Vanessa Makes Things

boldriley:

shadesoffantasy:

boldriley:

Heya! I’m the writer. I pulled from a lot of different sources for the Bold Riley stories. A lot of the visuals were inspired by real world art but the cultures are pure fantasy.  I try to avoid using the word “Indian” when describing BR because it isn’t India even in a fantasy sense. 

I’m hope that clarifies things a bit. I really don’t want anyone reading BR hoping to glean insight into anyone elses real world culture because lemme tell you right now- I made this shit up.

I had a look at boldriley and I haven’t read it properly but I think it looks gorgeous and promising. However you should probably make an effort to find out more about the cultures and ‘visuals’ you draw inspiration from to avoid appropriation … unfortunately you can’t just divorce whatever it is you’re doing from the real world.

It would be pretty crazy for me to have been doing this for so many years without making any effort to understand the world around me. I love the style of a lot of different kinds of art and aesthetics so the things I like are going to end up reflected in what I write and draw. 

The only thing I had wanted to say is that reading any of the places Riley visits in the book as directly based off of a particular country isn’t going to work out. I wince a little bit when people call Riley Indian, because she’s not. She’s from Prakkalore and their society is it’s own thing.

Anyway, that’s pretty much all I really wanted to say. I just hope people read it and enjoy the adventure.

And if not I suppose everyone knows where to send the hate mail. 

Here, here, Leia!  The thing is, we ALL appropriate, whether or not we’re taking from our own culture or another.  It’s okay to do that because no creative work is formed in a vacuum.  Riley is a fantasy story and even if Prakkalore is inspired by existing things it shouldn’t be taken to be a literal representation of the real world because it’s not.  But so what?  It’s not trying to be.

To say that we as artists can’t take bits and pieces from cultures other than the ones we grew up in is like saying that we can’t write historical fiction because we didn’t live through the time period, or Steam Punk novels because they’re embellishments on historical fact, or science fiction because not every aspect of them are plausible.  Yes, anytime we’re writing/drawing from something that isn’t immediately our own we’re sure to get small things wrong, but I think so long as the goal isn’t to be 100% accurate (and it’s not in this case because it’s merely using an existing thing as a stepping stone to fantasy), then there is no harm done.  Especially when the culture/art/visuals, etc, are in NO WAY being depicted as stereotypes or as negatives.  

This is the same argument that was used when Avatar: The Last Airbender was written.  Is it impossible for white people to write about non-white people?  Surely not.  Especially, again, when that story was FANTASY in a world not meant to be Earth.  More research would be needed I’m sure to write something that’s meant to be read as an accurate depiction of a current or past culture that isn’t our own, but when you’re making a fantastical world based on an existing culture, you’re more than welcome to take the bits and pieces that you enjoy, even if it makes it “less accurate.”  Accuracy isn’t the goal, creating a fantasy is.

I just feel like people need to lighten up.