fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4629 ]

[ SECRET POST #4629 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4629 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #663.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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03. https://i.ibb.co/F4q8H4G/Addy-Secret.jpg

oof that nostalgia hit though <3

I have no idea what this is but yeah, the illustration on the left is much better imo. Much more full of life.

It looks realer, too. There are students with varying skin tones in there, not just one vague gradient of brown.

What is this?

The American Girl Addy books.

I don't know where this is from, but I agree. Er... and this may be a touchy subject, but I can't help noticing that the pic on the left shows a far wider range of skin tones that's IMO more realistic than the one on the right.

Not touchy. There are people with varying skin tones within black families, the same would apply with a room full of unrelated people.

Well, yeah, of course. I'm a POC and I know this. But any time you discuss race, skin color, etc. it's got the potential to be a touchy subject.

That's even a point in the book. Harriet (the girl in yellow) is wealthy and has lighter skin than Addy and thinks she's better than her, and it's implied to be because of her lighter skin as well as her money.

I agree! The one on the left definitely has more life to it, the one on the right looks a little off. It's the posture of several of the kids that just doesn't look right. And as others have mentioned the original has a greater variety of skin tones. It just looks more realistic in every way.

Wow, yeah, the one on the left is so full of life. The one of the right looks like expressionless robots.

They both seem fine to me tbh

Melodye Rosales's illustrations for Addy are the best. It sucks that one of the reasons Pleasant Rowland fired her was for trying to show the different complexions black people can have and it was pretty shitty of her to demand back the Addy doll she'd given to Rosales's daughter.

OMG I never knew that!

That sounds like a very distorted account of what happened. The books are very clear in their text about the colorism among different complexions of black people. She wouldn't fire the illustrator for drawing what was written in the books. Besides, what would be the point of trying to make black people all have the same skin tone other than being an evil moustache-twirling racist?

As an illustrator myself, I find the newer one perplexing: why would they hire someone to redo the art, imitating the same exact style of the original, but a little worse on the technical scale? The first one seems to have more of a storytelling element to it as well, as it draws attention to various characters. Wtf, art directors?

I was wondering why they even bothered changing it, considering I see nothing wrong with the old one and the new one doesn't appear to give us anything new - the bookcase even has the same shape on top. Was there a copyright/royalty issue? Did they figure new art would be a selling point and it didn't matter if it was the same scene but a bit less good?

NAYRT

There's an article that interviewed the original illustrator and it was apparently due to the illustrator and the company's founder butting heads over various issues, including how to represent the characters' skin tones: https://slate.com/culture/2016/09/the-making-of-addy-walker-american-girls-first-black-doll.html

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2019-09-09 03:43 (UTC) - Expand

The technical artistry is much better on the right. I'm an artist myself, but the original art seems to have drawn the characters first, and added the background and surrounding as a second thought. You see it in the details of the notebooks, and how in the original art, the child in front of the bookcase 'glows' because they didn't use the proper contrasting tones and needed to leave a gap to prevent washing him out. The style is similar, but it is not an imitation, there are many differentials in the details.

I prefer the style of the one on the right. I find the lightness of the shading prettier, and I love the sense that there are unseen windows along one wall of the room. But I do agree that the expressions, postures, and skin tones are better in the one on the left.

I do like the unsee windows lighting on the left and also being better able to see the details of Addy's(?) hairstyle, but generally prefer the one on the right for the reasons you mention.

I like the variation in skin tone better too, I also like the clothes and the historical US map better.

I disagree. The art on the right is much better, and much more detailed. I don't know what this is from, but reading through the comments, the personality of the girl in the yellow dress is much more prevalent than in the originals. The right-side art reminds me almost of those babysitter club books, everyone seems chummy and friendly, imo. I'd say it's the age of it, but I wouldn't personally place the two pieces out of the same era.
If you look at the hands, the weave of their binders, the books, bookcase, all are subjectively better than in the original. The spaces between the two rows of desks is far too small on the right, and the depth perception just doesn't seem quite right. The boy in the blue is 'glowing', and my eye immediately is drawn to him when it really shouldn't be, it's because they used the same tones in the bookcase as they did for his skin tone and they needed to leave a gap to avoid blending or washing him out.
I see people arguing that the left is better because it shows a wider range of skin tones, which it does, but while not as diverse, the image on the right does have a multitude of it's own. I do agree that if the book has to do with classism, or race, they should have made it more obvious for visual understanding.

My favourite part about the image on the right is probably the map. Maybe because I'm not American, but I'd like to think they're a little less ignorant than to only have a map of themselves... I can't say if that's true or not though.

Seconding this.

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