r/EbonyImagination • u/toasted_dandy • 4d ago

Original Content Some art from way back in high school, inspired by pastel kei and visual kei respectively!

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Gallery image

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8

u/toasted_dandy 4d ago

For a little bit of backstory, I'm a white artist who grew up in a mostly Black area. A lot of my friends shared my interest in anime/manga and Japanese fashion subcultures, but the stuff they loved didn't really seem to love them back--y'know, all these patronizing ideas that Black features just "don't fit" certain aesthetics. It always ticked me off, so for a couple of art class assignments I decided to draw unambiguously Black characters fully embodying those styles. The characters' names are Amira and Dante, and I've always kind of had an idea in the back of my head of refining/fleshing them out more...maybe sometime soonish?

6

u/SanicTheBlur 4d ago

I wish a lot more people had this kind of attitude towards black people and art. I really appreciate you for that and appreciate you for sharing this piece and the backstory. Much love 🙌🏿

3

u/toasted_dandy 4d ago

Thank you so much for the comment!! I consider myself lucky to have had the upbringing I did--while it doesn't occlude the need for constant social awareness, growing up in an inextricably Black community kept me from developing the layers of distance and mystique that keep Black figures out of a lot of nonblack creators' portfolios

3

u/toasted_dandy 4d ago

(Also, the background for Dante was pretty much exclusively because we had to present these for discussion and I didn't wanna keep correcting classmates saying "she". God bless the subtlety of a fifteen-year-old)

2

u/Waystation47 1d ago

Love love love. The colors are a warm hug. Good job