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Lesson 4: "Do Black People Blush?" Bringing Brown Complexions To Life
Lesson 4: "Do Black People Blush?" Bringing brown complexions to life
Inspired by this ask

So, do Black people blush?

We are human beans š¤£! Blood rushes through our veins! This isn't just a nonblack misconception either; I know plenty of Black people who think we don't blush. Stop saying that shit. It's not true! If you thought this at any point, I'm glad you learned, TAKE THIS L IN SILENCE! I am sparing you the indignity of saying this out loud, ever! šš¾
Jokes aside, the actual issue usually lies with the depiction or description. Depending on our skin tone, most of us arenāt going to turn ābright pinkā with a blush (if you write that in your y/n or roleplaying fics, thatās an easy way to negate a good amount of your potential Black audience). Think of a cherry coke- how you still see the tint of red in it, but itās still brown? Like that.
One way to dodge this in writing is to say āflushedā, or āears/cheeks became hotā. This is describing the physical action of blushing, without having to describe the color of someoneās face. If youāre really nervous about not writing us correctly via blushing⦠there you go!
Colorism
Okay. So this is something Iāll likely do its own lesson on, because thereās no way I could encapsulate it into one little blurb and Iām not going to try! After asking the internet an admittedly confusing question š , one thing I was able to reaffirm is that people have different opinions on what ādarkā/ādarkerā skin tones mean. People recognize that different cultural upbringings and contexts will change what that means! And thatās good- that an important part of the larger conversation!
However, I want everyone to understand that you donāt have to be Black to be dark/ādarkerā skinned- you can be Black and very pale! We discussed that in the last lesson! Thereās no āsingular point of brown-nessā that designates a Black person as āBlackā- thereās an entire sociological conversation behind that!
My point is, this isnāt a āoh Black people OVERALL arenāt depicted blushing properlyā- because there are ālighterā skinned Black people that wouldnāt suffer as much from this particular issue.
Blushes and Undertones
Three Links for Tips on Medium to Deep Skintones
Different complexions are going to require different colors, there's not a 'one fits all' option. However! What we want to do for deeper brown complexions is to focus on BOLDER, not lighter! Putting light pink or a white personās ānudeā on our skin will often make us look ashy and undercolored. And we donāt like looking ashy.
"It looks like they're ashy!"
What do we mean when we say this about a piece? Well, worse case scenario, it looks like this:

This was NOT one of KDās better days, and he was thoroughly mocked for this. He got more than enough money for lotion! Anyway, when we say that your art looks āashyā, it means that it feels like the skin of your Black character is gray, or dead. Like a corpse. We donāt look like that unless things are dire.
In fan and professional art, you can sometimes find people user a grey undertone for deeper shades of brown on Black people: NO! We are NOT grey! We are not pitch! Many skin shades of brown can be found based in the oranges and the reds. Based on lighting and depth of complexion, you might even have to go into the blues and purple to capture the brown youāre seeking.

Iām begging us to stop desaturating the browns we use. We can see the difference. Itās usually one of those āWhite Man Painted Brownā techniques I discussed before; an attempt to āmake a character Blackā without really committing to it because the brown skin tone ādoesnāt look goodā to the artist. Brown is beautiful! Commit to brown! Commit to the full design!
Put in the work to create the brown you need!
While this is a traditional art piece (follow Ellie Mandy Art, a Black creator), I want you to notice how she incorporated many colors to create the deep brown for her piece.
-8:05 for the list of paints
-8:05-17:29 for the process
She used black, yes, but it was nowhere near the base color. She incorporated blues and reds and other browns to capture that depth. It wasnāt ātoss in a bunch of black or grey to get the brown darkerā. (SKIP TO THE END TO SEE HOW GOOD THIS PIECE IS, BTW. I felt like I was in the presence of a master watching her do this, fr. We gotta pay artists more.)
I want to use this model as an example to show that while we might get very dark, we're still not 'pitch black'. You can see the flat of the black of their clothes versus their deep complexion. They're not the same!

Even if your character's complexion is very deep brown into black, you still need to incorporate ālifeā into them (if that makes sense). And you know what? Even if you want to describe your characters as having āblackā skin, thatās fine, but there are still other ways to do it- obsidian, the night sky, velvet. Find a way to romanticize our skin (thereās an entire conversation about how āblackā is used in a negative connotation in language and storytelling, and weāre ALSO going to have that conversation later!)
A Real Simple Way (i.e. how I do it)
I tried, but I cannot find my skin tones palette link anymore. Iām sorry! But, itās been essential to my character design. If you donāt ever buy anything else, I would HIGHLY suggest investing in a skin tones palette for your art program.
Everyone say hello to Philia, my OC! Iām used to drawing her, so Iām going to use her as an example. Now remember, I am still an amateur! But this is how I do it!


Admittedly, I do the one on the left when I'm feeling lazy, but more often I'll take the time to do the one on the right. Now hereās the thing- Iām not actually blending the red into the brown. This is on a whole different layer. What Iām actually doing is adding to and fading the color until itās at a color that I feel is natural. There's definitely an easier, smarter way to do this, but thatās what I like to do- I like to see the stages slowly until Iām comfortable.
You have to mess around and practice; see what looks good and what doesn't. Go into the reds, the oranges, the pinks and observe how it looks- I may go through multiple before I settle on one. Itās really just a matter of getting used to drawing Black skin tones and how they look in different lighting. This one's not perfect for sure.
Resources
Here are some really good posts and Youtube videos on how both to paint skin, and to add blush tones. And remember, as per my usual, the best way to learn how the draw and paint Black people is to follow and learn from Black artists! Another good idea might be looking into Black makeup and Black SFX makeup artists. As people that work with skin on a regular basis, they would be a good place to study what colors can and should be used on different skin colors as a whole.
ami0amii
Likelihood Art
Tiara Anderson
Proko
Sinix
Ross Draws
In summary, focus on bolder colors, be willing to test until you get what you need, and practice! All you can do to get better is to practice! And as always: itās the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!
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More Posts from Theasexual-jackson

berry š
ā³Ā commission for fauxmingos on twt!
Reblog to let people know that people identifying identities "cis-nazi" and "cis-zionist" are not welcome on your blog.
I shouldn't have to explain why this is a fucking stupid thing. Just... no. You don't "identify" as a nazi, you're just a raging fucking nazi/racist piece of shit.
You tell them, monarch, you tell them.
I rly hate the Satanic Panic & the moral panic surrounding violence in video games in the 90s, coz it's now impossible to talk about the social implications of violent video games in a realistic sense.
No, violence in video games does not create serial killers in the way most people imagine it would.
However, it's very important to notice how after 9/11, a lot of violent video games pivoted their content from silly gratuitous cartoon gore to more realistic military shooters set in the Levant from a US American lens. It's also important to notice the connection of these games & their toxic online multi-player voice chats to Gamer Gate in 2014.
It's obviously not as black & white as it was presented in the 80s & 90s, I dont think everyone who played early Call of Duty games is a white supremacist who wants to join the military to kill people in the middle east, but I think it's dangerous to pretend like video games or any media can't have an impact on the way people think about violence.
I think what makes all the difference here is how that violence is portrayed, what the message behind it is, what the motives are behind the people who crafted that message, who the victims of that violence are, how they are portrayed & the greater cultural context that surrounds it.

Image by Courtney Ahn