Disclaimer: This is not to criticize anyone and is just a mere observation with my opinions.
This is absolutely something I've wanted to talk about for a while now. I've seen time and time again, artist being afraid to use black in their work. Now I'm not talking about one simply not enjoying black like us goths do, but avoiding to use it even when necessary.
This example here is where artists avoid using black or use it as little as possible.
These are fanarts of myself and obviously, I'm always wearing black as my avatars usually are as well. The pixel piece, they just replaced all the black with blue/purple. The pieces by my good friend Rocky, he made Derrick's outfit blue and mine a very dark, faded purple.
Some will say it has to do with shading or blending which I get. However, it's not impossible to incorporate shading and blending with blacks and I've done it many times myself here in this example.
Some simply prefer not to use it as it can be tricky. I myself have had trouble with it in several ways. For one, using the darkest greys as a lighter black can get annoying as sometimes with color wheels, it's hard not to get reds or blues in the mix.
"Off-black"
Off-black is something I really do not like. My mindset is either go black or don't, there's no in between. This is also a common color scheme here on Gaia and I've never liked it. There's all these really cool items but often they don't have an actual black version. 'Off-black' does not go with an actual black goth look. It's almost like a tease.
This is also done in anime as black hair is often replaced with other colors. Take this character Saya for example.
She's often shown with a bluish hair color when her hair is suppose to be black. In the first couple seasons of the show, she has that pixie cut which is colored black but in the last season when her hair got longer, it's often shown to look bluish rather than black. In some instances it's black while in other's it's that blue so it's not even consistent. Perhaps due to having more than one artist.
In some other cases they even replace black with grey. I just never understood why. I'd absolutely be interested in hearing from an anime artist as to why they sometimes do this with black hair.
This also kinda ties into somethings getting labeled as goth when they're not. An example of this is with Stardew Valley and some mods for it. Since I've been working on a goth friendly mod, I've been looking at other 'goth' mods and have been seeing a lot of this. Many people have been making "goth" versions of the characters while using little to no black. Now I understand there's many different forms of goth where colors can be incorporated, but that's not the case here.
Example where in these 'goth' mods they use little to no black.
Not to be all a**l about "goth vs not goth" but it does irk me a little when things are so carelessly called 'goth' with little to no black as black is key for goth. Even other goth types with colors, pastel, neons etc incorporate black into their aesthetic.
The way I see it is, if it has no black, it's not very goth. Another example, these two vanilla characters from Stardew, Sebastian and Abigail. They are refereed to as 'goth' by fans when they have very plain and some what ordinary looks and again, with little to no black.
An example of a very well done goth mod with my own.
Again, these are just my personal opinions and preferences as we're all entitled to our own and I'm not attempting to rag on others.
"Black doesn't exist" debate
After inquiring for the thoughts on the topic from other artists I learned that some actually claim that black is more or less an illusion.
Apparently, according to science, black is not a real color, nor is white. That I've heard my whole life and get, but I don't see it as relevant. I still consider black a color and always will. If anything, someone seems kind of like a tool when they butt in and are like "well technically, it's so and so." No one asked, and no one cares and it's rude to just insert things like that mid conversation. If someone is inquiring about such information then that'd be different.
It's also said that "black doesn't appear in nature" which is also absurd to me. We can clearly see things that are literally black. Animals, people's hair and don't forget those little dots in the middle of your eyes called pupils.
While doing some research, I got more of an understanding as to where this all comes from and more or less from what I gathered is as follows. The blackest black does not appear in nature nor would it even be possible for the human eye to detect. Fine, but again 'who really cares?' It's not relevant in most cases, especially when someone wants to make their own art.
In closing, I feel that people should be less afraid to use black. Black is beautiful and is a great 'color' for expression. It's not impossible to shade with it and it can be done well but it can also be done poorly. It's just a matter of learning how to work with it and of course of one's own preference as is everything else that was shared in here today.
