HOW WHITE MEDIA RUINED MY ART.
I ain't Neva did one of these befoe but UhM here's my first post ig?
I ain't gon introduce myself that's for losers so uhm anyways,
Hi I'm a black artist and I'm going to tell you exactly how I came to this conclusion on my own... At ten freaking pm last night.
So I been thinking back on all my old art, like REALLy thinking bout it right? I noticed a lot of my oc's, even black one were... White washed. And it's seriously so odd considering I grew up around black people, I AM A BLACK PERSON, so why did this happen? OH I'LL TELL YA.
So we all know Disney n stuff right? What was their MAIN cast like? Just... I'll let you sit on that one...
Yeah, WHITE. They were all white. Now I'm not saying I disliked Disney or anything, I'm just pointing out the fact that they barely had any POC in their media which I find really strange considering there are POC EVERYWHERE. Like seriously, like in Austin & Ally, notice how they only had one latina in the entire show? Like, everybody else was white.
Or sometimes they won't even do the famous "token POC character amongst white people" trope. Sometimes they'll just be all white, like Good luck Charlie or Girl Meets World.
I used to watch Disney ALOT when I was younger, like... Alot.
And I used to ALWAYS try n figure out why they were barely any black people in Media, and that's not even with Disney alone, that's just everywhere. Ads, TV shows, just.. Everywhere. You literally cannot escape it.
And this fact always made me feel bad, especially when I had a lot of crushes on characters that were white, because I always assume that "oh they're not going to like me because I am black." Which was so harmful for my mind when I was younger.
Even in marvel, good example is Tony Stark. I LOVED Tony Stark, but again... That man has never been with any black person EVER. That crap low-key made me so self-conscious to the point where I would white wash my own SELF in art. Crazy huh?
Literally, because of how white media affected me, and how much of it there was, I literally white washed myself and other black oc's I had. Actually soBBING BC THEY ALWAYS EITHER LOOKED WHITE OR FREAKING ASHY/DEAD I- JGUCKGUFJHGFOGJFGU
Anyways, and let's not forget Korean media/Asian media in general. I loved anime, but notice how most anime characters are what? Pale, white looking almost?
Yeah, that ish hit me like tON OF BRICKS LIKE FR.
Anyways I just had this on my mind since yesterday so... I hope this helped other people if they were feeling the same way, like don't worry about it you're not alone, I did the same exact thing when I was younger and I grew out of it. The thing that helped me most to learn about how to draw POC was actually someone I'm close to who also does art, they seriously helped me figure out the fundamentals of drawing people like me and others, and not just white people.
Also here's something else, remember how I said I was uneducated in my bio?
Yeah, I MEANT THAT, I literally didn't know what ACAB and AAVE was UNTIL @the-cat-and-the-birdie, like I seriously never knew any of that, never knew any of my own culture, UNTIL THEM. And even though they probably won't see this, I seriously thank you a lot, because I'm just going to say that without you, I probably never would have even known what that meant. So thanks!
I was literally so BATHED in white media to the point of literally, detaching from my own self, obviously I don't do that anymore and I am much more confident now. I actually really love myself and my skin and where I come from. I swear it's a curse sometimes tho w all this nappy freaking hair lol. But even then, I freaking love me and people like me.
Which is why I LOVE HOBIE BROWN!! You know I had to put him in.
This dude legit has freeform hair, is one of the blackest looking mother freakers there, aaND HE'S PRETTY LIKE? UJGCUGCGUGCU anyways that's enough fangirling.
Anywhooo, just don't draw black people ashy and or dead looking, that's seriously harmful, (which I learned lol) to black people, because while you may be trying to have representation in your art, you're accidentally giving us a bad look for others who want to draw us, because we ain't ASHY YALL. but yeah anyways that's p much it.. later??? Lol.
