casting them in white characters, too. Cast Multiracial Actors in White Roles! They have representation everywhere. They'll pull through.
Never be afraid to steal imagine a fair skinned character who the writer does not explicitly say IS white as anything else. That's where a lot of the light skinned actresses you use for Black characters should go. Unless they said "white" or some equivalent, I read everyone as not white, generally as Black😌
We also have gingers.
Having red hair don't translate to "white," to me, and it doesn't have to, to you. See the word "ginger" and put a Black ginger FC there. I sure do.
Now. Let's get back to the guide.
If a Black person is reading a character who is described as having "dark brown skin," everybody needs to know that the standard of the tone of brown skin is in relation to Blackness.
We are not thinking "dark compared to a white person," like some of you seem to be. We are not thinking of the one or two Black people you've met in life. Think about brown skin in relation to what group that FC belongs in. There are dark skinned Asians, South Asians, Mestizo, etc. If the characters are those, find out what dark means there. What shade is dark brown, from the perspective of the group of people that character belongs to?
That will help for you not to get dunked on when you make aesthetic boards, assign FC's, whitewash artwork, etc. Just look at a guide! And know that dark brown skin is not ever going to be anything lighter than a standard brown crayon, and CERTAINLY not going to be somebody who can "pass" the paper bag test!
There's also options for lighter skinned FCs who are in monoracial characters. I've said before, yes, it does happen that two people who aren't necessarily light skinned can have a light skinned child. But, there are also lightskinned couples who have lightskinned kids, and other Black parents with unambiguously Black light skinned offspring.
Sometimes, maybe consider FCs who evolve to have similar backgrounds. Yes, we often see light skinned women and biracial women used interchangeably, but it could also be not done like that. You are allowed to use monoracial light skinned actresses for Black faceclaims. To drop a few...
You likely would've used the peach or apricot crayons to try to get the drawing (before crayons started making sets), or tried, like I used to, to go over a tan with a lighter crayon, adding maybe a coat of yellow, or if the box was bigger, using the goldenrod. Idk what those translate to in digital art. So just do the lil' eyedrop on one of the girlies, basically.
Moving on to the space where I think a big portion of the famous actresses come in, and my apologies to the younger generation, a space where you're going to see many biracial actresses, and not so many monoracial ones ALTHOUGH THEY DO EXIST. I simply want to reiterate that there are Black actresses out there with two Black parents to play Black roles that cast Black biracial actresses.
🤎🤎🤎
At any rate, moving a medium light range of skin tones. These are the girlies that would pass or just make it with the Brown Paper Bag test.
They're still lighter brown shades than on the other side of the bag test, but not exactly in the same vein of light skinned as "white passing" and "ethnically ambiguous." Might be called a redbone by some, probably won't be called a yellow bone.
FYI: Nonblack onlookers, none of us wanna have to see y'all try to use them words. Don't hurt yourself.
Note: The women in that chart are all biracial or mixed heritage, because at the time, I couldn't think of nobody fully Black in that particular skin tone range.
🟤🟤🟤
We've reached the other side of a brown bag, but here's the thing, we do tan, so sometimes, you may see someone have lighter brown skin at certain times, like winter (or the quarantine, things of that nature), but the skin tone that we usually are is the skin tone that we generally identify with and the one I'd suggest in artwork/aesthetics.
Generally, the range of skin tones here we simply call "brown skinned," as vague and broad as it is. It encompasses those who aren't light skinned, per se, but wouldn't be considered dark skinned in the Black community, either. (Sometimes, I will see things tagged "melanin," or suggest in the tags that there is somebody with melanin in the post, and ISTG, I be thinking that perhaps y'all have some type of color distortion in your eyes, because the melanin be MIA. Missing in Action. On thee back of every milk carton in the 80s, Girl.
This is where most Black women fall into without being singled out by skintone. What do I mean by that? This is where we're a pretty medium brown color. Not necessarily widely perceived as light skinned, but while unambiguously Black, not considered dark skinned, either. (Sometimes people in this group are very confused about what their skin tone is, depending on who surrounds them).
When I was little, my family considered me light skinned. As an adult, I realize that was because my father's side of the family was the standard tone for our household, and they're all dark skinned. Sometimes, out in the wild, we see Europeans referring to somebody Thandie Newton's color as "dark skinned," meanwhile, we all have eyes and can see that is NOT true, but somehow to white people, it might seem so. I think because they are probably setting themselves as the standard when figuring out skin tone... which is ridiculous, obviously.
"Brown skinned," is generally what we say, despite the fact that everybody on this list is some shade of brown. Brown skinned in the Black community is simply "not light and not dark " which can range from anywhere from Robin Givens to Gabrielle Union. On one end, there's the tan crayon and on the other end the "brown" crayon.
Whenever I used to color family drawings, me and Mama were colored with the tan crayon and Daddy, and my two siblings were with the brown crayon. But in real life, they were darker than that and you didn't have more browns unless you got big boxes of crayons, 36 and above.
Finally, we get to what we consider dark skin. Brown crayon and darker shades of brown.
Does it make sense to picture in your mind Zoe Kravitz as having "dark skin" when the above ladies also exist in the world? Side-eyeing you, Divergent movie casting, amongst others.
These face card charts, that I put together, feature ambiguously Black/Biracial/Multiracial women and unambiguously Black women of shades ranging from practically white to fully dark.
BUT, if it is still hard for you to see color in faces, at least take cues from other color guides. If you type in "shades of brown" in your search engine, they will give you multiple lists. In case you get confused reading and imagining human skin.
I need everybody to know that I began this February 26, 2024, and today is now April 12, 2026. Slowly but surely SOME of these WIPS in the drafts will see the light of Tumblr.
je me suis rendue compte que je n'avais jamais refait de post depuis la suppression de mon ancien tumblr pour repartager ce google doc de galeries. (je profite du fait d'être arrivée à la lettre Z et au dernier dossier pour ça 👀)
ça m'a pris une éternité pour faire touuus mes dossiers un par un mais c'est fait. enfiiiin. un premier tour du moins car entre temps, j'en ai encore enregistré tout plein je vais continuer à mettre les galeries à jour quand ça me prendra. (100 go de photos, c'est long et j'ai encore des fcs pas upload non plus de mon côté lkdlkdk)
en attendant, servez vous c'est fait pour ça 😘 si ça peut vous aider à trouver de nouvelles bouilles sur qui grapher, de l'inspiration, des galeries sans avoir trop à chercher ou même pour vos commandes. et n'hésitez pas à partager les vôtres également si l'envie vous prend, ça pourra faire une belle banque de données pour tout le monde à la fin 💕
⫸ listing des galeries ⫷
Welcome to my little cubicle, and thank you for stopping by 💕
This is a collection of my original stories; everything I write is my own work. Sometimes I use actors or models as face claims for inspo and to help visualize the characters, but the plots, dialogue, and worlds are mine.
My masterlist is grouped into Fantasy, Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, and One-shots. See below for face claims. Most of my stories contain erotic elements, but there's always a warning, so feel free to explore.
If you want to share my fics outside Tumblr, please use the website link. Do not copy and paste, thank you.
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My Masterlist
A collection of all my fics on Tumblr.
Face Claims
Aaron Pierre FC (Terry, Miles, GL, OC...etc)
David Corenswet FC (Clark Kent)
My ask box is available if you'd like to submit requests. I might not get to it immediately, but I will eventually, lol.
Likes are nice, comments are loved, and reblogs are appreciated!
