something i’ve been noticing in the editing community lately is a tendency to whitewash; that is to say, a tendency to make dark skinned characters paler than they are. i don’t think this comes from a place of ill intent, but nevertheless it is a problem. so! from your best friend and least hinged editor jelly: HOW TO NOT WHITEWASH
for dramatic effect and tutorial purposes, the above image has been intentionally whitewashed. it looks bad, i know. that’s the point, i promise.
THRESHOLD
i like threshold as much as the next person—it’s arguably one of the staples of my editing style. and while you can use it when editing darker skin characters, you have to use it sparingly.
pretty stark difference, right? but the only thing i removed between these two images is one layer—a threshold layer, as it turns out, set to 35, on blending mode lighten at 30% opacity.
“well obviously that whitewashes, you set it to lighten!” you’re right! but that is a layer you can actually find in one of my psds. other blending modes are a problem too:
this layer is set at soft light, which is basically a mixture of multiply and screen at a slightly lower opacity. layers like this can also cause problems with eyestrain—but that’s a tutorial for another day.
“but lyre, i don’t use threshold to lighten! i only set it to darken or multiply” congratulations! that’s a problem as well:
not so much whitewashing, but don’t cover your character’s features completely either. that’s fucking terrifying. for particularly dark skinned characters like timerra, it might be best to forgo threshold entirely, for your own sanity. this layer is set at 55, which is pretty low for threshold! it’s at 100%, blending mode darken, and can be found in this psd.
SELECTIVE COLOR
i’m not saying to avoid selective color entirely, obviously, but there are certain things you should avoid doing, such as:
putting the black slider anywhere in the negatives for red, yellow, or (depending on the character’s skin tone) white. test before posting on magenta as well—if the character looks pale, don’t.
completing getting rid of cyan in red or yellow. you’re going for brown, not hyper-saturated orange (although orangewashing is a problem for another day.) don’t overuse cyan, either—you don’t want your character to be purple or (god forbid) green. everything in moderation.
BRIGHTNESS LAYERS
…such as brightness/contrast, levels, or curves. these aren’t bad on their own, but can be bad in certain contexts. this:
is not a good look for a character of color. i like pastels as much as the next guy, but you can achieve pastel without being—well—fucking racist. something like this:
is much better for a dark skin character.
also, be careful with the lightness setting on hue/saturation layers, as well as the saturation—don’t make your characters gray, either.
BUT, LYRE…!
…my style isn’t conducive to dark skin characters! then switch up your style! go crazy! have fun with it! experiment with different ways of coloring and new psds!
…i like the extreme pastel look! so do i! it’s a lot of fun to edit, i know, but you have to be mindful. edit dark skin correctly does not mean you’re banned from pastel. far from it, actually:
you just have to be careful.
…i don’t care about any of this. alright, that’s a personal problem. but you should consider why. also, and i mean this from the bottom of my heart: you’re racist.
…what about lighter skin characters? how you edit project sekai characters who aren’t dark skinned is between you and god. just tag your eyestrain.
…if i have a psd that whitewashes, can i not use it anymore? absolutely not! a lot of my psds are frankly egregious on dark skin characters. just don’t use them on characters of color, at least not without major adjustments. again: how you edit light skin characters is between you and god.
IN CONCLUSION:
don’t be afraid of editing dark skin characters, that is not my point here. just don’t be racist about it, either. good ways to check if you’re whitewashing is with a raster mask:
the eyedropper:
comparing in grayscale:
or just disable your psd and eyeball it.
i promise promise promise i’m not saying this to be a killjoy or to take all the fun out of editing, but as someone who is darker skinned: seeing characters of color be lightened sucks. it sucks a lot. i believe that you can do better. it’s not hard, it’s not the end of the world. just do better.
ON THE 25TH A GROUP OF PEOPLE ARE PLANNING TO SEND GORE OF CHILDREN AND ANIMALS TO FANDOM BLOGS, ESPECIALLY RP BLOGS AND ESPECIALLY MOUTHWASHING FANDOM BLOGS!
IT IS SUGGESTED THAT ALL FANDOM BLOGS, ESPECIALLY RP ONES TURN OFF ASKS FOR A FEW DAYS UNTIL IT PASSES!!
PLEASE BE SAFE, I'M SURE NO BODY WANTS TO WAKE UP CHRISTMAS MORNING TO GORE IN THERE INBOX
while swansea figures out how to jury-rig a lock onto anya's door, he and daisuke do the next best thing they can think of to help her feel safe. it's actions like these that assure anya she isn't alone anymore.
(also please don't tag as any ships, thank you. they care about each other platonically 🙏 only thing being shipped here is mouthwash.)
while swansea figures out how to jury-rig a lock onto anya's door, he and daisuke do the next best thing they can think of to help her feel safe. it's actions like these that assure anya she isn't alone anymore.
(also please don't tag as any ships, thank you. they care about each other platonically 🙏 only thing being shipped here is mouthwash.)
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