LD10: Tricky Shading and the Backspin

In my tenth illustration for Lucy's Dance, the Curukaq dance festival is afoot in the gymnasium of an unnamed, Yup'ik village. Traditional foods--dried salmon, fry bread, and akutaq--appear on the table. The text emphasizes that the participants lack many traditional dancing artifacts and skills, so they improvise by dancing in their own ways. The row of drummers and the food constitute the central elements of heritage, unless you count the general spirit of revelry.

In past illustrations, I have colored most of the characters' hair (almost solid black in reality) with purple. By request, I tried a more realistic dark brown in LD10. The result: I find it difficult to see any texture in the hair with such a dark color. In the thumbnail-sized image, texture may be indiscernible. Showing texture requires a lighter color, but would be inappropriate to show the hair as a lighter brown, which would convey a skewed image of the ethnicity. I'm still a fan of purple, but it's difficult to tell whether this would seem to surreal or unfamiliar. I'm eager to hear outside opinions on the matter, especially (but not only) from my Yup'ik readers.

Speaking of ethnicity portrayed, I have also darkened the skin tone in this image relative to prior images. In some photos, I don't notice that the Yup'ik skin color is significantly darker than Caucasian skin, though it's difficult to factor out sun exposure that accompanies the subsistence lifestyle. In terms of political correctness, I was unsure whether to err on the side of lightness or darkness. It seems that recently, some illustrators have provoked criticism for blanching out ethnic characters. One article mentions a cover illustrated by Diana Sudyka, one of my favorite illustrators. Recently, Sudyka's depiction of an African-American character earned protest from bloggers for being too pale. I think it's always a bit tricky for an illustrator to depict the "characteristics" of an ethnicity other than his or her own. I admit, it was comforting to learn that an artist whom I admire struggled with some similar issues.

I could approach the problem by listing a string of Yup'ik features, but this approach immediately feels eerie and clinical. I prefer to page through a pile of photos, then draw impressions mixed from what I have seen, working to include variety. Of course, in this particular drawing, most of the characters' faces are obscured or oversimplified due to the angle and distance.

Another small change: in response to a suggestion, I've decided to remove Apa's parka in this scene and instead show him from behind. Wearing it indoors might be disrespectful at a potlatch, and also a little too unabomber-esqe.

In a final cultural note, I'd like to add that I watched at least 10 break-dancing videos to ascertain that the shown backspin and Zulu spin moves are depicted here as they would really be performed by kids who had seen them once on TV.