quirkify:

something people don’t always seem to grasp is that whitewashing isn’t only lightening skin tone, it’s erasing ethnic features as well.

i see a lot of asian characters get this treatment and it definitely like. goes under the radar a little. many asian characters are pale skinned so people don’t really draw the connection with whitewashing, because most people tend to associate the word with strictly colorism (which is an obvious, enormous problem) while forgetting that other forms of erasure and racism also exist at the same time. hell, i don’t even notice it sometimes but then i’ll see something really blatant and go ah! that sure is a white.

and people always try to excuse any and all whitewashing with “it’s just the art style” and “i don’t know HOW to draw ethnic features/black textured hair/etc.” 

like…….. okay. so learn. practice. actually put in some effort. learn how to draw rounder faces and monolids. learn how to respectfully draw fuller lips and wide noses. learn how to vary darker skin tones and properly shade them. literally everyone is perfectly capable of incorporating intrinsic diversity into their art. 

why would you not want to progress with your talent? why would you not want be able to not only do characters of color justice in your fanart but be able to create more diverse original work in the future? there’s really only one reason someone would be flat out against the idea of that.

sometimes it’s an accident and people don’t realize. so if you haven’t thought about this in a while when it comes to your art and how you depict characters of color, here’s your sign. just take a second or two to look things over and see if perhaps there’s any room for improvement. (hint: there is always room for improvement, for absolutely everyone. that’s part of the fun of creating content and having a passion in the first place, i’d think!)

but if you go out of your way to actually insist that blatant whitewashing is “just your style” then chances are you’re not only lazy but decisively racist.