Tuesday 12 July 2011

Rainbow Nations

Now don't worry I'm not about to get all PC or controversial on yo' ass, or at least I don't intend to.

More, this is recounting a train of thought I had recently whilst finishing off the St Peytersburg civilians and supernaturals.


I'm not very good / confident with Caucasian skin-tone, never have been. I'm much better / more confident with dark (African / South American) skin-tones.

So why don't I paint more of my figures with darker skin-tones?

Okay, so with historical figures these things are pretty much set for you and figures are scultped to reflect racial characteristics, i.e. the choice is taken away from you

So what about fantasy / sci-fi figures / armies? Why are Space Marines / Imperial Gaurd / Empire / Bretons etc 99% Caucasian? Is it because the gaming community itself is 99% Caucasian? Does that make it uncomfortable for said community to paint dark skin-tones by choice?

With my Mantic Zombies for alternative AWI I painted roughly a third as Negros. My mate Shaun commented that it made them look like emaciated slaves. Another mate of mine once did a USMC themed Imperial Guard army with an all Negro conscript platoon based on "Operation: Get Behind the Darkies" from South Park complete with a converted "Chef" and two lady-friends. Right / wrong / funny / inappropriate. What would have happened if he took the army to an event and a person of colour made a complaint?

So, back at the point, when I was recently struggling with the Ghoul Family why didn't I turn to a strength rather than continue with a known weakness? I could provide multiple answers but the most honest one would be that I didn't feel "comfortable".

WTF???

Commentary, preferably balanced, welcome :)

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