hadden

the only bad artists are those whose work perpetuates discrimination or causes undeserved harm. there is no “aesthetic” excuse for fatphobia. humans are diverse. if you’d like to draw them, learn to draw fat bodies. 

some things I’d like to draw attention to, as I think they are important:

— nowhere does this say you have to or should draw only fat people.

— nowhere does this say you cannot or should not draw thin people, or people of other body types.

— nowhere does this say you have to feature fat people in all of your work, or any of your work, for that matter. all it says is that you should learn to draw fat bodies.

— nowhere does this say learning is easy, quick, or that you have to be perfect. learning is an active, ongoing process and there is no way to be objectively perfect in art; but you must be willing to learn and take an active part in the process.

if you want to draw people, you need to practice drawing people. this is how artists develop skills. if you are upset by or resistant to the thought of simply drawing a fat person, I would strongly urge you to reflect on how you apply value to other human beings and their bodies.

all body types are worthy of representation in art, and fat bodies specifically are underrepresented in art for a number of reasons relating to fatphobia and beauty standards centered around thinness. many of us are not readily presented with diverse bodies in media, in arts education, in drawing resources, etc, so even though diverse bodies are all around us in real life, representing only thin bodies can easily become the default in our artistic practices. I have fallen into this default in the past and am in no way an expert or master now; I am actively learning and will continue to do so.

if the piece above made you angry or upset, I encourage you to take the opportunity to reflect on why.

as artists, we must ask ourselves: what influences our aesthetic choices for our art, and what messages do those choices send?

as people, we must ask ourselves: what biases do we hold about the beauty, worth, and aesthetic/artistic value of people’s bodies, and how does that shape how we think about and interact with our fellow human beings?

if you are an artist that represents people in your work, seek out references of fat people and tutorials on drawing fat and diverse bodies. even if you never share them publicly or incorporate them into your body of work, learning to draw underrepresented and varied bodies helps you build diversified skills as an artist and works to break down the fatphobic biases reinforced by a dominant portion of media and art culture.

if you are someone who actively refuses to learn to draw fat people simply because they are fat, that problem can be easily solved by your retirement from art.

beauty is not one body type, all bodies are worthy of representation in art, and we are all responsible for taking an active part in our own learning.

in closing, I would like to boost some artists who have lots of great work featuring diverse bodies, and encourage you to check them out and support them if you can:

additionally, here are some resources that speak to the representation of fat people & bodies in art/media/culture and the significance of body diversity representation (as always, approach these critically):