So. Last year I discovered this blog
called American Indians in Children's Literature. It is a super
interesting look into the way Native Americans are represented in
books aimed at impressionable youths. I don't have kids and I am not
particularly interested in kiddie lit but the woman who runs the
site, Debbie Reese, also discusses books that were around when I was
a kid, such as The Little House on the Prairie series.
What I really liked about this website
was it really put into words two huge and offensive mistakes people
make when including Native Americans in their work. One is the
lumping of many, many different and distinct tribes and peoples into
one peace pipe smoking, headdress wearing, tomahawk wielding
monolith. The reality is that the different signifiers that (some of)
our culture at large identifies as “Native American” do not apply
to every tribe or group.
The second idea is that of Native
Americans representing history, something that is extinct and located
firmly in the past. Living in the Arkansas (and especially Oklahoma)
region of the United States that is a laughable thought but one that
is obviously used for convenience. If our government and our pop
culture can pretend these peoples are extinct then they have no
responsibility to care or to help, right? Ugh.
I bring all of this up to talk about my
first Native American character, Ilse. If I had known as a kid what I
know now I would never have tried to present this character without
knowing her actual tribal background. I wanted to root her in an
identity other than my own but I didn't have the knowledge needed to
do it with the proper respect. Her name is taken from a baby name
book that I have had for years and years. I named her (and her older
sister, whose drawing I have lost) from this baby book, printed in
the late 90s. It is a huge tome but one that in retrospect leaves a
lot to be desired. I gave her a Native American name labeled just
that: Native American. Nothing more specific. (Also: “Ilse”
appears to actually be German in origin. Crikey!)
In redrawing Ilse I used a photo of
current U.S. District judge and Hopi woman Diane Humetewa as
inspiration. At the very least it grounded my stupidly unrealistic
character into something more accurate. I also wanted Ilse's redraw
to look modern. She now looks like a small upscale business owner in
my mind.
Art tips: I'm struggling with how to
add texture to the hair. To add realistic shine it needs to have so
much texture and I'm unsure of how to achieve this with the fairly
small scale I am using. Be sure to look for more experiments with
that in the future and any advice is welcomed. Also, the left hand
looks pretty good, thought the right hand looks like a deflated
balloon animal. I call that progress!