I’m not gonna call this post “how to draw black people” bc I can’t like come to your house and teach you how to draw but I can give criticism to common issues that I’ve seen and how to potentially fix them and improve your art when it comes to drawing black people that you might not be familiar with. Keep in mind this post is coming not only from a black person but a black artist.
Our facial features and facial structures are generally different than white people’s. Generally we have fuller lips and flatter, rounder noses, often our eyes are wider set. But of course a character’s exact characteristic are specific to that character, we don’t all look the same.
Don’t exaggerate features too much or it can come off insensitive/like a racist caricature
We don’t just look like white people but painted brown. Please don’t draw a white dude then paint him brown and call him Miles Morales
Our skin is typically not gray/ashy and it definetely isn’t white. I’m not exactly sure how digital art works bc I’m still in the 1900’s and most of my work is physical but like color pickers and things? I guess you can use those? Helpful. And that doesn’t necessarily mean our skin is always warm toned because there are people with cool toned skin but making their skin gray will make them look ashy or dead. Also, don’t be afraid to draw dark skinned characters. And please, do not white wash us or lighten our complexions.
Use reference pictures!!! Please!! Reference pictures are so helpful and it costs 0 dollars to not risk drawing someone in an offensive way. References are your friend, please utilise them when you can.
Practice so you can get more comfortable with drawing black characters like just draw them a lot until you start to get the hang of it
Don’t think your art is already the best that it can be. There’s always room for improvement. Be open to criticism and feedback and work to improve
Hair. Oh boy. This is a whole other topic that I honestly can’t help much with because even I struggle with drawing afro texture hair. But think squiggles. Afro texture hair is often described as “curly” but it isn’t curly in the same way a white person’s hair might he curly. It’s more kinky. Less spirals, more squiggles.
