Diversity in Comics/Novels

Black_Conscious 2021-02-10 18:32:03 UTC #3

OK first off Happy Black History Month!

Yes, majority of the cast are of African decent/ Black American , my reason for doing this was because I rarely see a full cast of people who have a darker complexion since most of the time they are side characters to the protagonist which are likely "white".
And as well I did it because of the way I was raised had expanded my mindset into thinking a certain way that led me writing a type of story which is still in progress

And as a mix person (Black American & Polynesian) I am always fond of seeing characters who look/have the same race as me so that is along with that as well.

Here ya go

Kandake

Boabw (side character)

this is a drawing of the 4 main characters who are still in a work of progress, I have a picture in my head on what I want them to be since I want them to be different and the environment they are in impacted on who they are.
(if that makes sense )

I know this picture is old but its the only one with color

(I have already given two characters a name one Kandake and the other Hotep for the two characters on top)

VibrantFox 2021-02-10 18:58:13 UTC #4

Well to start Happy Black History Month!

I'm black as well and it honestly took me a while before I started making black characters, even when it came to self inserts which is...embarrassing to say the least ;;;

I think to preface one thing that really comes to mind is this one Ted Talk by Chimamanda Adiche I saw recently where she talks about "The Danger of a Single Story" and it resonated with me when she describes growing up early on reading a lot of stories about predominantly white characters and writing a lot of stories that were similar to that. It made me think about how all the way up to the age of six I'd been in a mainly white neighborhood and being in a classroom with mostly white kids (there were maybe one or two other black kids and the only others were latine) and how that altered my perception of self. After that it was getting into anime and manga where again there were little to no black character so I just continued making very few.

When I draw black characters now tho it's really about, like you said, getting to see myself and to tell the kinds of diverse stories I want to see and having characters who are of diverse backgrounds. I'm a big fantasy fan myself and I think a big pet peeve was how often negative tropes would show up especially the whole dark/black = bad so I think one big motivation was to give myself the fantasy stories I craved or just black stories I craved in general. Romantic comedies, open ended adventures, cool sci-fi stuff, slice of life stories and so on.

I don't have many references (or finished drawings rather) but these are a small handful of some of my black characters but the list is ever growing

Sophie (they/she) and Ava (he/they) from an in dev slice of life fantasy story

Robin (they/she) and Dai (they/them) from an in dev fantasy adventure

and Pink and Black from an among us au i've been working on off and on (rest of the cast lineup pending)

I honestly hope to see more folks tell stories with diverse casts and present them respectfully. There's a lot more resources than we realize it's simply a matter of seeking them out, i think

Dreams-of-Gaia 2021-02-10 19:09:10 UTC #5

Hey!! Happy Black History month!! I'm not black myself I'm Hispanic but I like having very diverse casts in my stories as well. I try to do a lot of research and meet people of these races before writing about them. Hopefully I don't make a terrible mistake.

This is my character that goes by the nickname: Blue Butterfly, basically because she likes butterflies and the colors pink and blue. She also loves her beanie so much. She basically brings so much happiness to the team.

IndigoShirtProd 2021-02-10 19:09:38 UTC #6

At least in my comic, The Black Belt Society, most of the main cast are people of color. There's not any real focus on the ethnicities though they are/will be mentioned.
Elliot is black and Irish.
Lara is Japanese and white.
Tyler is very obviously white and another character is also POC.
I designed the characters before I decided their ethnicities so some concessions had to be made.

Another group of character have are my Candy Crew characters, all of which are black to a degree. I actually take a lot of pride in having the whole cast be black, because it's an opportunity to show how diverse a single race can be.

I'm a black person and growing up I didn't see that many black characters in the media I consumed. There were always a few but not enough to be represented. An even more than that, there weren't really any characters that come from mixed race households, which is also unfortunate. And because of where I live, I never really had many black people around me, outside of family gatherings. And that would reflect in my artwork. When I was first making characters as, almost of them were white or white passing. And while I don't particularly see that as a negative, it is a little sad that it took a few years for me to feel comfortable enough to draw characters that look like me.

But I'm glad I'm getting better at creating racially diverse casts after feeling like I couldn't for a few years.

TadxSarah 2021-02-10 19:19:45 UTC #7

My personal reason for using mainly black male characters as the main character is because when i first started making comics a couple years ago (I did quite a few remakes since then) There weren't a lot of comics that had a black male with asian, white or other races romantically so i wanted to change that to show more diversity.
( There's nothing wrong with black characters with their own race, just saying that i didn't see much else at the time.) As a black male myself it just felt weird not really seeing diversity in comics especially on webtoons.
It was usually always an asian guy or white guy that i saw as the lead or main love interest. Not saying that anything is wrong with that, but there should be a whole lot of different mixtures of couples in more comics.

Tromroan 2021-02-10 19:55:05 UTC #8

Not in my current comic, which has a tiny cast of 3 people, but the one I want to do next has quite a diverse cast.

Of that pic above, Ardon, Rada and Fenrir are Asian, Baz is actually directly inspired by a friend of mine who is Balinese, Harrow and Mer are black, and Azaila and Kartak are white.

I tend to design characters just based on my feeling and what works well with aesthetics. I live in Vancouver BC, which has quite a large Asian population, so I usually always have a lot of Asian characters. Since half of all of my friend's are it's a bit of a go-to. My comic is also somewhat fantastical, but where the characters live is quite isolated, so they all generally share one diverse culture, rather than each having their own specific traditions. Of course I want to have a diverse story, but like what some others have said above, I wouldn't feel comfortable delving too much into real-world traditions and cultures. I wouldn't want to overstep, or under-research something and make mistakes.

They are all quite diverse in terms of sexualities and gender norms as well, although weirdly a few of those details are spoilers so I won't get into that. Again, I usually draw from my experiences with LGBTQA friends, myself, and a lot of what I've experienced online and in life.

CyberAxl 2021-02-10 20:00:11 UTC #9

I'm multiracial but mainly egyptian and irish. I am also pretty racially ambiguous and I never really saw someone who looked like me too often growing up in media or comics. The main protagonist of my story is mixed and there are a wide range of races with different complexions and features.

Colorism was something I discovered as I grew up as I was a lighter skinned black person. I made sure in my comic (I literally just started posting it) that it has a wide range of heroes and villians who are all shades from very pale to very dark skinned.

Here is a picture of my hero (based off of what I look like):

joannekwan 2021-02-10 20:02:08 UTC #10

I'm Asian-American and I definitely try to make my story casts reflect the area I grew up and live in. I'm fortunate to live in a generally pretty diverse place (Northern California), so I love to show a bit of that off in my contemporary stories even if they don't necessarily take place in my stomping grounds.

The human cast for Demon House.
Black, white (mainly Italian), Chilean/Spanish, Filipina, Iranian, white (mainly German), Filipina

The cast for Sarota Springs
Mix of Native/white, Black, Japanese, Iranian, Bulgarian

Then the two leads in Erie Waters and At Ease are of Chinese descent.
In Heavy Horns, the protagonist is Mexican-American (father of German descent, mother mixed Spanish/Indigenous) and his love interest is white.
The main pair in A Haliday Christmas are Korean/white and Cuban/white.

For my historical fantasy based on 1900's America, Secunda, it's a little less diverse given the setting, but I still try to inject some color into it. The protagonist was adopted into a white family but she is Lebanese in origin (unknown to her) and her love interests are Albanian and the other of white German descent. There are also Black secondary characters.

I'm currently developing a fantasy story about gladiators and the protagonist is Black, as well as a few other characters. His partner and best friend are both Arab-coded (as well as the majority of the city populace). And secondary characters come from a range from fictionalized Greece east to China. There's only one white character in this story, a gladiator traded all the way from the north in an Ireland equivalent.

BreakingChalk 2021-02-10 20:35:01 UTC #11

I'm mexican, but white (at least by mexican standards), and I lived with brown, but mostly, pale-skinned people from my schools and family (which surprises me because two years ago I just learned my great grandfather was black! and no one ever told me before!).

So most of the human characters I made in 2008 (which are now part of my comic right now) were white or something similar.

Making the world for my story, without spoiling how it came to be in the lore, it didn't make sense that there were few people of color, so I try to diversify human ethnicity in The Memorable Bittersweet Days' world without tokenising or forcing it; aiming first for good characters before thinking what their skin color would be.

But before diversifying the human characters with new ones or changing someone's color just for the sake of changing it, I focused on those non-white characters I already had.

The first one that appears is Espinard Omvoro

Initially Espinaco Omvoro which is a word play "Espinaca" and "Omnivoro" ("Spinach" and "Omnivorous" in Spanish), but changed because there is this word "naco" in Mexico that isn't really something I'd like the character to be related with.

He has the power to control and create plants and first appeared in OG Chapter 5 (I'm reuploading my comic, so this outdated version is only available in my blog for now), and is the leader of "The Rabals", a punk-inspired urban group that fights against Ganen Corp by their own means, unfortunately, he and The Rabals were captured and forced to hunt the main cast, which isn't much of a problem for him because some of them have hurt him too, but if his fellow Rabals' lives weren't on the table, he wouldn't fight for Ganen.

I have more planned for the character and his friends, as he is somewhat of a troubled anti-hero and is connected to the origins of the plot of TMBD itself. I already have his character arc planned from beginning to end.

Rolf is another character that isn't white (brown), and is a Rabal too. He doesn't have as much protagonism as Espinard, but he has his moments and character arcs as well.

There will be more key non-white human characters as the story develops, and more on the main casts of the stories that succeed TMBD once it's finished.

vothnthorvaldson 2021-02-10 20:39:11 UTC #12

My creativity mostly comes from my personal experiences and observations, and as these experiences and observations are pretty diverse, my casts tend to be diverse too.

I don't really do it on purpose, it comes naturally as it is close to what I live everyday.
I write characters of minorities/categories I'm part of (eg. LGBT, neurodivergent, or immigrant characters); but also characters of minorities I know secondhand from close ones. For eg. I tend to draw darker skinned characters even if I'm light skinned, because the person I live with has darker skin than me and I see their face more often than I see mine. It's natural (and practical) to me to draw characters closer to them than to me. Same with a few friends. It's interesting to see that because I happen to not know a lot of older people, my older people tend to be lighter skinned because I think of my grandma.

Generally I just go for what feels natural. And natural for me is diverse. I really care only when there is a consistency issue (eg. I won't have a large percentage of the population overweight if they barely product enough food in some populations of my fantasy comic (but I can have a few of them); also, for a new real life story I'm starting to work on, I made my character a Canadian with Scottish origins, very pale with reddish hair, because it makes sense in the story that they would be of European descent, and I choose this type of skin/hair colour because it is one I never draw before so it's a fun challenge.

I would not go for diversity characters of a group I know very little about because I don't feel it would look natural. Unless I have a very good reason to, I suppose. Nothing is completely out of question.

joannekwan 2021-02-10 20:40:53 UTC #13

See that's being aware and mindful within one's own cultural context. Good catch and now I learned a new term to look out for!

BreakingChalk 2021-02-10 20:45:56 UTC #14

It's still commonly used here, and I have heard different origins for the word, but the wikipedia article summarizes it kinda well.

Back in 2008 I thought it was just some funny word, but later on I learned it was pejorative, and even had roots on colonization.

Lady_T_Musings 2021-02-10 21:23:27 UTC #15

This is something I have run across quite a bit when speaking with white creators. The fear of not wanting to overstep, or of messing up makes them not want to try at all to create characters that aren't their race. This can be a hard wall to climb as many have heard stories about artists being called whitewashers or racist and it instills a fear in them that causes them to clamp up. I can't fault anyone for this fear as this is a part of callout culture that scares people the most. I've been called out for how I referred to transgender characters in the past. At first, I was offended and mad bc I didn't think I did anything wrong, but after listening to what was being said in the callout and speaking with friends who were transgendered, I learned that calling trans characters trannies or traps was harmful and why it's not the preferred term, even if it was the one I heard used often, and even if I didn't mean any harm by it. Callouts can make us feel awkward, but they can be a learning experience that makes us face truths we are ignorant to and so a bit of awkwardness comes with the territory, but I believe it's a discomfort worth facing. At the end of the day, said experiences make us more informed and inclusive as people and creators. Does this require getting skin a lil thicker and being able to differentiate those who are pointing fingers to point vs those who are pointing to try and address a problem? Yes. Does this skill develop overnight? No. But seldom does anything we do in life save for unwanted body hair XD.

So if you truly would like to try your hand at drawing other non-white characters, I know these forums for instance are a pretty great place to get advice as there are creators from around the world here who would critique if you make a post and ask or folks who would be able to point you in some kind of direction for resources. If you happen to have friends of a racial group you'd like to try illustrating, why not talk with them about it and try doing character studies using them? (if they cool with that, most folks love being drawn, but it's best to ask). Speaking from experience, if you work in fantasy or sci-fi ethnically the characters you create will follow the rules of whatever you have already created based on where they are from, so you have some free rain there, racially you can also do a google search on people from around the world and start doing studies to capture features at the very least. There's also learning about color theory and the way light reacts against varying skin tones that can help with not black and white or grayscale works.

If your work is based on reality, there are more nuances that can be explored that require more conversations and readings with those of other racial and ethnic backgrounds, but a general rule of thumb is to avoid obvious stereotypes and generalizations made about racial and ethnic groups that you've seen in any comedy movie. Try consuming media from said racial/ethnic groups to see how they see themselves. The main frowned upon thing that I've come across is when a person not of the race/ethnicity they are portraying acts like they are an authorized representative/authority figure of said group and doesn't listen to the group they are creating form when called out. Like if I were to make a story about what it's like to be a Native American in current America and didn't speak to one Native American about their experiences. That would be wrong and overstepping for sure. I wouldn't be able to tell a story that specific to a cultural and racial identity that isn't my own without actually working with and speaking to actual Native Americans. They would have to be a crucial part of the process as I would be using my platform as a black woman to share a story that isn't mine and it would heavily rely on working with actual Native Americans if I really wanted to tell that story. Even then, I'd personally make sure to direct people to those who know the story personally over trying to recite it myself.

When making a fantasy or sci-fi story not based in the real world I do draw characters from other races that aren't my own that have ethnicities based on where they are from in my world as I like to be inclusive of the people that exist around me and have the ability to do so, I do it. I try to take into account that even though cultural things would be different, there are racial things that would still exist as I draw them. A big one is hair for many cultures it's a very different beast of a thing. If there is something I think would be offensive, I don't draw it or specifically try and ask/ research for clarification on if including something could be harmful. Even then I do understand that there is the possibility of someone having something to say about a character I've drawn, and to that, I will take what they have to say to heart, apologize If I did something hurtful or made a mistake, and work to learn and do better. None of us are perfect and there is room for improvement in all of us.

For the most part, I just try to think of characters as people that have multiple layers and aren't a walking stereotype. Also, the more diversity you have represented, the more natural it will feel to be inclusive in your work as you go!

All of this is only if you're interested in introducing people of color into your work and just don't know how to go about it though. It's not something you HAVE to face if you do not want to, as a creator you can create in a way that makes you feel comfortable, but you may learn a thing or two if you make the attempt. You may even light a spark in someone. You never know. I believe that we all have the potential to make the world a more inclusive place and as creators, we specifically can do this through the art and stories we tell.

There are places and people available who are open to critiquing visuals and providing resources for folks with these worries. As far as black characters go, I'm a resource on that front, but there are loads more out there and around here!

Sorry, this is so long, but it's something I'm passionate about <3. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and feelings.

Lady_T_Musings 2021-02-10 21:27:54 UTC #16

Happy Black History Month to you as well!!

I'm loving how you also wish to connect to your heritage and highlight those who favor you as well <3! You have been working hard on developing your characters and story and I'm rooting for you all the way

Loving your creative hairstyles and those noses!!!

Black_Conscious 2021-02-10 21:36:11 UTC #18

Thank you very much @Lady_T_Musings your words are too kind

I've been studying (coming across ) models and its been nice, and working on digital drawing as well is a new expierence (started doing digital last year)

Inspector_Spinda 2021-02-10 21:43:07 UTC #19

I don't have a whole lot of diversity. My decision making really comes down to whatever character design comes to my head. I'm not a very socially aware person and I feel like my characters all behave pretty racially generically. My main character is a Brit, and most of the people in the comic are Caucasian British because they're all in the mafia. One of the few non mafia related character is French African American (fully African, born in France, raised in America) and his daughter is African American. He is the secondary main character though he's more of an every man who witnesses all the weird stuff and deals the best he can. I also have one Asian side character, but he's probably not going to appear many more times. There is also one character I have not designed yet who I'm picturing as Hong Kongnese.

DokiDokiTsuna 2021-02-10 21:43:39 UTC #20

Why? For the same reason I create so many female characters: at some point (much later, though) I felt that there weren't nearly enough in important, starring roles.

Whenever I think about it, I always flash back to those days when I was a little kid, and I used to put T-shirts over my head when I was play-acting to pretend I had "white girl" hair.
Because the concept of a black girl MC with 'black' hair simply did not exist, especially not in the magical girl genre I loved the most at the time.

Even now, I don't think things have changed much. =/ Name one magical girl character who is a black girl, from a show that isn't aimed at kids 5 and under. Even if she isn't the MC.
Personally, I am drawing a complete blank. All I can think of are maybe Connie from SU, and that blue-haired girl from that magical-girl parody show that no one liked...It's pathetic. There's no other word for it.

And honestly, it doesn't get much better even when you expand the search parameters to other genres, or even when you include black boys. When I think of powerful, youthful, dynamic characters that I would have imprinted on and loved as a child, they're invariably "Japanese" or straight-up white.

And unlike with the female MC thing, I don't feel quite as confident in my ability to "fix" that...especially since I'm still at a point in my life where I'm mostly refurbishing old stories I wrote as a kid (with the uninspired character demographics that go along with that...).
I'm always either 'black-washing' old characters or writing stories specifically for new characters of color, so it always feels gimmicky and weird...but I think if I just press on, I'll get to a comfortable place.

As for the how, I pretty much just explained it. ^^; But of course, there are always things that I try to avoid...like the "token diversity plotline" that unfortunately befalls a lot of characters of color these days.
I understand it in things like sitcoms that are mostly set in the real world, but when it comes to stories with lots of fantasy elements (90% of what I consume) I don't understand why I still have to see it.

Why are black characters constantly burdened with the responsibility of being mouthpieces for IRL social issues? Why can't they just exist as people, like everyone else in the cast?
A similar version of this is given to female characters with all those cringe "feminist" quips that writers throw in for 'woke points', often without even using them correctly ('mansplaining' is not just when a guy explains something; it has a specific context!!)...and consequently making a mockery of the issues they're supposedly trying to 'address'. But I digress...

Anyway, that's something I try to do; just give characters of color the right to simply exist in fantasy and sci-fi. They can have issues, sure, but personal issues written in a personal way, and not for the sake of teaching the audience a "very special lesson".

Some people might call it escapist, but I don't think imagining a world without racism is any more escapist than imagining a world without hunger, or war, or language barriers; and you see stuff like that all the time.
If you find giant space robots and magic spells more believable than a PoC living a happy life, I think you might be the one with issues that need examining, not me. =/

nixxusnibelheim 2021-02-10 22:23:08 UTC #21

Yes. I grew up in a diverse city I would even dare say that white people were kinda a minority in this bubble. I grew up in the suburb of France, at the border of Paris which historically are places built to centralized the immigrant workers in order to rebuild the country after the war and as you might guess are also where the lower class lives.

The environment I grew up, does influence my work simply because it's easier for me to think about characters.
And also as I get older I realized the importance of representation in media.
I was blessed enough to be in touch with different cultures. Like when I would go at my sri lankan friend's place, I would chop it up the best that I could with the elders, eat with them, watch their shows etc. Same thing when I would hang out with my other friends (black, madagascan, chinese, turkish, algerian etc). This told me that there is a bigger world than myself, than what I see on TV etc.
But I realize now that it is a blessing because right now my nephew grows up in a predominantly white environment and he once told me that he wished that he wasn't asian (lao/thai in this case). He was emotional because he was getting picked on at school because of... well "he was chinese".

It did hurt me deep especially because as an artist it made me feel like I failed at my job. At the time he didn't have a role model to look up to and he wasn't exposed to people like him on the big screens telling him "hey it's cool to be Asian too". And I believe his parents don't particularly care about that stuff (and are pretty whitewashed) but also they probably don't know about this, I can't really be mad at them. So I do my best to let him know that it's okay to be himself, to be ourselves.
Unfortunately, I'm not at a stage where my work can make a deep cultural impact so I try to subtly act as a mentor. I introduced him to manga and anime which are mostly made by Japanese authors. I showed him the great like Oda, Miyazaki etc. 3-4 years deep he's now a little 11yo weeb
I showed him the way of creating comics when he expressed interest in my job, to be like the mangakas he loves so one day he can pave the way for the next generation.

When I hear him saying "I want to be a mangaka like uncle bob" that shit warms my heart

Sorry I went to a big tangent simply to say yes, I do create diverse characters because it emulates the environment I grew up in also deep down I feel like it does impact how kids see the world.

This is the MC of my current project, he's lao/thai. Why? Because if my work gets picked up by a major production (i wish) I can at least give a lead role to my people for once

Also because southeast asian are criminally underrepresented in general and non-existent in webtoon.

And here some side characters.

This is Selyn, a turkish thug and an incredible athlete.

Here "The Broadcaster".

joannekwan 2021-02-10 23:51:57 UTC #22

Great reply from @Lady_T_Musings already, but I just wanted to add an additional note since a great video came up on this topic a week ago.

This comment from under the following video sums it up in a nutshell:

Full video here from a popular booktuber:

And this particular comment under it expresses my thoughts on the subject way better than I can. It's basically coming back to the point that even if a character is a certain identity, their story arc doesn't have to be centered around their identity, which ties in with the adage that a creator should avoid making X identity the only character trait the character has.

As for navigating negative stereotypes, aside from asking here on the Tapas forums if something is okay, this is a good resource to start with.

DiegoPalacios 2021-02-11 01:21:06 UTC #23

Just gonna say a tip that thought would be obvious but is seen often enough in mainstream media.....

Anyway, this may help new writers:

Don't use diversity as a crutch.

Diversity is a good thing, don't get me wrong. If i had to make an analogy, diversity is like salt in a dish. More often than not, it improves the experience, but just like one would not eat a dish that is only salt, a story whose only selling point is diversity, will not succeed.

Don't fall in the trappings of making characters just for the sake of filling a checklist. Make characters that
genuinely interest you and enrich your story. If they happen to be of specific groups, cool, but if that kind of background doesn't fit them, dont be hard on yourself.

Hope this helps!