whitewashedjulianbashir - Tumblr blog

whitewashedjulianbashir · 7 years

Text

So, this is a new blog, and you can probably guess what it’s about from the url, but I included some statements from blog’s pages below the cut to explain further.

So why did I make this page?

Well to put it simply for some reason a lot of people have a tendency to draw Julian Bashir as pale to the point of white. While this has been a problem in several fandoms with brown characters, in the star trek fandom the only character I've seen this happen to, and happen often to, is Julian Bashir. By making this blog I hope to point out this trend when it happens in the hopes that next time the artist will use more accurate coloring.

Why is using the wrong coloring a bad thing?

Characters of color aren't very common, we don't need to further erase them by making them look white. Personally when I see whitewashed fanart it makes me feel like because the OP likes this character they think they're too good to be anything but white. I know that's not necessarily the thinking behind the drawing, more probably it's laziness and/or sheer ignorance. The long and short of it, whitewashing characters tends to makes people of color feel like shit and unwelcome in a fandom.

My art appeared on here!!! Now what???

Well, don't panic. I'm not rounding up an angry mob to hunt you down. I prefer to believe that any whitewashed art that occurs is done out of ignorance and not malice. In the future, when you draw brown characters take a moment to think about that fact that they're, you know, brown, and don't use the same color palette that you do for white characters. Maybe it won't be as good at first because you're learning something new, but you'll get better and your art will get better.

I have a few more things to say. First off, this is a one person blog so I might make mistakes from time to time. If you can tell from my Q and As page I don't want this to be a hostile or shame-y blog. Rather I hope it can help make the fandom an even more inclusive and happy place for everyone! In return, if you take issue with something I do or post I hope you can talk to me in a constructive and non-violent manner.

Additionally, this blog will not be a gathering page for artists to hate on. Please don't send people anon hate. Constructive criticism is one thing, but violent rhetoric won't change the minds of those who made a mistake.

(Purposeful whitewashing is another issue that I'll address if I ever come across it, which I hope I won't.)

#julian bashir #deep space nine #ds9 #deep space 9 #star trek

0 notes