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I like to equate skin tones with food or natural objects. Caramel, chocolate, cream, sand, etc. Eye and hair color work well this way too. There are so many beautiful shades of skin it is a sham...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-20T00:40:37Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42132 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T10:51:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42132 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
I like to equate skin tones with food or natural objects. Caramel, chocolate, cream, sand, etc. Eye and hair color work well this way too. There are so many beautiful shades of skin it is a shame to leave it out of descriptions. White people tend to focus on hair and eyes and ignore skin aside from the very large divisions of black and brown and white (not that anyone's skin is truly black or white). Or they mention "tanned" which implies a change from the natural color due to leisure or work in the sun. The Black community in particular has a rich history of naming different skins, and then depicting them in written or visual art. Many other ethnic groups have gorgeous descriptions. Reading how they do it should help fuel your ideas. People notice if you leave it out. Maybe not white people (they'd notice if you never described hair color), but certainly people from the cultures you're writing about. In addition to comparing people's colors to natural objects, you can compare them to each other. > "Her lover's skin was translucent against hers. Cream marked with the slightest tint of beet. Her own ebony seemed almost blue in the morning light."
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-02-11T05:38:03Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 19