More thoughts on representation, Overwatch, etc!

There was a time when I followed a number of blogs that examined racism and minority representation. It was a new and interesting topic to me so I wanted to read about it. I remember posts about Asian-Americans not feeling represented in movies or videogames - and how a few videogame characters who are Asian looked whitewashed to them. One of the bloggers took a pic of Ada Wong (from Resident Evil) and photoshopped her to look more Chinese. I thought, okay, I see your point and this is clearly an issue.

I already had a pet peeve about artists who learn to draw only white people while their portrayal of a person of color is another standard whitey with maybe a different skin tone. It’s understandable as a beginner’s “comfort zone” but seeing the phenomenon in a giant media franchise is a little worrying. European facial features are hella overrepresented everywhere, especially when the concept of beauty comes up - literally google “beauty”! It’s fifty identical white chicks and Beyoncé. It’s so dull. Humans have an incredible diversity and only this tiny portion seems to count.

Maybe some people feel I’m not allowed to bring up the whole topic because I’m a white Finn. Fair enough, but here’s some interesting trivia: even among Finns there are common facial features that don’t align with Western beauty ideals. Some of our genes come all the way from Siberia so we tend to look different from the rest of Europe. Rumor has it that Renée Zellweger went through plastic surgery to tone down the Finnish/Sami ancestry in her looks. Finns were classified a lesser race as recently as WW2 and there’s a history of Americans calling Finnish immigrants “pale apes” back in the 19th century. Discrimination based on appearance happens everywhere and the issue isn’t so clear-cut every time.

So with those thoughts in mind I aspire to become a sort of artist who finds beauty in all types of faces and bodies. I know it’s not an original thought, especially on tumblr, and I still have TONS to learn but I believe it’s the right thing to do. And it really makes drawing more fun as well every time I learn to draw a new character.

I agree my post about Overwatch could’ve been better worded and I apologise for it. The intent was not to dictate what Japanese people “should” look like - hell, Hanzo could have black skin and blond hair and still be Japanese for all I know. However I do think there’s a sameface problem in Overwatch and the guy has a generic hyper-masculine superhero face like many others. Personally I would’ve loved him to look more unique. I’m not the one in charge though so rest assured, it’s just my dumb opinion which won’t affect anything. Just like the rest of my blog!