I have been researching race/ethnicity because I drew up my characters and... quite frankly, I am not sure how to draw someone of any specific race. What race does my character, Sonya, look like to you? See the drawing below.
She sort of has Beyonce's coloring. The brown hair is throwing me, though; I'm not sure how common that phenotype is in those with darker skin colors.
There's a mix of races here. The hair really throws it off I think, and the pointed jaw. I was thinking Mediterranean simply based on skin tone, but those two other qualities I mentioned really throw her for a loop.
I can't see stuff like that easily either but maybe some kind of mixed ancestry? Or maybe she's just had her hair died? It kind of looks like she from the modern world from her clothing so dying her hair brown from another color should be a possibility.
I see South Slav, Slavic Mediterranean, possibly Ukrainian. Think Mila Kunis. That darker, smokier Slavic phenotype. That's what I see.
Your drawing shows a weak chin which in my view would eliminate her as middle eastern. Just google middle eastern women and hit images there is a plethora of faces to choose from. You may decide to change your drawing.
Sorry for the late response! I’ve been thinking. I feel like Sonya could at least have a combination of north-eastern African and Asian genes to explain her skin tone and most of her facial features. I am stuck on that weak jaw, though. What race would be represented by the jawline? If I can figure that out, maybe I can hold off on changing the drawing for now! Thanks, guys!
I was about to say "Mixed?". Are you going for a 'blasian' look? The color picked is pretty yellowy in my opinion (which makes me think asian first thing), but it's hard to make a solid guess until you've learned more about the artists style. Spoiler My mom was born in korea but she is mixed (chocolate brown skin). I inherited my dads paler/yellow skin with freckles (irish), but pretty much have my mom's face so I look kinda weird.
I drew the picture before I gave her a solid racial designation (kind of inconvenient in retrospect), but now that I am revising how I view the picture, I think Blasian is on the right track. What I have so far is Sudanese, etc. on the mother’s side and Filipino on the father’s side, with a quarter or so English, resulting in Sonya’s mixed look. Does that make sense to you guys? Spoiler Not at all! I am sure you look great! ❤️
I could see her as being from anywhere except Northern Europe of sub-Saharan Africa, to be honest. Well, probably not the Indian subcontinent either, but you could tell me she was from any one of the more melanin-rich areas of the globe and I'd be fine with it.
I thought a lot of Rhode Islanders were of Portuguese heritage? Or you're saying she's not the Portuguese type?
Yeah, I was thinking Central or South American, too. Or Mexico. The brown hair with the dark golden skin tone is frequent among the citizens there, I've observed. I can't speak to the pointed chin on the broad face. Maybe she's a mix? Most of us are, these days.
A character's race and ethnicity should have a lot more to do with the story and their identity than appearance. It's a bit troubling that you can almost insert any sort of ethnicity into your character based on a picture you drew. You're a talented artist, for sure, but I would give some thought as to why this character's race is important and how it affects your story. And the answer should go deeper than an attempt to inject diversity. Race means something, especially in these times were in. I'm not sure what sort of research you're doing on race. Races are not as interchangeable as you appear to think. In the end, a picture will mean very little if the writing fails to really show that the issues of race and ethnicity go deeper than just physical appearances.
I am only concerned because I am anal about making every detail as accurate as possible. Has little to nothing to do with race, itself. I just want to be accurate. The story itself has to do with mental health and not race, and I don’t plan on pointing out the characters’ race, either. This is just for me to know as the author of the story. I think it’s good to know things about your character — even if you don’t write it in-story.
But what do you mean by accurate? Accurate in their behaviour, accurate in their dress sense, etc? I must admit, I'm struggling to understand this approach. I would always conceive a race as part of the character concept, if it matters to the story. You see, race is generally a part of a person's identity and will affect how they behave. If I want to write a story set in rural America, with a boorish farmer as a main character, then I would make him white. Now, I could make him black if it's important to the story. But I couldn't see myself drawing him and then deciding, based on how the drawing came out, what race he is. Maybe I'm writing a spy story set in the 1890s. I want my exotic Russian Countess to have a trace of Mediterranean ancestry, because I need her to have some links to certain families there. OK, let's make her partially Italian, which fits in nicely with her aristocratic background. Now, if I draw her, I would draw her to look Russian with a hint of Italian. Maybe dark hair. There just wouldn't be any value in drawing her first, then thinking, I'll throw in a bit of Italian because the drawing looks like that. I'm not saying your approach is wrong. If it works for you, that's great. But for me, it would be the wrong way around for how I create characters.
Accurate to their physical appearance and genetic makeup. Since I draw as well as write, I want my drawings of my characters to match their ancestry. That’s all.
