DallasJ+art Blog

So you might be saying: Lion why a guide on drawing black people? Well young blood it’s because a lot of people cant…seem…to draw…black people..Amazing I know. 

Racist (caricatures) portrayals of black people have been around forever, and to this day people can’t seem to draw black people like they are human. If your artwork resembles any of the above even remotely your artwork is racist and offensive. If you try to excuse that as a stylistic choice you’re not only a terrible artist, but racist too!!! Congrats.

Whitewashing is also a problem. A lot of people refuse to draw black features on canonly black characters. While this example isn’t colored, lightening the skin-tone of a character is also considered whitewashing. So lets start with features!

Now all black people have different noses thats a no-brainer, but black noses tend to have flatter bridges, and wider nostrils. Please stay from triangular anime noses and small button noses. Your drawings should not depict black people with abnormally large noses. (Especially if you do not draw other characters this way)

If you feel like the way you draw lips on black characters is offensive or resembles a caricature,it probably does and you should change it. ABSOLUTELY AVOID PLACING LIPS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FACE. 

Hair is so diverse! Please get used to drawing braids, locs,kinks and coils! If you can learn to draw ringlets and long waves you can learn how to draw black hairstyles.

Add clips! Learn how to draw baby-hairs and never be afraid to add color Pinterest and Google are free my dudes! Also try using square brushes for blocking in coils.

OK THAT’S ALL YOU GUYS

No, I’m not going to link back to your page. I edited out your ugly signature too. I paid for the art. It is mine.

Don’t worry, this does not mean I take credit for drawing it. When people ask if I drew it, I say “Nope.” When people ask who did, I say, “Sorry, I don’t remember.”

Just because I bought your art does not mean our profiles have to be linked forever. It’s the same if I buy an apple from the grocer. I don’t have to keep the sticker on it or tell people where it came from. I’m not a walking advertisement for your shop.

If you want credit so badly, then I should get a cut of your future profits for my part in the advertising.

if you bought a physical, painted-on-canvas drawing, would you still go through the trouble of trying to edit out the signature there too? Because literally the only difference between that scenario and this one is that the canvas can be physically held and displayed, where the digital painting stays in a digital venue.

Please do not ever fucking commission me. My signature is an A, but I don’t care if an artist’s signature is a giant fucking watermark half as big as the piece. If you cut out their signature, you cut out their effort. Do you have to make a little URL tag that links back to my page or DA or tumblr or whatever? No. Would it be nice? Yeah. Is it a good habit to do anyway? Yeah.

But unless you’re paying me USD and we’ve made it part of the agreement that my signature will NOT be on the art- leave the fucking signature on the art. You purchased art that has the signature. Once you alter it, you’re violating our purchase agreement. The artist produced that art for your agreed upon purchase price with the understanding that what they were sending- signature fucking included- would remain on the piece.

When I show my stuff here on Tumblr, I keep whatever DA link came with the automatic sharing of the post. I include a comment about the work if I feel it needs actual context, but otherwise I just have the link to the original post on DA and to my profile on DA. That’s it. I don’t link Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, Flickr, Instagram, and whatever other god forsaken social media people can easily find me on. 

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST.

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST.

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST. 

CHANCES ARE THEY ARE GOING TO WORK VERY HARD ON YOUR PIECE  

THEY MIGHT EVEN BE ANXIOUS BECAUSE THEY MIGHT TAKE A LITTLE LONGER THAN EXPECTED 

SOMETIMES THEY LOSE STEAM HALF WAY BECAUSE LIFE THROWS OBSTACLES IN THE WAY. 

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST, THEY WILL HAVE SPENT TIME AND EFFORT ON YOUR PIECE. THEY MIGHT HAVE GONE THOUGH SOME TURMOIL IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING IT. BUT IN THE END YOU WILL HAVE WHAT YOU PAID FOR. 

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST AND YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THEIR WORK AND WHAT THEY PROVIDED, THE ARTIST WILL BE VERY HAPPY AND PROUD. THEY WORKED VERY HARD ON IT! THEY PROBABLY WON’T MIND IF YOU SHOW IT TO OTHER PEOPLE, IT WOULD HELP THE ARTIST A LOT! (BUT IT’S OKAY IF YOU DECIDE TO KEEP IT TO YOURSELF TOO….)

BUT IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST… 

AND YOU SEE THE ONE SECTION THAT TIES SAID ARTIST TO THE PRODUCT THEY WORKED SO HARD ON….. 

….AND DECIDE TO TAKE IT OFF 

YOU HURT THE ARTIST EMOTIONALLY…..

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST AND EDIT THEIR NAME OFF THE PIECE….

YOU ARE SAYING “FUCK YOU ARTIST, I COULD HONESTLY CARE LESS ABOUT HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT YOU PUT INTO THIS. I PAID FOR IT SO OBVIOUSLY I DESERVE TO TAKE THE CREDIT FOR SOMETHING I HAD NO HAND IN BESIDES PAYING FOR IT TO BE CREATED.”

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST, DELETE THEIR SIGNATURE, AND SHOW IT OFF, YOUR FRIENDS WILL ENJOY IT AND SHOW IT TO OTHER FRIENDS. THOSE FRIENDS MIGHT WANT TO BUY SOMETHING SIMILAR! BUT THE ARTIST ISN’T GETTING CREDIT FOR IT BECAUSE YOU ESSENTIALLY TOOK THEIR WORK AND CLAIMED THE WORK, EFFORT, AND SKILL FOR YOURSELF, ALL BECAUSE YOU PAID FOR IT. (SOUNDS CRAPPY RIGHT?)

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST

CHANCES ARE PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE. CHANCES ARE THEY TOOK THE COMMISSION TO PAY SOME BILLS AND REALLY NEEDED THE MONEY.

IF YOU COMMISSION AN ARTIST AND DELETE THEIR SIGNATURE….

Remember, when you commission an artist..

YOU DO NOT GET RIGHTS TO THAT PIECE OF ART.

Me, remembering everything I thought of when I sit down to type: