#writing for darker skin

[lorenzobane]

Get ready for one of the most useless posts on this website.

Alright, I saw a post a while ago about how it doesn't make sense to write Julian Bashir as "blushing" because he has a darker skin tone. Now, this isn't a call out and the information that the poster (I can't remember who it was) was trying to convey is describing Julian (or any dark-skinned character) as "flushing pink" doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. And that is true.

However, I wanted to very briefly talk about blushing with darker skin. I am a few shades darker than Julian, but I absolutely can blush. In part because blushing is a physiological response. If you're writing from a character of color's POV, obviously, we can feel blood rush to our cheeks.

But it also absolutely can be visible. It's true that I don't flush pink, but because of the blood flow to my cheeks on my darker skin, I do, in fact, change color. I am also a person who occasionally wears blush, and because of my skin, I do not pick pink shades.

To lightly demonstrate, I'm going to use my inner wrist (which is slightly closer to Julian's skin tone than the rest of my body). I have one picture of the color I use, one picture of the blush sampled on my skin, and one of the color when it's blended out. (Forgive my skinny little wrists)

As you can see, I pick darker shades and shades that have more reddish/orange undertones because that is what looks more natural on my skin.

But also, as you can see, it clearly shows up on my skin- even when it's blended out and more natural. Anyway - this isn't really anything, except that to allow some flexibility perhaps for writers. You absolutely can write darker-skinned characters with a blush; you just need to note that it probably won't look pink per se. It'll look redder or slightly more burnt orange. Go forth! Embarrass my boy accurately!

#characters of color #writing for darker skin #julian bashir

[stupidlittlespirit]

♡ Rules of engagement for reader fics ♡ // my fics do not specify weight, race, fashion, or anything that might refer to one's appearance. This space is for absolutely all people (18+) who enjoy reader fics, and therefore all defining characteristics are omitted to help you picture yourself/your self-insert character without any issue. ☆ - Gendered language may be used, but usually I will specify this in my warnings. ☆ -There is never any use of 'y/n' or anything like that in anything I write. Below the cut are all fics I post on here, including some tumblr-only exclusives; please also consider showing me love on ao3 and/or reblogging my work!

⋆ ★ Mob Psycho 100 ★⋆

🎀 Reigen 🎀

♡ - First Kiss // sfw -- Reigen gets drunk, jealous and kissed. ♡ - Teacher's Pet // sfw -- Reigen meets one of Mob’s teacher’s and loses his mind a little bit (ongoing) ♡ - Good Boy // -- nsfw, mdni -- Reigen finds your webcam show and proceeds to be a pervert. ♡ - Just for tonight (Valentines Special) // nsfw, mdni -- There’s a nice new sushi place in town. It’s a shame they’re only offering discounts for couples…. (fake dating) ♡ - Making out/dry hump drabble // -- nsfw, mdni -- rather self-explanatory, no? ♡ - He said no pickles // vague nsfw mention, mdni -- silly drabble about reigen's mom being a jerk ♡ - Claustrophobia // nsfw, mdni, please heed the tags -- trapped in a closet during a job gone wrong.

🍵 Ekurei 🍵

#masterlist #my fics #reigen x reader #reigen arataka x reader #reader insert #i try my best not to mention stuff like blushing too bc one time i saw a tiktok where #the person said they hated when people wrote a reader as 'turning pink' bc they had darker skin #and it excluded them #so i do my best not to put it in #I'll refer to it as feeling one's face get warm etc #idk if people really care that much lol #but if something bothers you pls tell me and i'll try to accommodate if i can #writing reader is v hard lol

[highpri3stess]

"Skin so pale/translucent skin/looks white like a ghost/white skin/milky thighs"

Me *looks at my black ass self*: Damn I don't have any of those 😔

#anime x reader #being black means having it at the back of your mind that many white writers won't have you at the back of their mind when writing #which is kinda sad cause I don't want anyone to be excluded from my fics and I try to make it all inclusive #when you're black you always have to remember other people #a lot of white writers don't remember that black people read their stuff #no hate to you all but like if you're gonna write 'pale milky skin' just add white y/n in your labels thank you #jujutsu kaisen x reader #tokyo revengers x reader #x black reader #x reader #i'm so tired of enjoying a fic only to see 'white milky skin' #yes I blush cause I am light skinned (NOT WHITE) but it is still alienating to darker people too #this is a teaching moment #please remember us in your fics

[aloeverified]

I've always loved the idea of Hinata looking very different from the rest of the Hyūga clan to both set her apart from her family and to also symbolize how she's an outsider in her own family, and I also really enjoy blasian Hinata designs but I couldn't quite think of a way to fit that into her backstory — until I remember that Kumogakure has a mostly black cast (and is widely believed to be based off of Africa).

In case this correlation doesn't make since to you, the ninja who tried to kidnap Hinata was from Kumogakure. Because of this, I got to thinking about the possibility of the peace treaty between them and the Hyūga originally starting off as an arranged village between Hiashi and Hinata's mother, a Kumogakure kunoichi. What seemed innocent to the Hyūga was actually alloy on Kumogakure's side to get the byakugan and weaken the Hyūga by having Hinata's mother flee with her after killing Hiashi.

Right before Hiashi arrived to save Hinata, he had to fight off an assassination attempt by his wife that ended with him killing her. This could be a reason as to why he was so quick to kill the ninja attempting to take Hinata instead of reprehending and questioning him. It could also further justify both the overall clan's and Neji's hatred for Hinata; as for the former she would represent treachery and a mistake, whereas to Neji she would be a constant reminder as to why his father is no longer alive.

#i headcanon that most of the hyuga clan have long straight brown hair ans white eyes and the women are very pale since theyre #always indoors and not typically allowed to be shinobi #whereas hinata has her coily dark purple hair and lavender eyes and also darker skin #naruto #naruto headcanons #hinata hyuga #neji hyuga #hyuga clan #im making a naruto rewrite and im so excited to write abt this #i love kumogakure and this gives me an excuee to talk abt it #aloeverants

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

so recently i decided to roll the 'what will my human!pericles look like This Time' roulette again, only this time in color for once! it's always itched at me how his design looks like a totally different person before and after the timeskip, having been through the wringer aside, so i thought i'd take a shot at combining my interpretation of the two. (the creators pretty obviously took cues from his voice actor for his present-day design, and it's been fun to draw on that too while still keeping the design my own.)

i mostly like how it's turned out, as far into it as i managed to get before i had to take a break and my executive function stalled out; i kept putting off posting it, meaning to come back and finish it later, but i finally decided to go ah fuck it i'd rather it be out there unfinished than disappear into my sketch folder forever. or get fucked up by my trying to continue it while Not in the Groove, especially given how difficult the painting tools i've got available are to wrangle with. Sometimes You Just Gotta Call It

there's a lot of things i'm eyeing to hammer out more next time--i can never seem to figure out what the hell to do with his hair, for one; for another they did a great job at getting across 'babyface that has become aged/haggard' with his designs, and that balance can be difficult to nail when the art app i use really brings out the Everyone is Soft and Babyface in my artstyle. it's a real bastard, but i liked drawing him with this brush a lot and i'm looking forward to working it out more if i can.

the upshot of this is Lo, Cunty Grandpa Be Upon Ye

bonus flats, including an early-to-mid-twenties edit, as well as a couple speed doodles from the same page:

#sdmi #scooby doo: mystery incorporated #professor pericles #ricky owens #humanizations #god i really do need to sit down and Actually Properly Work Out my design for his semi-humanoid-but-still-a-furry form #it's what i'm thinking of 90% of the time i write/talk/etc about him and it's frustrating how hard it is to actually translate it to paper #the story behind why this one is in color for once is hilarious and an accident #but then i rolled with it because i liked the resulting color palette and figured it was a good opportunity to practice darker skin tones #which is annoying to wrangle in this app; because once again the painting tools are terrible #and it is incredibly easy to make dark complexions look Grungy #but fuck it might as well practice to the extent i can for now #also as far as i'm concerned this gay bitch 100% wears makeup he was just a bit subtler about it before the asylum #afterward he just went Full Edgy Messy Goth and in this and this alone he is valid #me seeing a homosexual bird furry with a beak darker than the rest of their face: oh lipstick? #SDMItag #whosebaby makes things #whosebaby draws

[quietmtntown]

say what you want about the main 4 not being super close it will never be as toxic as this friend group

#anti proud family #south park #yo i hate pennys friends #minus zoey #bully the nerd is super progressive rollseyes. #the og pf is more fun to watch #i watched all of s1 of the new pf and man did pennys friend remain the worse hell djnay got worse she outed two gay men #gota homeless teacher fired #also the whole colorism ep feels weird causes penny/dj are ready to dump their darksin bfs for the lighter skin bfs #and zoeys the villian like really? nahfam #they make a whole deal about this dude being into white chicks without even asking him about it and then get mad at zoey #while being raedy to dump their darker skin bfs for the lighter dude and dont see their own colorist bias #the pf is to woke? not when its bullying the nerd it aint bullying nerds aint woke.. #starting to think female main character shows should be written by women men write us very bitchy...

[serpulalacrymans]

Do you find darker skin attractive, law? ^^

Yes. I've had few chances to dabble with darker skinned human subjects but the difference in lighting really intrigues me. I like the warmer toned glimmers and how different the fingernails can be when compared to lighter skinned people.. Differences and variety create beauty.. I wish I had more opportunities to explore that variety sometimes.

#//important note as i had a concern a while back: #//NONE of the characters i play are any kind of phobic or hold values that can be GENUINELY REAL WORLD HARMFUL #//as in.. you know. none of them are sexist. or racist. or homophobic. none of that. #//so while Law may be creepy as hell in writing like this sometimes #//it does NOT mean he enjoys a skin tone more than or prefers one over the other #//this ask is simply about darker skin so thats what hes talking about #//just for clarification

[audhdnight]

I really wonder what goes through some peoples heads to see a post taking about all the reasons someone shouldn’t support a certain author (if they cared about racism or Zionism or literally just had any kind of care for other humans) to then comment “I love her books!! 🥰”

We know. And we know why. Choke.

#love when mediocre white women with mediocre writing skills get praised for ‘diversity’ #all because the male love interest is a (extremely fetishized) man of color #(hes never black tho. specifically described with lighter skin. but he’s darker than the fmc so 🤷‍♀️) #meanwhile no one in the book knows what consent is #and the fmc talks about conquering surrounding countries to gift to her children some day bc that’s a normal thing to do #and the only female characters of color are consistently portrayed as undeserving of love from men #and either get dumped or get dumped and then come out as queer #but hey it’s fairy smut so apparently we can’t criticize or we’re just against women expressing sexuality

[annjiru]

just a reminder that my Angeal is half Latinx and it shows !

he has a deep complexion, ranging from honey to chesnut in shade depending on the time of year and how much time he's spent in the sun. he tends to tan easily, much like his father, and hardly ever gets sunburned.

because of his skin tone, it's oftentimes hard to tell if he blushes (though the right person can still make him visibly redden).

another note: prior to him being infused with Mako, Angeal had amber-colored eyes. he was actually born with blue eyes like Gillian, but they darkened as he got older as sometimes happens in children.

his resurrection verse makes him regain his amber eyes as the Lifestream has cleansed him of his enhancements, which is a welcome change in his mind. it takes some getting used to, but he enjoys how he resembles his father more as time goes on.

#{ love love LOVE when people make Angeal's skin darker than Sephiroth and Genesis' skin in fanart #{ this turned into a ramble but i thought it would be fun to write about since summer is here #headcanon;

[transpanda-1]

Being a video game fan and having even the most basic shred of respect for women is like a burning hell on earth inferno that tortures you endlessly, and I still play more games regardless

#chirps #🎩jekyll #being a video game fan feminist is like loving women and hating yourself #listen we're writing KH fic okay. Do you understand. Do you understand the pain #and the thing is this is just if you respect women on a basic level #if you have any shred of humanity for people with darker skin; lgbt people; disabled people; etc. you're just fucked beyond belief

[astro-b-o-y-d]

I think transmascs will truly have rights the day this website stops hailing Ozma as a trans woman icon and recognizes him for what he really was; a boy forced into detransitioning back into a girl because ‘it wasn’t honest for him to take the throne as a boy’ or whatever that bullshit was in the writing.

#Hayley Speaks #I saw that post on mobile a few days back and it made me mad #Yes he was changed into a boy at birth and raised as one but he was HAPPY with being one #He expressed UNHAPPINESS with being transformed back into a girl #And the one time he was like 'well if I don't like it; can I change back'; Glinda said 'No' #Listen I know there were a ton of issues within the stories themselves and with the writer himself #And I'd be a hypocrite to say 'Oh you can't just reinterpret the story how you want to make the characters trans' #(I do that with Chihiro so I get it) #But also maybe we should stop hailing characters who express discomfort with being seen as feminine as trans women icons #Especially if they express happiness with being male but are unfortunately not allowed to express themselves as male- #-due to certain circumstances in the writing/media #Sometimes.......people who don't want to be seen as girls and are uncomfortable with being seen as girls....aren't girls #Also there was some racist undertones about Tip having darker skin but then having lighter skin when he became Ozma #But that's another topic #I will acknowledge it though because what the fuck

[crimeronan]

I read your new fic this morning and immediately forgot about it but i just remembered and am feeling very bad now very very bad.

THAT SURE IS THE FEELING HUH. very honored to have achieved "i thought about this a few hours after reading it and got physically sick" status. thank u 🥰

using this testimonial to plug the fic: it will make you feel very bad very very bad.

the premise: AU where luz has been raised as a princess by belos from a young age, this fic involves him telling her about the grimwalkers through some hands-on murder demonstrations. and it also involves her relationship with hunter. and her relationship with the need to rationalize that belos is not a bad parent.

while writing it i was like "this is.... among the worst things i've written. everything about this is so viscerally fucking awful" but then was like "well, i Always think that during the writing process, and then the story ends up not that bad." but this one i reread with fresh eyes just now and i'm like. OH. OH GOD.

#ooh god the belos i wrote here makes my skin crawl worse than the one in 'phantom pains'. LEAVE HER ALONE OLD MAN #i realize i'm fully the one who decided to do this but as with most of my darker fic #was clearly externalizing some very specific skincrawling feelings about autonomy and manipulation and grooming and illness #and it. shows. #anyway. #replies #toh #horrible mindscape trauma pals #horror #luz and hunter both end up fine eventually shes gonna kill belos in the upcoming parts. but for now the opening is just OH GOD #my writing #violence #murder

[headfullofdolls]

So, now with the series 4 bios out, Lila Yamamoto is confirmed to be mixed Japanese and Chinese.

And this is good, of course, because the least they can do to explain her outfits is to have her be mixed heritage. Because there was a lot of reasonable concern over the cultural mishmashing going on with her fashions, as others have explained. And I’ve seen some people express relief because now we can put those concerns to rest!

...But as much as I, someone also Asian and mixed, would like to believe MGA planned for Lila to be mixed Japanese and Chinese from the start...

“Her dad is Japanese, and her mom is Chinese.”

That is the easiest sentence to insert into a paragraph as an afterthought. Just change “rich cultural roots” to “rich multicultural roots” and bada boom, she’s mixed now.

“Loves incorporating her family’s diverse culture with street style fashion” should really say “cultures” though, plural, so they forgot to fix that 🤔 But hey, that could easily be a simple typo, right?

Except the bio only mentioning Lila being a “streetstyle icon in Tokyo” also seems odd. She has a Japanese last name, lives in Tokyo, and reads rare manga, all referencing her Japanese heritage, but the bio makes no references to her Chinese heritage aside from her mom. If she “loves incorporating her family’s diverse culture(s)” with her fashion so much, why not a brief mention about what inspired her to incorporate Chinese elements? Like visiting her mom’s family in China (naming another specific city like Tokyo), or her mom introducing her to Chinese arts or fashions as she grew, in contrast to the Japanese culture surrounding them. Or being inspired by her parents’ respect for each others’ traditions and the way they incorporated them together while raising her. Lily Cheng’s bio talks about her growing up with “the best of both worlds,” so there’s already precedent for that similar experience. And there’s other students with longer bios that talk more about their families or backgrounds (see Krystal’s and Stella’s for instance), so it’s not like there wasn’t enough space or it’d be out of place for Lila’s bio to have a short reference to her Chinese cultural influences. Saying only, “Her dad is Japanese, and her mom is Chinese,” sounds bland and impersonal. And to me, seems like a hasty inclusion to hand-wave away the inconsistencies in Lila’s outfits. Because even with her mixed heritage, there are better, more respectful ways to incorporate Chinese and Japanese culture “with street style fashion” than the muddled hodgepodge they designed for her doll, if they only did more research.

You could say I’m being cynical and nitpicking, and you’d be right! But I also love Rainbow High and want better from it. Good representation is important (especially in properties directed at younger demographics), and it’s important to critique big corporations when they drop the ball, or at least question their actions. Because this issue isn’t new, isn’t even surprising, even just looking at Rainbow High’s history of diversity and representation. On the plus side, as fans have pushed for them to do better, they have started doing better! On the other hand, it’s frustrating to have to keep pushing for it, instead of the paid professional teams at MGA putting in the work and awareness to be better before anyone has to point it out to them.

I’m glad, relieved even, to have written confirmation of Lila as mixed race (I was worried they wouldn’t have any justification for her outfits at all). But planned or not, it doesn’t absolve the cultural carelessness issues going on with her clothes. As our first canonical multicultural representation in Rainbow High, I sorely wish she was better. Lila deserved better. We deserved better. But now, keeping that in mind, all we can do is speak out, and push for MGA to do better in the future.

#rainbow high #lila yamamoto #saw someone say now people could ''finally sleep at night instead of hating MGA'' and it activated my fight or flight reaction #and y'know what? #¿por que no los dos? (: #lila i want to love you but you're also causing me immense emotional turmoil :\ #like i almost never see darker-skin asian rep #i've literally seen more ads for ''skin-lightening'' products on trips to my mom's country #and then! woe! dark tan asian doll be upon ye! #eeeexcept her fashion is an insincere mix of east asian cultures as if they're all the same! yaaaaay #(and also her second skirt is just a straight up recolor of karma's) #(which is a smaller unrelated issue but still. annoying :\) #(like did they run out of ideas or just cheap out hahaaaaa) #anyway. i'm just out here writing long posts about dolls instead of going to bed. i am very normal #but hey! guess that also means i'm ''hating MGA'' instead of ''finally sleeping at night'' lmaoooo gottem #we've come full circle. the salt prevails #doll thoughts #tag specifically for rainbow high thoughts

[antimnemonic]

i see many posts regularly about how kingdom hearts is sexist/homophobic or w/e and maybe like 1. about how getting possessed/corrupted/turning evil turns ppls skin brown in these games 😭

#im not singling out kh specifically. the corruption = darker skin is a common thing in japanese media #but many times I’ll see ppl write essays about media or how media could’ve been done better and then u find that media is legit colorist #it’s always a surprise 😭 no one brings these things up #-omg type moon is so problematic and sordid (positive)- is a whole genre of post #meanwhile there’s a character who goes from pale to dark-skinned if she turns evil 😭

[woolydemon]

this is gonna sound bad but I'm watching the canon lesbian velma movie and. I kinda hate it 💀

#rando thoughtz #though velma being a lesbian is not the problem thank god #though idk.... the way they handle her crushing on this lady is a lil ehhh but it's. fine i guess #i do however have come go a realization i. hate the current scooby doo art style #not completely though its rlly expressive & fluid (in this movie at least) #and there's some rlly nice use of colors #but bc its trying to mimick the original animation style it also picked up how. flat it was #the compositions are often rlly. eh #it would work fine for a show but for a movie it feels too bland #and God Why Are All the women Drawn like that . #its so off putting to see daphne in comparison to the more recent stylizations that came before bc. #she has a insanely skinny waist & massive hips. its like cement got injected into them #its most obvious on daphne but hints of this is in most women in this including velma #like. the way they animate them feels so objectifying to me ........ #especially lesbian love interest lady like My God she makes me uncomfortable #might be how she makes me think of that one lady from road to el dorado #in how a woman with a darker skin color is constantly animated w/ a huge focus on accentuating her promiscuity #idk the way women look in this style rlly doesnt sit right with me #something abt the writing also feels off to me but i cant put my finger on it so i wont comment on it much #idk. ig it has a bit of that mcu irony poisoning or smth like that #i might just be nitpicking a lot and maybe I'd feel different on a second watch #but im a person that likes be cool scooby doo i am p open minded when it comes to this franchise #especially since i mostly dont expect it to be a masterpiece like ever #the closest was the direct to vhs era & we're not ever gonna get back to that #idk man im sorry guys i just have a hard time enjoying this era of scoobt doo as much <////3 #it might not be helping that a part of my perception of it is that they feature celebrities like sia & ricky gervais so. not great #the weird al episode i enjoyed though #ok sorry i got into a heated scooby fan moment </3 it might happen again #it almost happened before when i watched the scoob movie #but everybody was lucky i got over my irritation over the things i didnt like abt the movie by the time i thought to type it all out

[mildew-dread-mold]

feeling like i can’t make any complaints because all my problems are first world problems ✨👍💞💞

#is it problematic to be upset that all the advice i see about writing poc is aimed at darker skinned people and never light skinned poc #am i an asshole for complaining about how the educations system fucks gifted kids over when kids with learning disorders are treated worse #am i allowed to feel insecure if i’ve learned to value myself