shithowdy:

stitchmediamix:

I live in hope that by the time Black Panther comes out, fan artists finally realize that drawing a random black face that looks nothing like the black character they’re supposed to be drawing isn’t acceptable.

You can find references everywhere because we live in a Google-driven world and yet… 90% of fan artists after The Force Awakens made sure to get Rey right but Finn… Finn is still drawn with what I can only call “Generic Black Guy” features.

(But it’s “their style” so it’s apparently rude to complain about how everyone takes pains to make sure the white characters look like their white actors but then play fast and loose with Black characters’ appearances.)

Maybe in 2018 fandom will figure out that all black people don’t look the same and apply that to their fan art?

The trouble here is unfortunately with a lot of baby artists who, for the most part, view facial features as interchangeable addons. A nose is a nose, eyes are eyes, and when they draw these things on a face very little notice is paid to what makes these individual features unique to the person (I call this the “Mr. Potatohead problem”). And when you’re white, those generic features tend to resemble white features– though it’s noticeable enough when they’re doing it with white actors, it’s reeeally dramatic with black actors.

The advice I always give when people ask me about faces is to trace over a few shots of the face, but to ONLY trace the shapes in it. Try to figure out what makes that person visually who they are.

With Chadwick what sticks out is oval structure, wide set eyes with big bushy brows, strong apples of his cheeks and a bone structure that sets his mouth forward and causes some dimpling, triangular nose, a non-prominent brow, parallel eyelids that widen toward the center, and an upper lip that’s stronger than his bottom. I also noticed just looking up images of him that his smile naturally cocks to the right just slightly.

With bare basics like this you can simplify and stylize a person while still retaining their identity.