Feedback wanted for Black and Brown character designs - GC Forums
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Feedback wanted for Black and Brown character designs
Hi I'm writing a fantasy/horror story set in a world that's vaguely based around the 17th and 19th centuries. As I was finishing the planning period, I changed the world-building so that the continents would move around a lot faster than they do in reality. (I'm talking crazy fast) However, I realized that since people in this world are moving all over the place all the time it means that features that arose after mankind left Africa would be a lot less common than they are in our world. This presented a problem because the majority of my characters were designed with those very features. So I immediately began to redesign them so it would make sense. However, I feel like I was a little lazy and didn't do the best job. My art style isn't the most complicated thing but I still feel like a lot of these designs are just the same with the skin color changed. Even if I felt like I did a great job I really don't know how good of a judge I'd be since I'm White. If I could get some feedback on this, ideally from POC creators I'd be more than grateful.
TLDR;
I had to change a bunch of my European-looking character designs to more North/Eastern African and Semetic-looking character designs due to tweaks in the worldbuilding. Looking for feedback.
Here's a Google Drive folder with the Character Designs. The first five images are the original designs, and the next five are the new designs.
There are also four extra images that expand a little more on the worldbuilding. I really want to avoid making an Orientalist story where all the cultures and different groups I write about just kinda blend together into something with no real depth. Of course, a consequence of the geography is that the characters all come from a diverse number of cultural backgrounds due to the way the land encourages travel. I haven't really gotten super far into the story so this may be harder to judge, but I want to know how my comic comes across.
Thank you for any feedback you give me, I really do appreciate it! The comic is called Alexithymia Cannibal Club if you want to read it. (Btw, the last extra image does contain a bit of nudity. it's not sexual in nature but I know some people don't wanna see that sort of thing)
Hi, my name is Jackson, I'm also an indie comic creator. Alright so, I'm not sure which people of color is your intention, because the term is broad. So you need to narrow it down. Right off the bat, I can see what you meant by simply changing the skin color. I'm African, so I'll mention things that can be applied to all peoples of color ;
1. Hairstyle : Different cultures, different hairstyles
2. Nose and nose bridges : Most caucasians have a straight nose bridge and pointed contrasted with us africans, most of us if not all, we have curved bridges, rounded noses and it "pinches" right around the glabella area.
3. Ears ; Most of our african ears are inner and some have large ear lobes, especially those with tribal piercings
4. Jawlines ; Many of us Africans have rounded jawlines, or squarish rounded(males). You'll find there are many many more caucasian/asian females with a "pointed" chin/jawline
These are the basics for all characters even in character design, including eyes btw. So just find which culture or people of color you want to focus on then research and practise drawing them.