#black hair characters

[mushi-shield]

final round

#kagome higurashi #yuuri katsuki #inuyasha #yuri on ice #black hair characters #anime #anime poll #poll #anime gif

[creatingblackcharacters]

“That One Hairstyle? RETIRE IT!” Black Hair is an Art (pt.1)

(This is part one of two lessons, with this one focusing on how our hair itself! The next lesson will encompass how to incorporate its existence into your writing. It'd be a massively long post otherwise.)

So! Black hair. Black hair is a CENTRAL, ESSENTIAL part of our culture and identity. Writing and drawing it means understanding the vulnerability and trust that comes with access to it, and yes, it is racist to suggest that ‘it’s just hair’ when our hair serves such an important role in our history and art. I already wrote a mini-lesson and ask on the topic, but being aware of what our hair looks like, and what means to us, will help you to understand why we care that you put in the effort to get it right.

Hair Textures

We are not a genetic monolith! However, for the sake of this series, we are focusing on 3C-4C, because 1) it's most likely to be seen in life and 2) least likely to be seen in popular art! When you are creating your characters, consider the style and care for THESE textures. I will get more into this next lesson.

Let's get into SOME of the hairstyles!

Afros (36 Afro Hairstyles)

“So, what’s the phenomenon behind the Afro? Well, it’s our hair in its most natural form, but that’s only part of the phenomenon. It’s a way to fight the status quo without saying a word.”

-Ebony Magazine, The History of the Afro

When nonBlack society hears ‘afro’, they think completely picked out, Black power imagery, political statement. And it was, and is! But in actuality, afros are just the natural hair growing out of a Black person's head. The same way your hair grows out of your head. Our texture. Even my hair is not allowed to be ‘hair’, it has to ‘assign’ my Blackness; my distance from whiteness. Imagine, the hair growing out of your head being automatically associated with how you should be perceived. Just by existing, it is making a statement in a Eurocentric society.

Braids (31 Braid Styles)

There are SO MANY TYPES of braids and ways to wear them. If you can imagine a design, I bet there's a Black braider that can do it!

CORNROWS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY BRAIDS! Internalize this! They may be used in the same style, but they are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS!

Braids are considered a protective style; that is, a hairstyle designed to let our hair 'rest' and grow without having to manipulate it. If you have a Black character that's constantly on the go and/or doesn't have time to focus on their hair, and you want an accurate, more true-to-life experience for them, braids can be a crucial part of character design.

Locs

(Yes, while that link has plenty of examples, it was also self-indulgent. Locs are gorgeous, Black men with locs are gorgeous!)

"Locs vs Dreads": As someone in the loc community, there’s been a push to refer to the style as ‘locs’, rather than ‘dreadlocks’. Some people with the style will not care, but others take it very seriously, so it’s something to keep in mind. There’s a societal stigma behind having locs, that they’re ‘dirty’ or ‘unkempt’ or ‘lazy’ and that is NOT true. Locs are beautiful, and they take far more effort than people seem to want to believe lmao.

Locs, though there is currently a positive revival, are still highly discriminated against. Kids have been expelled from school and even have had their hair forcibly cut off to be allowed to participate in sports. Many places won't hire you if they think your hair is 'unprofessional' or 'dirty', especially if you're a Black woman. To consider yet another example of the hair that grows out of my head 'dirty' is extremely racist.

LOCS ARE NOT BRAIDS!!!!

Locs are also a protective style, albeit a much more permanent one, and one that comes with a long history and culture behind it. Many Black people consider the biblical story of Samson to be a man with locs, and that our locs hold power within them. That not just anyone should be allowed to touch your locs. So, if you're interested in mythology and powers, that might be an intriguing way to go, that would be possible if you had a Black character with locs!

In Professional Media

The lack of awareness and concern about our hair isn't just a fan or amateur creator experience. It is ubiquitous in the professional media world. Black actors, actresses, and models have discussed having to do their own hair when working, because no one would properly care for it on set if it wasn't familiarly white. It’s admittedly grown better- however! After decades of not having options other than ‘stereotypical afro’, ‘box cut’, and ‘white people hair’, it is LONG PAST TIME to stop settling for the bare minimum in Black character design. We can tell when "one of us" (with some sense, at least) wasn't in the room to make decisions in popular media.

If you were curious about the lesson title, here's a current example of what I'm talking about in video games. Tell me if you see a pattern:

This style? The Killmonger? We seent it!!!! It has become the “hairstyle to show I understand the exaggerated swagger of a young Black teen” option, the "I know the Black people!" go-to, and frankly, we are all tired of it. Okay it was cute on Ekko. The Black Delegation DEMANDS the professional video game industry pick something else! We have SO MANY DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLES!

I'll give you an example on the other end (not trying at all; refer to Lesson 1) from one of my favorite games, Hades:

This is my blorbo. My favoritest guy. I’ll fight for Patroclus being Black til the day I die. While I begrudgingly settled in my excitement, I can tell you no one Black with any voting power was in the room at Supergiant when they approved this design. Why? His texture! Locs were such an easy option if they wanted long hair! Locs existed BEFORE Ancient Greece! The man did not have a flat iron while fighting in a war! A good Black designer would have considered that!

To give him a more accurate design, some artists (myself included) lean into giving him locs (one of my favorites is @karshmallow 's Pat; a phenomenal example in caring about your Black characters). It’s something Black fans find themselves doing- redesigning Black characters. That's not something we should have to do at all, especially in media we pay for!

But if you REALLY want your Black character to have straight hair, that leads into the last style of this lesson:

Straight Hair

We do have straight hair. But it’s not straight because it grew out that way! It will still look and be thicker! It might be a wig or a sew-in (human or synthetic), it might be flat-ironed (while relaxed? While natural?) It takes effort to get and maintain straight hair.

'I think it looks better good this way!'

If you catch yourself thinking this, this is a racist statement. Whether you’re aware of it our not, there is a bias towards Eurocentric/white features in our society, and that includes in our media. When you think “I only drew [this Eurocentric hair texture and style] because I think it looks good on them!” I want you to PAUSE and think about the WHY. WHY do you think that this Black person’s natural features are unattractive in comparison to the white hair texture you gave them? And how hurt might a Black peer of yours would feel hearing that you find their natural features not worth drawing because they’re “not attractive”. It requires approaching your own internal biases, recognizing them, and then working to unlearn them. And that means practice! Using references to draw our hair and styles, and growing used to using OUR features on US!

Doing it in Art

Me personally, I think if you think drawing thinner hair textures is easy, thicker hair textures should be a BREEZE. I was curious, so I challenged myself and-

(it took me about thirteen minutes total to do ol boy's hair and it's still not right. I'm sick fr y'all don't even know 🤢)

@ackee has a really good art lesson on the how-tos of drawing Black hairstyles. I highly recommend checking it out, as well as following and supporting a fellow Black artist (who is far better than I!)

Hair Brushes

Finally, an option you can use for painting is downloading Black hair brushes! Vegalia has an amazing array of brushes with different types of curls, locs, and braids at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on social media to see how she applies them, and support yet another amazing Black creative!

I know this was a long one, but you made it! Just keep going. Remember, it's the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

#creatingblackcharacters #black art #black characters #character design #black hair #black history #black culture

[gellavonhamster]

One Piece Live Action + Tumblr text posts, 2/?

#onepieceedit #oplaedit #opla #one piece #one piece live action #black leg sanji #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #monkey d. garp #buggy the clown #red haired shanks #dracule mihawk #mishanks #god usopp #don krieg #my stuff #this batch doesn't really have nami in it and i feel so bad for it #why is it so hard to find fitting funny posts for a female character on the website where about 1/3 posts start with 'girl'...

[prettyinaccurate]

jekyll and hyde except its how i pictured them the first time i read the book like 7 years ago

#for some reason i was fully convinced hyde was canonically ginger until i reread it #i was so confused why people drew him with black hair #but stevenson only gives us so much to work with #jekyll and hyde #edward hyde #henry jekyll #BY the way. my favorite character is utterson thank you for asking

[nickpeppermint]

Now that classic Mickey is getting more attention, i think it's about time to talk about one very annoying design misunderstanding

Has anyone noticed how Mickey Mouse eyes are COMPLETELY misinterpreted in coloured version? 👀

He has a mono eye like Sonic, which was changed into two small eyes inside his pupils

Also for example, notice the placement of Minnie's eyelashes that went from her eyelids to the top of her pupils

Yet Goofy retained normal eyes for some reason

Does anyone know why it's the case? 🤔

#Disney #Mickey Mouse #Steamboat Willie #Minnie Mouse #Goofy #Sonic #Sonic The Hedgehog #character design #misconception #discussion #edit #2D #3D #artwork #bw #black and white #coloured #i keep thinking about it every time i see png of him #its like Charlie Brown hair #filled with skin tone color and now its a norm i guess #but i cant look at this normally anymore lol #also a new way to ruin Sonic's design and make literally everyone mad let's gooo

[puppyeared]

wanna see a magic trick? 🪄🎩

#YEAYYYY i like drawing this guy #now that i think abt it i cant remember the last time i saw a furry with tattoos.... ive decided not to think too hard about how it would #work but i think i like the idea of him getting playing card tats on his ears would be cool ^_^ #apparently anthro species on furth include birds and mammals and i think fish amphibians and reptiles are non anthro #so instead of whipping out doves he would make white butterflies appear out of his hat :o) #its sort of meant to tie in with the ruffles on his shirt resembling a butterfly!!! i thought id make it close to a swallowtail so #that way its easy to see at a glance. i think that would look really cool irl #he looks a lot like joker p5 now that i look at it... it wasnt intentional but the red eyes and black messy hair is obvious huh #oh but the way his hair curls in the front isnt strictly in one direction just so that its easy to draw lol. its meant to curl around his #hat brim a little bc i thought it would look cool #my art #myart #my oc #oc #sleight #laika's comet #laika's comet oc #fan character #furry #furry art #fur

[pepsdraw]

Intrusive thoughts won this time

#art #booba #black hair #cat girl #cat boy #oc artwork #not my oc #original character #commission #anime #black dress

[rockandroar]

Here are some more character exploration sketches of Emma! Sitting pose is 100% referenced off of a photo of Avril Lavigne from like 2002. Also, I owned those Converse boots. They had a zipper in the back, so they weren't the lace-up nightmare they appear to be. 😂

#rock and roar #rock and roar 2 #scene emo #myspace #millennials #original character #visual development #animal characters #concept art #webcomic #scene hair #webcomics #scenekid #rawr xd #emo #2000s fashion #2000s #2000s emo #2000s aesthetic #2000s nostalgia #anthro #anthropomorphic #black cat #anthro cat #anthro oc #my oc sketch #my ocs #my oc art #ocs

[greenapplebling]

I love my collection of blonde character x dark haired character ships but I just realized something

When it comes to blonde characters there's a spectrum where the extremes are "sunshine golden retriever" and "bitchy mean girl"

And for the dark haired characters there's "sunshine babygirl" and "unhinged world destroyer"

Somehow there's always a sunshine involved

#ship #shipping #fandom #character tropes #blonde x dark haired #sunshine x grumpy #golden retriever x black cat #mikayuu #catradora #wenclair #solangelo #merthur #patrochilles #timber #loustat #lamen #bakudeku #narusasu #goldenheart #twiyor #trevorcard #adrinette #brarg #yeah i'm tagging it idc #idk if I forgot anyone....

[mushi-shield]

#yuuri katsuki #yuri on ice #lelouch lamperouge #code geass #black hair characters #anime #anime character #anime poll #poll

[lunargarden-art]

"you'll slay the ladies with your smile!" *proceeds to smile

#his smile aahhhhh #digital art #dabi #touya #touya todoroki #todoroki touya #mha #bnha #bnha dabi #mha dabi #my hero academia #boku no hero #boku no hero academia #mha fanart #bnha fanart #anime art #anime fanart #digital drawing #he's such a comfort character to draw his smile could cure depression #i love how his black hair makes his turquoise eyes more deep and magnetic #so i tried to emphasize them even more #THEY'RE BEAUTIFULLLL the most beautiful gaze i've ever seen in a character!!! #i also like him with white hair #buut it doesn't have the same effect #moreover white hair dabi is giving me too many traumatic experiences and now every time i'm worried about him and everything he might do #i like to remember him like this <3 magnetic and mysterious

[thebluelagooncompany-567]

#Hair down #Black Lagoon #Manga #Rokurou Okajima #Rock Okajima #Japanese #Chinese-American #seinen #rei hiroe #lagoon company #gunslinger #mentally unstable character #Revy “Two-hand” Lee #Rebecca “Revy” Lee

[gellavonhamster]

One Piece Live Action + Tumblr text posts, 1/?

#onepieceedit #oplaedit #opla #one piece #one piece live action #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #black leg sanji #cat burglar nami #god usopp #buggy the clown #iron mace alvida #red haired shanks #dracule mihawk #mishanks #my stuff #apologies if some of these have been used before. like i won't be surprised someone has used the 1st one before. it really screams luffy #also there are like 5 ways to tag each of these characters but the post would look terrible

[musubiki]

my best friend is the main character

#the cat witchs guild #tcwg #the misc adventures of mochi and lime #tmaomal #mochi #coco #lime #oscar #(oscar makes a one-panel appearence as a side chara #art #ocs #original #comic #mbfitmc #i think about how if anyone went to this school and you asked them who the main character is anyone would say coco #theres a beta idea that taffy kidnaps coco because he thinks shes the witch at first #(but...youre the only one with bright hair and tragic backstory and wears all black) #coco: its trendy #im slowly realizing that the only way lime knows how to flirt is giving mochi weird shit #gifting frogs is his love language appearently #if he cant hug her the second choice is appearently giving frogs #side quest npc mochi is so cute i want to talk to her!!!!!

[nectarishes]

n*tflix teen coming of age series where a side character with two lines of dialogue gets expanded on in a separate novel and becomes one of the most popular ships with the main character. or something

#jojos bizarre adventure #golden wind #vento aureo #pannacotta fugo #giorno giovanna #fugio #my art #the joke here is that giorno is more punk than fugo could ever hope to be #I don’t think fugo would actually dress this alternative or that giorno would dress this modest or ‘normal’ this is just representative of #their earlier characters #I originally drew giorno with his short black hair but decided against it #my fugio fancast would be Havana rose liu and luka chikovani. everyone else can be zendaya or Tom holland I don’t care #your clothes are trash your hair is trash your leather pants squeak when you walk

[soni-dragon]

uncertainty

[ID: A digital drawing featuring N from Pokemon. He sits over a ledge in a ruined building made of sand-colored stone. Light pours in from the right, over Reshiram who lays asleep beside N. In the background are two pillars and a pool of teal water. Reshiram is a large, white feathered dragon. N has long green hair and wears a white button down and beige pants. He looks into the distance, uncertain. He holds his black and white cap in his lap. /End ID]

#my art #apparently i keep getting attached to long haired pokemon characters who have crown motifs and vaguely aro/ace colors #(purple and green respectively hehe) #reshiram is a kitty ok #pokemon #pokemon black and white #pokemon n #n harmonia #natural harmonia gropius #pokemon art #Reshiram