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AmysGames
Feb '21

So I've been working on a series for several years, hoping to get a webcomic version of it started Soon™. For a bit of context, one of the core concepts of this series is the Darkness—an evil energy that possesses people and turns them into supervillains, amplifying their negative emotions and whatnot.

So then I had the idea to take a character who was already on the wrong side of the law and turn him into one of these supervillains. A wanted criminal who gains superpowers and becomes even worse. I ended up liking this character enough that I made him one of the main villains, and by extension, a major part of the story. Okay, cool.

Now, it's decidedly unclear what ethnicity the characters in this story are. However, my younger self opted to give this character a noticeably different skintone than most of the other characters.

...And I can't claim the decision wasn't due to bias about criminals and ethnicity, which now I'm realizing is kinda yikes!

So now I'm stuck with a bit of a dilemma. I really don't want to remove the character from the story since, like I said, he's a major part of the story. But it leaves me unsure what to do about his design. The way I see it, I have three options:

  • Leave the character as-is and hope I can include enough nuance to keep him interesting despite the negative stereotype. I could also try and add more positive POC characters into the story to show that it's not just him (which I'm thinking of doing anyway).

  • Change the character's appearance. I'd rather not literally whitewash the character, but it's an option.

  • Change the character's story. One idea I had, that wouldn't change the story too much, was to make him wanted for a crime he didn't actually commit... but I feel like that would raise racism implications that I'm not really qualified to talk about as a Very White Person. I'm also not sure how much it would matter since he literally becomes a supervillain regardless (though technically that's not his fault).

So yeah, I dunno. I thought it would be nice to get some other opinions on the matter. I can provide more context about the character if needed.

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    Feb '21

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Awesomeness_Studios
Feb '21

I think you should leave the character as is and add more positive POCs. You should also make sure your character isn't just a 1-dimensional super-villain (make people sympathize with him!!!!) This can help get rid of stereotypes and also it's just good writing to make your characters not totally good/evil people. This should apply to all characters because let's be honest making a perfect person makes more stereotypes than making a realistically human one. Also, you don't have to feel obligated to make racism some important part of the story. Write what you know and experience, and if you ever do wanna talk about racism, make sure to get the aid of those who know it first hand.

noenoh
Feb '21
IndigoShirtProd

I second @IndigoShirtProd and @Awesomeness_Studios

Race has nothing to do with whats in your heart or the environment they had to live in (and if your oc is based on certaing unavoidables realities that you have experienced and it gaves this oc that richness then dont change them) I understand your worries due the huge race issues in USA but for me a poc from another country has a different view on these matters.

I have some POC ocs (Im a poc as well) and I had a huge crisis like yours because I was worriying to much on that USA mega racist situation and their opinions/reception till I decided f*ck USA

Just keep it respectful to the ethnicity / race and let the readers understand that character is the ones is flawed, not their people.

joannekwan(ง ˙o˙)ว here to help~
Feb '21

This is the best way I think. Balancing a cast is the easiest way to avoid pinning one person of X group as the villain and the implications that go with it. Especially if race isn't a terribly important factor to your characters, why not make one of your main characters the same race as the villain?

It's not just a US issue though, it pervades through most countries classified as "the West" like Canada, the UK, France, most of Europe, ones that have histories of colonizing other countries, participating in the Atlantic slave trade, developing movements against their indigenous populations etc.

ApplesOverIndia
Feb '21

I've had similar thoughts about a novel I'm working on currently. I created the basis and most of the main characters about 10 years ago when I was in middle school, and I made one of them a POC. All of them have their good and bad sides, but she has a pretty questionable backstory, was involved in drug dealing at one point, and was homeless for most of her life. She also took in and protected the (also homeless) MC for most of her life, and while her rules weren't great, she did successfully protect her and the MC/narrator definitely views her in a good light.

Still, looking at it I realized she was the only POC among the main characters, and she was the also the most questionable of them. At this point, most of the main cast has been in my head so long that I just can't change their appearances. However, in the major rework that I've been doing, I added a new character who is ultimately somewhat of a father figure for two of the main characters. I believe I'm going to make him a POC too, to balance it out.

The replies here seem to agree with that general idea - as long as you balance it out and make them multi-dimensional, it should be okay.

alexlcuri07
Feb '21
1

This character reads more as a brunet in a world of blondes then a POC. Which leads me to the implication that they're only a POC because they are the villain. I would strongly consider this in your efforts to more thoroughly and thoughtfully diversify your work.

DasIstWunderblyat
Feb '21
1

Me staring at the screen
"I see four white people, where is the POC? That one?"

Also when the difference of skin tone is that slight, this person still can be read as white or racially ambiguous or any other lighter-skinned race. As they're put between the whitest of white peers with simplified facial features, it is hard to read race and admittedly affect my perception too. Even amongst white people there are skin tone variations and they can have dark brown eyes, and it is what I perceive (probably some Mediterranean)

If you want to keep them as they are it is fine. You can add another POC characters if you wish.

AmysGames
Feb '21

Thanks for the responses!

I guess the second question, then, is how "main" is a main character? Because the literal main characters have already been designed, and, like @ApplesOverIndia, I would have a hard time changing them after drawing them the same way for so long. There's one main heroine I could alter the skintone of without changing her design too much, but she's pretty rebellious too and I feel like that wouldn't really help the issue.

As for what @uselessgoddess pointed out about the lightness of the skintone, I'm legitimately unsure if that was a conscious design choice, or part of my inexperience with drawing darker skintones at the time of drawing. (That image is VERY old, for the record.) Which I guess is part of why I was thinking about his design and what I should do with it.

joannekwan(ง ˙o˙)ว here to help~
Feb '21

Agreed with this. Still, coding darker hair = more villainous should be avoided. lol especially when it's the one out of a sea of shades of blond, it could be misinterpreted as blonds are all good and anything different is not.

DiegoPalacios
Feb '21
DasIstWunderblyat

Gotta add that white people's skin is more sensitive to change, so someone who gets exposed to the sun may have a darker tone, and there are even orange people like Trump. (a peculiar case due to tanning)

mrtoontastic
Feb '21

It's easier to just make your characters the way you want. You don't have to ask about their ethnicity. What matters more is a character's actions and behavior.

Kaydreamer
Feb '21

This is a humbling question to ask, and you did right by asking it. I am also a Very White Person, and I came to the conclusion my cast lacked diversity a number of years ago thanks to the discussions circulating on Tumblr at the time. I'll give you my take.

Your whole cast just looks white to me. You don't need to change the race of the antagonist, (and if he's supposed to be Hispanic, I'd say lean into a browner skin tone and Hispanic facial features more,) but I'd be inclined to change a couple of the protagonists to also be visibly POC.

Making your antagonist white, rather than making one or two of the main protagonists non-white, is the wrong way to go about this.

Plus, including plentiful POC in your work is a good way to stretch your artistic skills, break out of same-face syndrome, push your character design skills... There are so many good reasons to do it just from an artistic point of view, let alone the social and moral positives of it.

spadesart
Feb '21

I looked at your image for a while, trying to tell which character is the nonwhite one until I realized it was the dark haired guy? I honestly thought there was a second image that wasn't loading for me. Not to sound rude but he fully reads as a white dude without the added context. I doubt making his skin a touch pink counts as whitewashing him when he already reads as white?
I really would recommend adding more variety to your characters if you decide to expand the cast, and don't be afraid to use a much wider variety of skintones! If you need a reference to color drop, I recommend checking out the humanae project.4

AmysGames
Feb '21

I want to reiterate that the image in the first post is literally from 2009, when I was way worse at coloring. Here's a more recent image I did to test out different skintones. (The anatomy's a bit jank but I was focused more on the colors. :stuck_out_tongue: )

Ranbou-comparison.png800x280 101 KB

AmysGames
Feb '21

Update on this, btw: I talked about it some more with my friends, and it led to me experimenting with making the main character's skin darker. It ended up looking better than I thought it would, so I guess I'll try it out? I'm not used to it yet, but I guess that's what growth is about, haha.