Writing the colors of the world p. 2: best practices to describe skin tone

No matter the shade of skin, there are plenty of respectful and creative ways to describe it.

Part 1 of this blog post discussed why we should teach kids not to apply food-related descriptors to human skin. What are some alternatives?

General guidelines for describing characters' skin with care and accuracy:

1. Use color terms rooted in nature or art, not food. Metals, wood, plants, and landscape can all provide inspiration.

   
   

2. Standard description (as in "brown skin") is okay. Even without detail, standard description is adequate and won't ever become cliche.

   
   

3. Add modifiers to standard description as in "golden brown," "russet brown," "reddish-brown."

   
   

4. Consider undertones: warm or cool. Warm (earth) undertones are: bronze, copper, coral, gold, olive, orange, peach. Cool (jewel) undertones: blue, pewter, pink, blue, magenta, red, rose, sapphire, silver. 

   
   

5. Encourage young writers to describe how skin interacts with light, setting, or emotion.

   Plays of light: Florescent bulbs, sun rays, candlelight are examples of light interaction. Setting: Is the character outside in a dusky wood? Inside a hospital with colored walls?

   Emotion: When a character feels an emotion, skin can take on different hues—like blushing or turning pale.
   

6. Use other indicators of race like hair and facial features.

   
   

7. Describe everyone, not just characters of color.

   
   

8. Focus on developing characters in full dimension, not just appearance. 🎨Tip: Pair up an art lesson with teaching children how to correctly describe skin tone. Painting a portrait in color is a perfect opportunity to converse about shades, undertones, light, and other elements of this topic.