Diversity with webcomics

[Thesleepypencil]

Diversity is really important. And I find webcomics are on of the media outlets that can allow better access to diversity since places like taptastic allow writers and artists the chance to show stories or characters that don't regularly appear in mainstream media.

Because of Disney's Moana coming out next year it got me thinkng about things and i wanted to make a post to focus on it.
Starting with i want to make a good lists of comics that have a wide range of characters that are poc, Lgbt+ and nb, or disabled. If you have a comic or love a comic that has that i'd love to have a link because I personally would love to read it. If you have a artist/ writer you also love it would be great to appreciate them too.

It would also be great to hear stories from artists. How diversity or the lack of affects them. Or the challenges faced in improving your character range. (( an example being when i first started comics all of my characters were verry white and straight. But once i grew as a person, and learned more about myself i began to cotninuously challenge myself to be more diverse. Which i something i still work towards))

Is it easy for you to make characters that are not the "media normal"
How much detail do you put into it and how much research.

Honestly this happens in my brain once a year when disney releases movie things. Lets just say I'm super excited for moana.

[joannekwan]

Well there's a whole thread that discusses diversity with some great points.

Diversity outside of race/sex/gender

But to address your questions, when I was younger most of my characters were white and straight too; but as I grew and became more aware of what was around me, I incorporated more of that into my work. Now I barely have any characters that are just straight, haha.

Representation is important though, I remember the impact Jackie Chan Adventures had on me as a kid. I saw it and immediately fell in love with the show. The main protagonists were Chinese and it was taking place in San Francisco, just an hour and a half away from my hometown. Even though it played to the kung-fu stereotype, it was still refreshing to see an asian man as the hero with his family to back him up. I also identified greatly with Jade, Jackie's young niece, because she was a tomboy. I also loved the inclusion of Chinese folklore, truth be told I never even knew about the eight immortals until the show. Another show that made an impact on me was Static Shock. They tackled some serious issues while keeping it entertaining and digestible for children at the same time. I saw it and thought, "Yeah! A public school that looks like an actual public high school!" Of course it's always nice to have POC leads and secondary characters too.

I suppose it's easy and difficult at the same time to have diverse characters. Easy because I'm American Chinese, and I grew up in Northern California so there are people of all types. Difficult because most of the media I consume is skewed towards certain groups, a lot of white western characters on TV, or heavily Japanese-influenced characters in anime and manga.

As for research, I admit I don't have as many mentally diverse characters as some other people. I feel it's a touchy subject and I fear misrepresenting them. However I did do a bit of research on dyslexia because I have a character with it that is undiagnosed.
For details, I think that unless the character is the main focus of the series or episode, you can get by with just a hint or suggestion. Example, my character Faiza is muslim but you only know that from her hijab, or I might mention Ramadan or a holiday in an episode or something. My character Tula is Filipino but no one probably can tell, until I introduce her parents. Point is, I don't want to get caught up in all the details because it's not what my stories are about. I want people to see my characters as people and more than labels, just like in real life.

[scythe]

You start your post by saying diversity is really important. Can I ask you why you feel it is?

[shazzbaa]

There was also a thread just recently for comics with disabled characters over here!

Here's a cool list by Spike of Templar, Arizona fame, which are all creators of colour: https://twitter.com/Iron_Spike/status/618844573436133376

I actually really liked the Renee/Harvey index as a Baby's First Diversity Exercise for me, haha! The basic TL;DR is that people who are reluctant about embracing diversity seem to worry that minorities are going to be OVERrepresented where diversity is valued, so CA looked to the most recent census they had to work with and found it showed that 1 in 3 Americans is a straight white non-Hispanic cisgender male. They called these characters "Harveys" and every other character is a "Renee." If you don't have 2 Renees for every 1 Harvey in an ensemble cast, you're over-representing Harveys compared to reality in America.
It's the MOST lenient measure possible, and they mentioned that a few Harvey-heavy teams is okay just as it's good to have a few Renee-heavy teams, but it's a great place to start, and for someone who was juuuuuust starting to put forth real effort into expanding my characters, it was a cool way to see all the possibilities that were there without it feeling like a list of minorities I was supposed to shove into my cast somewhere.

Difficult because most of the media I consume is skewed towards certain groups, a lot of white western characters on TV, or heavily Japanese-influenced characters in anime and manga.

This is a really important note, I think. So many of us write very homogenous characters that don't look ANYTHING like the world we really grew up in, just because we grew up on stories where all the main characters are white/straight/cis guys/etc, and when we start building stories we naturally follow in those footsteps. People who write stories with no diversity at all aren't always privileged people -- sometimes they're just people who had no good model to work from.

[Thesleepypencil]

Why i feel diversity is important.
Because the world itself is very diverse. With people of different races/cultures/genders/sexualities/bodies and minds. And when you have a lack of that same diversity in a form of media that becomes broadcasted world wide like western media is it causes mental self harm to people who don't fit this image. It's thought that they are different and this different is bad because it won't be shown or won't be shown.

So nce you add and create more diversity and people can see more of themselves in the media it proves the opposite. Yes they are different because everyone is different but they are still great. They can see themselves as characters.

Two personal examples being as a bisexual i had no positive models. I thought there was something wrong with me at a very young age but i know if i had a character like pearl or ruby and Sapphire from stevens universe. Or korra and asami from avatar. I would not of hated myself.

Another personal example is when my friend had learned about a character being whitewashed. She broke down because she didn't feel pretty because of her skin colour. This is a legitimate thing people think and diversity can help change that

[xo1]

Honestly when it comes to entertainment I think diversity isn't that important. I read fiction, having unrealistic body types who cares, not enough black people who cares. I don't read entertainment to feel good about my self. All my characters are 1 of 3 body types do I care that there is more not really. I randomly choose races because I don't care. I really don't think diversity is as important as everyone thinks in the entertainment industry. Except that people want to be recognized in fiction, which is baffling to me honestly. But whatever.

[jacintawibowo]

Heck yea Moana! Aah call me optimistic, but I'm super excited about that too! I really want girls of all color to be able feel like princesses, it makes me happy!

I think it's really important to admit (as you did) that our early stories were often not diverse at all. When I started, all my characters were white as well (and mostly male). It took a while before I made baby steps in creating more varied characters (I even had to ask for help from my professor, who was totally cool with it), and now I'm known for having diverse characters! <3

Is it easy for you to make characters that are not the "media normal" How much detail do you put into it and how much research.

I think it's important when creating characters of minority to do research on what's been done and see how well those characters have been received (especially if you're not a person of minority yourself).
For our webcomic "Tales from the Well" we did a lot of research on POC characters in children's fiction. We found alarming statistics showing the lack of diversity in children's books, and how this affects the self-esteem in poc children (many very sad stories about girls not allowed to play princess because of their skin color or hair). We also did research on deconstructing male-leads in children's media and how boys are receiving the rise of female protagonists. We wanted to have this in Tales from the Well: our main character (the Prince) is latino, and he will travel alongside two sisters who are black (they haven't shown up yet, our webcomic has just started). The people they meet alongside their journey will also be diverse.
We felt that for our lead female characters, it's important to portray girls in unflattering ways. The "role model" critique has been so pervasive in western media that we thought we'd combat it with the idea that girls can be just as human and flawed as boys. We wanted boys to familiarize themselves with the idea that girls are more than love-interests in stories. They can be your friend, sister, and leader.
To answer your question: it takes a lot of research, but after that the writing comes naturally when you're aware of the tropes to avoid.

With that here are some diverse (poc, bodytypes, lgtbq) webcomics that I'm enjoying:
-(all-ages) Finding Maria
-(all-ages) Cucumber Quest
-Blossom Boys
-Black Bull of Norroway
-Witchy
-Ilse
-Everblue
-Rock and Riot
-Grassblades
-The Lonely Moon
-The Lost Oracle

[williamjbowles]

My previous work, a written story called Hero's Dilemma (that I also did a brief web comic adaptation of), deals a bit with diversity. Since the comic book industry tends to focus on big, muscular white men and hourglass shaped super model women, I wanted to mix things up a bit. So the main protagonist is a big, muscular ethnically ambiguous man (his exact origin hasn't been discussed yet, but I didn't want him to be white), and one of the main female characters is a short, plus-sized woman (yet she is very powerful, and I'd say attractive, too). Other characters are tall, short, wiry, stocky, curvy, muscular, black, white, Asian, mixed race, etc.

However, my current comic is a bit less diverse. It's a fantasy story, and most of the characters are of European descent. That said, race is still a prominent issue in the first chapter. But not of skin color, but of species since none of the main characters are technically human. But the theme is still there.
Also, one of them is a headless horseman, so that counts as disabled, right? Well... he can see and hear, so... oh, but he can't speak. Mute is a form of disability, right?

But I do agree that diversity is important, when applicable and not shoehorned in (a story about ancient Celts probably wouldn't have black or Asian characters, for example).

Since it's not directly what you talked about, I didn't know if I should link them or not.

[fishscribbles]

Lets set this on the record first, we're Afro-Asian, Bahamian Malaysian Muslims who were raised in a western society as a part of an extreme minority.

For me diversity and representation isn't only about having characters who are black,intersex, east asian, disabled, mentally or physically, Indian,transgender, etc. within your cast but to also present a variety of perspectives and narratives from them. With every person they have a different story and side to tell. So when you present these different narratives in your work you offer a more explicit type of diversity. For example the story of a young Caribbean girl who used to be a part of the majority but now has been demoted to a part of the minority due to familial conversion(a perspective I'm familiar with). By having this variety of narratives, you not only introduce different POVs to others but also attract readers who're familiar with the content and can relate to the characters and the story.

Honestly when it comes to entertainment I think diversity isn't that important

For awhile I understood the importance of diversity and representation but had never experienced it myself. Until one day I saw in TV commercial for a juniors cooking competition, though for a second, I saw myself. I saw a young muslim girl, shown in a positive light and in a position to aspire to. It was such a moment of pure excitement, like I was actually jumping in my seat.
For you it might mean nothing and that's fine, it's your opinion. However for me it means everything. To see yourself or culture represented, appropriately and positively, is such an experience that so many are starved of. And why not give it to them?

-Scribbles

Fish's Diverse Picks
Meat & Bone
Big Jo
Monster Pulse
The Girl Who Flew Away
Shoot Around
Alone
DeadEndia
Dead End
Witchy
Monster Pop
Bicycle Boy
Hey Sister!

[xo1]

Isn't that about not being stereotypical rather than diversity itself. I think there is a difference between showing people in a positive light and diversity as a whole. I usually get inspired by actual people but not fictional ones. And of course I'll give diversity to people because without it people feel left out. Opinions are just that opinions and I understand that. Honestly I'm not even Muslim or a girl but that would make me smile, because of how society has treated Muslims over the past few years.

[AnnaLandin]

Is it easy for you to make characters that are not the "media normal"

It is easier now, but it used to be more difficult. I've diversified a lot in terms of race, sex, gender, body-type, etc., in the last couple of years, as my skill in drawing such things has grown. But that diversity is something I have always worked towards.

I rebelled early against what you call "media normal" - and by early, I mean elementary school. I've been drawing since I could hold a pen, and have been making up stories to go with my drawings all along - and ever since I first started, I've been fighting against the common ideas of what main characters should look like.

Growing up, 99% of protagonists in the stories I encountered were white, blonde and blue-eyed - and ever since I first started making up my own, my protagonists were brunette and brown-eyed. I would probably have made them people of colour as well, if I'd been aware that was a possibility - I grew up in rural Sweden, and the only person of colour I knew for the first 10 years of my life was my best friend, who was adopted from India.

I knew, even then, that there was something wrong with casting just one physical type in the heroic roles. I was a white, blonde child, but even I knew that couldn't be right. Still, it was a struggle to overcome my tendency to make characters who looked a certain way, because the stories given to me all depicted the same, non-diverse type of cast. If all media tells you this is what people are like, and you are provided with no counter-examples, it's difficult to realise they're wrong.

Of course, diversity goes beyond physical traits, and I work hard to be inclusive of all kinds of people in my various stories. Working in mostly scifi/fantasy settings means I can be a little more free in how I depict these things, but there's still an amount of research that has to be done so that I can feel comfortable including some things.

For example - one of the main characters of Grassblades, a little girl, does not speak. She has fully functioning vocal cords, and she can speak - when she chooses to do so. But she hardly ever does, because she suffers from a form of selective mutism. This means that she restricts her speech to communicating with only one other character in the comic right now - and even then, she tends to speak in monosyllables and short, 2-3 word sentences.

I did some reading on this beforehand, because I knew I wanted the character to be more or less mute, and interact vocally only with the other main character - but I needed to know if this was something that happened in real life - and if it did, I wanted to be sure I wasn't getting it wrong. When dealing with something as serious as a disability, one needs to be respectful.

I hope I've been able to pull it off.

[fishscribbles]

Just to be clear, I'm not interested in starting a flame war for fear it will derail the topic and discourage others from sharing their opinions and stories.

Isn't that about not being stereotypical rather than diversity itself.

No, it's about being diverse. I have encountered works that are diverse in nature(i.e presented a perspective different from what I was familiar with and I know others aren't as well), but had a, more or less, stereotypical delivery. It's up to the writer to properly research and write from these different narratives/perspectives.
About the comment about being put in a positive light and diversity being different, you're right. However, I never stated that it wasn't. I was relaying a personal moment that I would like for others to also experience. But I'm glad you get the gist of it.
- Scribbles

[jacintawibowo]

I saw myself. I saw a young muslim girl, shown in a positive light and in a position to aspire to. It was such a moment of pure excitement, like I was actually jumping in my seat.

I know right? I love this feeling! We're Indonesian, and when we read Gail Simone's Batgirl and it featured a small section of Gotham called "Little Jakarta" we freaked out! "That's where I'm from! Ohmygosh! Someone knows we exist!" : D
I want to give that feeling to other people too. Diversity is so important!

[xo1]

I wrote the way I did because it wasn't clear to me. Im glad you aren't trying to start a flame war, tapastic is too wonderful for such things.

[alakotila]

My first webcomic featured mostly people like me at the time: fashion outcasts. There wasn't a day where some original dingbat didn't yell "It's not Halloween!" or "Go cut yourself, loser!" "I didn't know the circus was in town." People would shrink away and avoid me, or come up to me and stare as though I weren't human. To be blunt, that is not a form of oppression, BUT that made me think further about what other people faced. What I saw my friends go through. Breaking stereotypes has always been very important to me so I was careful to make sure I could do that. (A thorough, must-view talk about the danger of the 'single story' or stereotype here.) If I went back to that first webcomic, sure, I would make some changes. Most of the cast was light-skinned though not all caucasian, as though I felt I had no right to create diverse characters. It had a lot of LGBTQ+ representation as well as religion, ability, and class. That was early in my comic career. 11 years ago. Research and respect go a long way.

Though my current comic has other forms of diversity evident nearly straight away, it was sadly lacking in a female presence for several chapters. I believe I was operating on that default character = male thing, oddly enough. Good news is I realised it and took steps to correct it and get my female characters into the comic more often. My comic deals with PTSD, toxic masculinity, culture shock and isolation, loneliness, and more. Cast is diverse including race/ethnicity, gender identity, and LGBTQ+. My priority is telling a good story and don't necessarily like my comic being put into a special interest genre (ie LGBT) since it is fantasy, and genre fiction needs diversity to help tell rich stories.

Spidersilk , my comic, is here on tapastic.

I do think representation matters. To those who say it does not matter must stop and think ... that they have the ability to pick up any movie, play any game, open any magazine, read any book and the likelihood is quite high that the main character will be white, able-bodied, straight, and cisgender ... also, likely male. Diversity is not about throwing out that character, but about adding other stories. There is room for all. More view points, more stories! More stories, more empathy and understanding.

Peace.

[Kecreed]

I just have to say...do people sometimes get bored drawing the same kind of character over and over again? I finally realized that a part of my avoidance with drawing people was because I tended to draw the same white skinned "ideal" body and face. I just felt so bored. I think that would have still happened if I drew another kind of skin tone over and over again.

Now I consciously change the race of characters or heck even gender and think of the results in character development. Force myself to wonder how would the other characters react if the main character was darker skin, does this change the world? yes or no? blah, blah blah. I completely understand if it goes against a world of a comic if there was a character of a different race. Ex. medieval europe and all of a sudden a mexican guy shows up. Magic! (Note I'm talking about historical fiction that does its hardest to stay with the time period)

Going back on topic, I also agree on diversity as being important to comics or entertainment in general. Not really from a "viewers" point though I know that should be the main priority but from an artist point of view. It makes one step out of their comfort zone and experiment with character designs. I'm not gonna deny that it takes a lot of effort and probably a lot of inner fighting of designs that you fell in love with, but in the end its most likely gonna be worth it.

[AnnaLandin]

I just have to say...do people sometimes get bored drawing the same kind of character over and over again?

Yes! This is one of the reasons why I try to be as diverse as possible - drawing the same figure over and over with different hairstyles+clothes gets mighty boring in the long run. Variety is fun!

I completely understand if it goes against a world of a comic if there was a character of a different race. Ex. medieval europe and all of a sudden a mexican guy shows up. Magic! (Note I'm talking about historical fiction that does its hardest to stay with the time period)

While it's highly unlikely a South American person would turn up in medieval Europe, I think it's worth pointing out (to others, even if you might already know) that medieval Europe was by NO MEANS ethnically homogenous. It wasn't just a bunch of white people running around doing stuff. You had the Muslims in Spain as early as the 700s, just to name one, and the Mongols establishing their empire as far west as Hungary in the 13th century - and the plains of Hungary were by then already home to the Bulgars, who had migrated west from the steppes of Asia hundreds of years earlier. Kings of Europe married Armenian princesses. Sicily had a significant Muslim minority during its domination by the German Empire, especially under Emperor Frederik II, who was largely positive towards their religion.

Heck, with the way the Roman Empire conquered northern Africa back in the day, Europe had its fair share of black Africans going back as far as Late Antiquity.

What I'm saying is that using "historical accuracy" to explain the fact that your story contains only white people is, well, historically inaccurate.

[Kecreed]

No its fine, I did already know of the history though thank you so much for pointing it out for others. I actually have a massive peeve about Europe being homogenous because of Attack on Titan. I didn't wanna step there though as it is a touchy topic in itself that series lol.