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violentlyscreaming · 4 hours

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“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!

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violentlyscreaming · 5 hours

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violentlyscreaming · 6 hours

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MUCH GOOD NEWS! According to the RWBY livestream, they're getting along quite nicely with a potential partner about Volume 10, AND the current CRWBY is likely staying on as the creative team! Though they can't go into specifics yet, and there's gonna be more news in the coming weeks.

Excellent! Here's hoping they make it a renewable contract, means they can keep the animators employed at a steady rate.

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violentlyscreaming · 7 hours

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No see results option, I'm forcing you to perceive yourself. rb for more results plus

#irl #I say this bc I’ve learned anyone I’m not super close with irl thinks I FUCK #online I’m. just a nerd

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violentlyscreaming · 8 hours

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the two genders are yes or no

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violentlyscreaming · 8 hours

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Sometimes I look at a fanfic and I can just TELL I’m going to be obsessed so then I have to weigh my desire to dive in and tell the author that they are everything good left in this world against having responsibilities

#fanfic

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violentlyscreaming · 9 hours

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violentlyscreaming · 11 hours

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Treats from the Dropout Discord (23/04/24)!

Sam popped up and answered a few questions about the newest Game Changer episode (Deja Vu)!

1.

Sam was the Wenis dance choreographer

2.

3.

There were contingencies in case the cast tried to prevent Sam from breaking the camera !

4.

Sam Says 4 might happen in S8 of Game Changer

5.

The VHS footage is real

6.

Zac was the one who wanted to "Play Grant"

7.

The "video game" the players played in the episode is accessible!

URL: colinw.itch.io/gcdjv

Password: GC123

8. And MOST EXCITING OF ALL:

THE FINALE IS A TWO PARTER!!! What tribulations does Mr. Reich have in store for his employees?? Only time will tell 🙈.

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violentlyscreaming · 12 hours

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they need to do an episode of game changer that is just straight up trivia with no twists but constantly allude to a big twist at the end. (ie. strange props on their podiums when they start that are “for later”, sometimes the trivia questions become weirdly repetitive or overly specific, ex.)

Brennan must be on it.

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violentlyscreaming · 13 hours

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Don’t you see? He says “And your host - me! I’ve been here the whole time!” And then he introduces himself and looks down at his own hands like they aren’t his own and the posters are his body all split apart and he’s walking on M C Escher style stairs ! He’s not himself. Magician Samuel Dalton split him apart - don’t you see???

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violentlyscreaming · 14 hours

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I’m so glad there are people in the Game Changer tag sufficiently obsessed with this show that they’re now building red string board conspiracy theories about how our beloved host Sam Reich might be possessed by the spirit of his (entirely fictional) evil ancestor Sam Dalton from the escape room episode. Normally I’d say that the evidence presented so far isn’t enough to beat the fact that they’ve never done some sort of “season arc” like that, much less a multi-season arc, and shown no sign of intending to do so—but on Game Changer, “they’ve never done something like that before and shown no sign of intending to do so” is EXACTLY why they would do something!

Incredible show. It’s mere existence is an ongoing experimental art performance. It’s also possible, of course, that instead of being possessed, Sam Reich has simply been replaced by his evil ancestor Sam Dalton, and is locked in a closet somewhere on set.

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violentlyscreaming · 15 hours

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clocking in for another day at the i dont wanna factory

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violentlyscreaming · 16 hours

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help