Number 42 of 150

February 14, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

Moving onto the adults. A lady in a floral skirt and matching hijab.

A Middle Eastern Muslim woman wearing a long floral skirt, leggings, white blouse, flats, and a hijab. She's standing with her right hand on her waist looking to her left.

Number 41 of 150

February 12, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

One last child for this batch. Traditionally female clothes (skirt and leggings) in gender-neutral colors (black and turquois) worn by a character drawn to read a little more masculine than feminine. If I got it right, it should be unclear what their gender identity is exactly. Again, inclusivity and diversity was an important part of this project.

I really like how the skirt turned out, in particular.

A Middle Eastern child stands with arms up in a shrugging gesture. Their dark brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail and cut in an undercut style. They're wearing a black and turquois outfit consisting of a horizontally striped miniskirt, leggings, high-top sneakers, socks, a t-shirt, and a hoodie.

Number 40 of 150

February 10, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

Now another boy.

A Middle Eastern boy stands with one hand up, index finger raised. He's wearing a green and white two-toned t-shirt over a gray long-sleeved shirt. He's got on blue jeans and green converse-style sneakers.

Number 39 of 150

February 8, 2023February 10, 2023Leave a comment

Next up: Age 10-12. She’s a little young for a hijab, but we figured in the interest of diversity to give her one anyway. Plus, it works well with her outfit.

A Muslim girl stands with one hand up, waving. She is wearing pink glasses and a light blue hijab with white polka dots. She is also wearing a pink, long-sleeved tunic that's shorter in the front than the back with gathered sleeves and three stripes along the bottom hem. She has on black leggings, pink socks, and brown lace-up boots.

Number 38 of 150

February 6, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

This one’s happy. This facial expression and pose was fun to do.

A Middle Eastern child stands with their hands over their chest and belly, laughing. Their eyes are closed and mouth open. They're wearing a pale purple track suit with a white stripe and gray slide-on sneakers. Their hair is black and shaggy.

Number 37 of 150

February 4, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

He looks very 1990’s, doesn’t he?

Middle Eastern boy stands with a finger to his cheek in a thinking pose. He's wearing jeans, a heathered gray t-shirt, a black and gray checkered overshirt, and converse-style hi-tops. His hair is dark brown and cut in a bowl cut.

Number 36 of 150

February 2, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

Not sure what she’s pointing at. Interesting pants.

A Middle Eastern girl stands with one hand raised, pointing up into the air. She's wearing a white t-shirt, red denim jacket, red sneakers, and wide capri pants with white pinstripes on black.

Number 35 of 150

January 30, 2023December 30, 2022Leave a comment

Representation of queer, or at least non-traditional, gender expressions was an important part of this project.

So far, we’ve had some characters that were deliberately ambiguous on gender, presenting as more-or-less androgenous. Today’s character is a little different. They’re wearing traditionally female clothing, but their hair and facial features are drawn using visual cues that typically read as masculine. However, I tried to make it ambiguous enough that it still wasn’t entirely clearcut. Personally, I’d hesitate to guess how this child identifies. I’d have to ask for their pronouns.

I’m not certain I got the age to read quite right. They may look a little older than they should.

A child, aged 7-9, stands with one hand up as if gesturing. They are wearing a yellow button-up dress, with a long-sleeved t-shirt and leggings underneath. They're wearing red high-top sneakers and glasses. The child is Middle Eastern and has a larger body type. Their gender is ambiguous, but it possibly reads a little more male than female.

Number 34 of 150

January 28, 2023December 30, 2022Leave a comment

I don’t really have much to say about this one. Just a boy in jeans and a hoodie.

Middle Eastern boy, aged 7-9, standing with one hand raised in a wave. He's got medium-dark brown hair, an orange hoodie, jeans, and sneakers.

Number 33 of 150

January 26, 2023February 1, 2023Leave a comment

Now we start the 7-9 age range. From here on out you’ll note that we have put all the characters in modest dress, though in this age range, the girls still have their heads uncovered. Since people with Middle Eastern heritage are often (though not exclusively) Muslim, we wanted to honor that by at least not showing lots of skin in this batch. But since our market is primarily US-based, we wanted to reflect what Americans Muslims of Middle Eastern descent typically wear. Therefore, we chose not to put girls in the 7-9 age range in hijabs, but you will see hijabs in the older age ranges.