Artist getting harassed for not making character look dark enough, called several slurs in replies and qrt.
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Seeing this bothered me, and no one really commented on why it does, I'm going to sperg for a bit about a fictional character and lighting.
The screenshots that kirammarts used have most of Korra shaded, meaning her skin appears darker in those shots due to the lighting. In reality, this is how Korra looks when the shadows aren't covering a majority of her face and arms;
Both of these are still character portraits that are meant to showcase her design in full. These are often used for promo art and such, but as it's assumed the character is in neutral lighting, it's the most accurate depiction of what her skin tone is. It's a very mid-tone brown; while the artist did lighten up some of Korra, her skin tone is still around the same ballpark as her official colors, the major difference being that she's shifted to a more warmer tone instead of a cooler one.
Keep in mind, however, that animated characters' skin tones may vary throughout a show. This is because characters are colored based on their environments. Think about what factors may contribute to a color appearing differently; is the character out in the day or night? Are they under a bright spotlight or illuminated by candles? Are they in a thick forest (may lead to a green tint) or are they in a sunset (leads to an orange tint). because they are colored based on the scene and environment they're in.
The following Korras are all from either the show itself or promotional artwork:
Would you look at that! In these five Korras, she has a different skin tone in each. The differences may be slight, but they're still there. Despite this, you can tell that she's brown with her hair darker and her eyes a shade of blue, and that's the important part. The colors may not be on-model to Korra's actual color palette, but they're accurate to the environment she's in and make her look like she belongs there.
All of this is to say that understand what's happening when someone pulls as a "gotcha!" in a topic such as whitewashing. If someone is showing photos of the character where they're mostly in shadows, that's already a disingenuous accusation because they're purposefully picking images that make the character look darker than they are. The first photo kirammarts shows has Korra inside a home (slight orange tint) and with her face mostly in shadows. The second photo shows Korra outside (slight blue tint) and, again, with her face mostly in shadows. Both of these paint the idea that Korra is darker than she is as she's being taken in an environment, but with the context of said environment and light source completely removed.
(ETA: Fixed up some of my wording so it isn't as grammatically weird.)
Yuri
