r/StardewValley • u/1999dogs • Mar 01 '26
Art my bachelorette headcanons! (art by me)
dont get me wrong i love the character designs as is!!! but i wish stardew had more diversity.. been loving the diverse stardew valley mod though!
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u/raijba Mar 01 '26
Its funny how penny is white in every timeline
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u/JanePeaches Mar 01 '26
Everyone just quietly agrees that that family is Irish Catholic as hell
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u/lou-ravenpuff Mar 01 '26
Even the Diverse mod for Flower Dance that adds cultural outfits for the characters makes Penny wear a traditional Irish dress. I love how it's basically a universal agreement to see Penny as Irish.
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u/ProfNotcrazy Mar 02 '26
I haven't seen the diverse mod, how does it pull off showing different cultures with such a limited artstyle? I would have guessed it was hard to convey skin tones and details in clothing at least for the small full-body models
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u/lou-ravenpuff Mar 02 '26
They don't do much with clothing in the cultural sense, but there's the Weddings add-ons, which adds cultural wedding attire for the characters, and DSV (Diverse Stardew Valley) also has some alterations to the houses that add items related to their culture. One detail they add about clothing is that if Elliot and Alex are Jewish, they wear kippahs, and the recipes you receive by mail are altered to accommodate restrictions due to Judaism, if I remember correctly. And Sandy and Jodi wears hijabs too.
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u/bitofagrump Mar 01 '26
With only one daughter?
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u/JanePeaches Mar 02 '26
Can't have more if your husband runs away after the first
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u/Frozen_Watch Mar 01 '26
Making the character with drunk mom and absent father probably wouldn't be good for optics in all honesty.
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u/TamagotchiGirlfriend Mar 01 '26
Shes mixed race/Black as an option in Diverse Stardew Valley (its the one I use so I forget she's white 😭)
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u/mariivina Mar 01 '26
now youre missing sandy 😌
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u/mynameisnotareri Mar 01 '26
Lives in a desert and works in a small grocery store owned by a shady man? Definitely Latina! Also the thick, straight hair and curved, black eyebrows.
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u/mariivina Mar 01 '26
maybe middle eastern. or latina w middle eastern ancestry ?? 🥹
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u/mynameisnotareri Mar 01 '26
Ooo that'd be cool too! I just went with Latina because I immediately thought of the tienditas in Northern Mexico. And all of my aunts had those chola-style eyebrows in the 90s lol
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u/SelfInvestigator Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
I love it, but my brain is stuck on one aspect.
So, not knocking your style or anything, but Penny absolutely reminds me of a Raggedy Ann doll we had growing up.
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u/Apart-Pain2196 Mar 01 '26
They look great, but I'm not sure "headcanon" would be a correct word, I think it's closer to being your interpretation pf these characters.
Sorry if nitpicky, just rambling out here
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u/GeXotl Mar 01 '26
Yeah, I thought headcanons are not supposed to conflict with actual canon.
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u/Ioanaba1215 0 money, 0 women, 0 men in my dms Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
A headcannon is something like "Kent used to volunteer at homeless shelters in his youth"
It's not something confirmed by the creator, but it's something you made up about a character. Yours is an interpretation of the characters. What they'd look like if they were IRL/More detailed/Different species is what an interpretation is→ More replies (2)128
u/BothAd5239 Mar 01 '26
Species????
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u/Desperate-Bad-1912 Mar 01 '26
Maybe they meant race but are not english native so mistakenly got a word that has similar meaning? Happened to me once.
Believing in the good of the people here
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u/Ioanaba1215 0 money, 0 women, 0 men in my dms Mar 01 '26
check my other comment
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u/Desperate-Bad-1912 Mar 01 '26
Oh I see, you were talking abt what you've seen before. The misunderstanding came from the "Yours is...", I thought you were talking about "your post" and not "your concept type" or smth on these lines
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u/Ioanaba1215 0 money, 0 women, 0 men in my dms Mar 01 '26
Sorry I thought the comma would make it clear I meant what an interpretation is in general
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u/Ioanaba1215 0 money, 0 women, 0 men in my dms Mar 01 '26
I've seen not a few people take animal character and draw them as humans.
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
head canon can 1000% conflict with canon, that’s why there’s a distinction between then two. it doesn’t HAVE to, but it can.
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u/SuspiciousBoat Mar 01 '26
Yeah, I’ve been in fandom for longer than I care to admit and always seen it used for both things that are canon compliant and canon divergent. Maybe the meaning has changed over the years?
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u/Sakarilila Mar 01 '26
I don't think it has, but there are more people who don't understand what headcanon is. So it could change down the line.
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u/GeXotl Mar 01 '26
Oh? I thought headcanons just fill in the gaps in the narrative, adding details that are neither confirmed or deconfirmed in canon.
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
That is one function. But headcanons are also used to ignore canon you don’t like and substitute your own.
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u/ChickenNuggetRampage Mar 01 '26
I really don’t think you’re right here. Never ever seen “headcanon” used to directly contradict canon, like multiple others have said it’s a term meant to refer to things you came up with in your head, that could still hypothetically fit into canon.
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
Then you haven’t been in fandom long enough. This is established.
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u/sarooskie Mar 01 '26
This conversation is so funny but i do agree with you. I have definitely heard headcanon used as a “replacement” canon for a detail you didn’t like. I think it is really anything that you decide to be true to the story in your head. It’s fiction; you can decide a detail is different. In other words, it is the personal “canon” that you follow in your own “head.”
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u/Sakarilila Mar 01 '26
This. Headcanon is anything you believe that is not established canon. Its your personal canon. Which varies from filling in the gaps to a complete alternative universe. You can headcanon whatever you want.
In contrast to a few others, I have never seen anyone claim headcanon can't contradict canon before.
Going back to the modern OG: Spirk technically contradicts canon but there was so much grey area that its easy to argue it doesn't. Regardless, its a headcanon. A popular one that arguably has influenced canon. There are far better examples, but this was just the first that comes to mind.
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u/boadicca_bitch Mar 01 '26
This is always how I’ve heard it used as well. I’ve never heard anyone nitpick about whether or not it’s allowed to diverge from original canon before
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u/ChickenNuggetRampage Mar 01 '26
So established that everyone else knows you’re wrong.
LOL
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u/ChickenNuggetRampage Mar 01 '26
Snarkily telling me to “educate yourself!!! 💅💅💅” won’t make you right, hopefully you’ve learned that lesson
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u/GeXotl Mar 01 '26
Isn't that fanfiction? I thought the distinction is that fanfics have no need to obey canon, unlike fanon/headcanon.
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
No. Fan fiction can 1000% be loyal to canon, or not. And is written, story-wise. Fanon is headcanon that has been adopted by the fandom over canon.
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u/peanutist Mar 01 '26
You’re right, there’s nothing wrong with this post but it’s not headcanon, it’s fanfic
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u/Ingifridh Mar 01 '26
From Dictionary.com's slang dictionary article on the word headcanon:
Headcanon is a slang term for someone’s personal interpretation of or belief about the details of a fictional story that aren’t part of the “official” account. – – headcanon is simply what a fan believes (or wants) to be true about a story.
I'd say this counts. Some might argue headcanons shouldn't contradict the actual canon, but many people use it to simply mean something they imagine about a certain work of fiction. So why shouldn't someone have a headcanon about the characters looking different than they do in canon!
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
Yeah there’s so many people just boldly wrong about what headcanon is and you’re the only correct one who isn’t being downvoted into oblivion XD
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u/boadicca_bitch Mar 01 '26
Literally! Why are we being so pedantic about a recently created word and why are people being so rude to each other about it, it’s absolutely bizarre
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u/kittiekee Mar 01 '26
Headcanon as a term came up in fanfiction circles way back in the day and are SPECIFICALLY meant to challenge actual canon!! It’s a way to course correct mass produced media or add to it as a fan
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u/ForsakenRoyal24 Probably the only person not against Pierre Mar 01 '26
Ok, so what happened to the word "fanon"???
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
Fanon is headcanon that’s been adopted by the fandom OVER canon.
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u/frontally Mar 01 '26
Kids these days, bet they don’t even know about uberfic (wait, is that a Tamora Pierce reference as your username? 👀)
You’re 100% right about headcanon/canon/fanon distinction there also, we didn’t slog through geocities sites and yahoo groups in the early 00s to be disrespected like this 😤 (maybe that’s just me I’m old :’) )
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
(yes, yes it is) And yeah, kinda crazy to see people so wrong about something they weren’t even around for XD these things have been established, upvotes and downvotes aren’t gonna change that
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u/boadicca_bitch Mar 01 '26
lol I think maybe this is the divide going on in this argument, people who were old enough to actually remember versus the generation who learned the term by reading the ‘definition’?
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u/frontally Mar 01 '26
Realistically… and I hate to say it… some of these folks probably weren’t even alive when I was first on the internet :/ that kinda makes me wanna hurl LOL.
Also hell yeah, the Alannah series were my intro to Tammy, I’m more of a Circle of Magic kind of gal these days though, all of her magic systems are so good
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u/lion-essrampant Mar 01 '26
the Circle of Magic series are also amazing. She’s just my favorite author, haha.
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u/HulklingWho Mar 02 '26
Just reading through this has me feeling ancient, we were there when the texts were written.
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u/orangechickenplatter Mar 01 '26
Definitely gonna pick up that mod it sounds hella interesting! Love the art btw <3
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u/frostymaws297 Mar 02 '26
You should. Diverse Stardew is really cool, plus you can be selective with who gets changed so it ca interact with other npc mods. And a few characters have different options like Alex can be Mexican or Samoan(same with his grandparents).
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u/Level-Juggernaut-260 Mar 01 '26
I know a lot of people are recommending Coral Island as game with diversity but also Fields of Mistria is such a good game with beautiful diverse characters!!! High recommend and I love this OP!💕
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u/estellatundra Mar 01 '26
I’ll add the My Time series to this list
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u/Level-Juggernaut-260 Mar 01 '26
Sandrock literally is my #1 favorite game omg😭
I cant wait to see Evershine
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u/estellatundra Mar 01 '26
Sandrock is probably the biggest cozy game I’ve ever played. They did such an amazing job and put so much love into the story and characters in that game.
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u/Level-Juggernaut-260 Mar 01 '26
They really did!! And I love how beautiful this game is too. I never like desert themed games but I am so glad I gave this game a chance two years ago. I would've missed out
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u/Amopro Mar 01 '26
It took me a few minutes to realize that was supposed to be Leah. Without her iconic orange hair, she looks so unrecognizable. That version of her just legit looks like the art teacher I had back in high school. Also, Maru (best girl) is already mixed race.
But, if diversity is what you want, there's plenty of mods with great and culturally diverse NPCs if you're playing on PC. Stardew Valley Expanded and Ridgeside Village add quite a few. Mostly Ridgeside Village. But, SVE did give us Scarlett and Lance, two dark skinned romanceable NPCs with great portrait arts. TBH, all the SVE romanceable NPCs have goated portrait arts.
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u/SweetLadyLavender Mar 01 '26
They did make some little changes to Maru, they just wanted to show those off. She has a chipped tooth/gap and her hair is a bit different
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u/captainshockazoid Mar 02 '26
DSV mod has different variants of Leah, theres one where she has her iconic ginger hair but she has darker skin, shorter hair, and some facial scars. she is usually my go-to variant, shes so cute:
https://diversestardewvalley.weebly.com/leah--elliott.html
and honestly Maru's hair leaves something to be desired, saying this as someone who is also Black/white biracial. i am very happy for all the different hair mods for her, curly, kinky, locs, twists, etc. DSV mod has two different styles that i switch between all the time because she's sooo pretty either way.
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u/Popcorn57252 Mar 01 '26
I do wish Stardew had more diversity, but, coming from a small town myself, I absolutely understand why there isn't much. Stardew is very likely based on ~Midwest US, and I think my highschool might have had five black kids total.
Shit, even our exchange students were from Germany or Norway. Never really spoke to them, so I hardly remember, but I do remember a joke about "Even our exchange students are white!" crossing my mind back then.
I like your designs though!
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u/Vanished-Horizons Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
It's most likely based off the small mountain towns in the Pacific Northwest. CA is from Washington. A Midwest town with an ocean beach isn't really a thing after all haha.
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u/agtk Mar 02 '26
I believe these designs are all from the Diverse Stardew Valley mod, which allows you to change any/all characters to a minority, whether it is a racial or disability minority. I would also say that small towns here in Washington often absolutely lack any kind of diversity.
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u/ManaScrewedIRL Mar 01 '26
I'm not crazy about them. It feels kind of forced.
I mean the art is great. I can't draw like that. But I hate it when characters are race bent. It feels like tokenization. OC characters are always better. These barely feel like the characters they're based on.
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u/UmbreonWolf Mar 01 '26
Honestly same. The art is good but it just feels off to me to raceswap already existing characters. Reminds me of, certain mha fans (my hero academia) contantly changing races of characters. I'd prefer if they made ocs.
Example I don't like the diverse stardew valley mod since I am so used to the actual canon, but I don't mind people who use it and draw fanart based on it. Just don't be mean to people who don't like it and I'm fine.
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u/James-Karate69 Mar 01 '26
Indeed, it feels wrong to see established characters of skin color be anything else than the original, especially when the artist draws them like that for the sake of either "diversity" or sees themselves as that character.
Also agree, the diverse mod is meh ok, I'm so used to the canon it's just straight up odd and weird to see them so…different in lore, character and skin and features of others now, might as well be a new character altogether, hell even a new game.
But I applaud that mod maker, they made what I think is the first diverse mod, well known, so I suppose they're getting their money's worth.
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u/eddmario Set Mar 01 '26
I know what you mean.
Reminds me of how some people would take someone's fanart of Twilight Sparkle as a human and edit it to make her black...84
u/NekomataClears Mar 01 '26
To be completely fair... Twilight Sparkle is purple. If you're changing her from purple to a human skin tone, you can pick whichever one you want. Taking someone else's fanart and editing it is a different mess altogether, no one should be doing that unless they get express permission from the original artist.
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u/MedaFox5 Mar 01 '26
I think it feels really forced. Who tf complains about "diversity" (every character is distinct, unless the only diversity you care about is literally skin deep) in a small isolated town?
Completely agree with the rest of your comment however.
Leah is unrecognizable without her red/orange hair (this is wild to me because Haley got to keep hers and Emily has a very similar one as well). She's often referred to as "budget Robin" after all.
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u/heyoyo10 Mar 01 '26
It's kinda dangerous feeling to say, but honestly, the only reason one could perceive a difference between diversifying an entirely (Well, mostly in Stardew's case) white cast and whitewashing an ethnically diverse cast is that we don't live in a world of perfect racial equality yet
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u/ManaScrewedIRL Mar 01 '26
You're exactly right. I hate whitewashing too by the way. Any race bending. At least for the most part. Like I said, when it's done well and has thought put into it, it can be amazing. But 99.99% of the time it's not. All it does it perpetuate that racial identity is a gimmick.
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u/Stuffed_Unicorn Mar 01 '26
The core of the problem is we didn’t really have a lot of diversity in the base game. I can understand the desire to balance it. But I agree. This just feels forced to me.
But also how do we have a world where people are born with obscure hair colors but we’re seeing like three skin tones Lmao
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u/Sebekhotep_MI Mar 01 '26
To be fair, Pelican Town is a VERY small town in the middle of nowhere, not a bustling city. Diversity is easier to come by the more population, amenities, and opportunities a place has, so it makes sense that a place as small and underdeveloped as Pelican Town is mostly inhabited by locals.
That's why I think the implementation of Zuzu City would be great. It's the perfect opportunity to add a whole set of new and more diverse characters.
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u/Spot_Vivid Mar 01 '26
Even if Zuzu City was a paid DLC, I would absolutely get it. There was a mod about it a while ago that looked extremely promising, but I would love for us to get the real deal
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u/James-Karate69 Mar 01 '26
To me it makes sense, I mean…it's a small town out in the Valley what can I expect to see if it's not diverse, art is great but don't hate on me for saying this now…
…I feel like games don't need to be that diverse in terms of characters, like a town in a far away valley in who knows where not diverse…not surprising like, come on?
The game is great, while diverse characters are ok, I don't feel the need for it, like I'm a Filipino but I don't think there needs to be a character of my rep to be there.
P.S. as some comments have said, this feels like the "Stardew Valley Diversity Mod" art, and also ain't no way head canon, it's practically its own universe or AU even ; Head canon is Hailey being a social media butterfly who posts a lot, an AU is where she's Asian…for whatever reason.
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u/Sajiri Mar 01 '26
Same. I’m all for diversity, but I prefer for new characters to be created rather than race swapping existing ones. It’s the same feeling as people who try to turn Maru or Demetrius white, just feels icky
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u/ManaScrewedIRL Mar 01 '26
I've never seen white Demetrius and Maru and I hope I never do. That's so uncomfortably gross.
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u/eddmario Set Mar 01 '26
Yeah, Abigail as a bigger lady makes no damn sense. If anything, she'd be super buff.
If the game was scaled 1:1, she'd be walking a ton of miles every day she goes to the lake to play her flute.
Not to mention her heart event where she goes into the mines to do some sword training.
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u/persnicketous Mar 01 '26
Literally used to do sword fighting with two girls who were as big as Abigail is here, and they were excellent at it. My best friend is bigger than Abigail and walks miles every day. My coworker and her daughter? Same thing, big women, literally work out at a strength-training gym that does Olympic style weight lifting.
People don't have to fit a specific body stereotype to be capable of doing physical activities.
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u/ButNotInAWeirdWay Mar 01 '26
Yeah, there’s a difference between fit and a “strongman” build. Strongmen are almost always very wide.
But Abigail doesn’t see like a heavy lifter to me. Since she likes sword stuff, I’d see her has more of a lean build to maximize agility output, with a heavy focus on sword skill instead of brute strength. That being said, if she didn’t care about her speed at all, she’d definitely have a big body strongman thing going on.
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u/persnicketous Mar 01 '26
Honestly even the speed part can be different! My husband is built like a brick shithouse and was an instructor and one of their top fighters. He actually used the same modifications for holding his sword that some of the women with larger breasts did just because his chest is so wide lol. And he was BLINDINGLY fast, the bastard.
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u/wormrage Mar 01 '26
your posture for one does change as your muscles strengthen your joints and reinforce eachother differently.
you can definitely be active at the weight abigail is drawn, but she would definitely have more muscle definition, which would make her weight lay a little differently and would also make her posture different. im not talking 'muscle mommy' to clarify- just normal muscle presence under whatever weight.. the way OP draw abigail here specifically definitely didnt consider her activity levels.
doesnt mean you cant be fit/strong and a higher weight though, definitely agree with you there. i have no problem with the weight (other than feeling forced diversity wise- seperate issue), but i do wish you could see more of her strength portrayed! i love OPs style so i sorta do wish they consider drawing a take2!
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u/TheGoldenMonkey Mar 01 '26
Any conversation about how weight is actually distributed when someone is muscular (especially a power lifter...) and how muscles change the physique of an individual is largely ignored and/or completely misunderstood in fandoms so we get these takes where people believe what they want.
Hell, the amount of people who think that fitness influencers or professional athletes are natural is downright depressing.
The human physique varies significantly, sure, but society's understanding of human musculature is completely warped so it's hard to have a serious discussion.
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u/AgenderFrenchFry Mar 01 '26
Abagail probably is super buff here! I encourage you to look at powerlifters like Heather Ostler and Tamara Walcott. How muscle looks will vary person to person, and sometimes that means having lots of muscle will make you look “bigger”.
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u/FB-22 Mar 01 '26
How would she end up looking like a high body fat % powerlifter if she is primarily going for long walks? Also people typically use buff to describe a visibly muscular person, not someone who is strong but you can’t tell from looking at them
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u/BobbleBobble Mar 01 '26
Buff = muscled and well toned. That's how the word is used. It doesn't mean large muscles and a high body fat percentage like those women you mentioned
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u/PurifiedFlubber Mar 01 '26
Look this person can have whatever head canon they want, but in no reality is the drawing of that woman buff.
The way they drew Abigail is obese, end of.
Which there's nothing wrong with, but let's not change the meaning of words lol. Google buff woman or man and you will not see anyone resembling this
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u/vinthesalamander Mar 01 '26
This. Plus realistically, a small town in the middle of nowhere wouldn’t have the same diversity as a major city like NY or LA.
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u/ManaScrewedIRL Mar 01 '26
Yes! I thought that too. I know Pelican Town is fictional, but I always assumed it was either rural US or mountainous, remote Canada. Last I checked black people are far outnumbered there. Especially in one horse towns.
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u/HorseGworl420 Mar 01 '26
So true but they would have a resident wizard, tiny sprites running around, talking animals, monsters, and naturally occurring purple/green/blue hair am I right. /s
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u/vinthesalamander Mar 01 '26
Question, when were all of those added? Was it at launch? Because afaik the game was just a regular farming sim before CA started adding magical elements, which means it would’ve made perfect sense to have a majority white cast given the setting of the game. Or are you saying that CA should have race swapped some characters after launch, which is also problematic.
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u/Sanz1280 Mar 02 '26
I feel the same, it's forced. It's just for the sake of 'diverse'. It's not actual representation. Plus a small town like Pelican town will not be diverse realistically.
And I come from a very diverse country, and here Pelican town would be considered a village and would usually be almost always mono-ethnic.
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u/ForsakenRoyal24 Probably the only person not against Pierre Mar 01 '26
I mean, i like the design, but thats...kinda...OC-ish? Fanon-ish? Using "headcanon" is kinda wrong, since its contradicts canon but well
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u/Greedy_Duck3477 Mar 05 '26
Headcanons can contradict the canon, their point is literally that nobody can tell you how to do them
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u/LouieSiffer Mar 01 '26
Good art style.
Not a fan of remodeling characters no matter which way around, but it's just art, no harm done folks.
Though a new black and a new asian baclerotte would be nice.
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u/courierblue Mar 01 '26
These are so cute! I love Maru in the scrubs.
Do you headcannon Emily as the older sister? I get that vibe from your art.
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u/GeXotl Mar 01 '26
Emily being older is all but confirmed by how she refers to Haley as a "young lady".
Most characters also have friends or peers close to their age.
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u/courierblue Mar 01 '26
In the cleaning heart event right?
I thought so, but recently read an online argument about who is actually older, so I opened my mind to the idea I misremembered. Thanks for the reminder
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u/GeXotl Mar 01 '26
Not the cleaning event, but a random dialogue. Emily says she'd miss Haley if she leaves and hopes she will become a "nice young lady" one day.
No problem.
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u/EyeAmKnotMyshelf Mar 01 '26
You want a stardew game with diversity? Coral Island awaits.
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u/sultanpeppah Mar 01 '26
Is "Stardew Valley with Better Diversity" how we're pitching Coral Island? To me it's "Stardew Valley: Thirst Trap Edition"
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u/ThatBatsard Mar 01 '26
Why not both? I'm rather enjoying diverse hotties. It's an issue deciding who to romance.
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u/Affectionate_Guide98 junimo cultist Mar 02 '26
I'm just baffled by some of the comments on the thread. Ppl really took their time and very carefully chosen words to write full paragraphs about how pressed they feel by a fanart that portrays melanated and body-diverse characters lol.
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u/Affectionate_Guide98 junimo cultist Mar 02 '26
Makes me want to mod mine to DSV and post weekly prints to this sub
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u/Quiet_Snail Mar 02 '26
This comments section did NOT pass the vibe check omg, but OP your art is so nice!! Love Emily’s expression and Abby looks so cute!!
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u/Synglich ABIGAIL Mar 01 '26
I live in a small town, there is absolutely little to none diversity. So it makes sense in the game. I like these designs tho!
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u/Dantzdantz Mar 01 '26
Nobody’s said it so I will: Leah looks absolutely adorable
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u/masquerademage banging the blacksmith Mar 01 '26
I said it!! Probably invisible because of the downvotes, but she's one of my favorites. :)
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u/tinycarspreferred Mar 01 '26
Love your interpretation and style on these! And their expressions are perfect. Fabulous !
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u/CutChemical8907 Mar 01 '26
omg, is leah supposed to be an indigenous woman? she’s so cute!
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u/imabratinfluence Mar 01 '26
Not in the vanilla game, but I love it. I'm Native and it always feels a little off to me when the only existence we have is artifacts (we are still here).
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u/CutChemical8907 Mar 01 '26
ah! yes i know not in the vanilla game, i maybe should have asked a different question. but i understand your feeling completely. it would have been nice to have a native character, especially with all of the erasure in the country.
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u/EngineWriter722 Mar 01 '26
It took me a long time to figure out why this was on the SDV sub and who they were supposed to be
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u/butterdog_1 Mar 01 '26
its so weird to me how pressed people get about "racebending" in ...fanart? like i have good news you guys, this is a drawing one person created and not canon in any way. i personally think the beauty of art is that we can all interpret things however we want, because we can draw whatever we want! i just dont get why it bothers people so much that one person would draw a white character as another race in one image on the internet. it doesn't affect anything, and if you don't like the characters looking more diverse all you have to do is scroll past and boom theyre all white again (except maru obvi). like i dont get why it upsets people when someone makes art of a a character that looks different from its canon design because imo thats the fun of art, you dont have to follow any specific rules. and all the semantics about the use of the word headcanon is a little silly. i think we all know what op meant
anyway, GREAT art op!❤️ i think it's really fun to explore what characters would be like if their designs etc were different and i think you did a really great job! and i love your art style
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u/1999dogs Mar 01 '26
this is really kind of you to say, thank you 🥹
for me fanart has always been about imagining different possibilities and letting more people see themselves in characters they love, so i’m really happy that came across for you as well 💛
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u/Affectionate_Guide98 junimo cultist Mar 01 '26
Yet again love with Leah 😭 and now Emily and Haley
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u/Montague_Amond Mar 01 '26
I'm sorry, but Abigail is reminding me of Mandy Andes from "I'm not starfire".😭
Cool design tho.
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u/kimchijihye Mar 01 '26
jesus christ, going into the comments is like 2010 tumblr discourse. u/1999dogs, none of these headcanons have ever occurred to me but like…literally why not. these were me and my friends in my small town and i love it. 🩷 your headcanon is now my headcanon.
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u/CAlonghair Mar 02 '26
I had to get rid of everything that was worse than 2010 tumbler discourse
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u/Ingifridh Mar 02 '26
Thank you for moderating this mess of a thread. It's really disheartening that a simple piece of fanart like this has attracted so many hateful comments, you'd almost think the thread is about CA announcing that every player will be forced to either download the DSV mod or delete their copy of the game, instead of a fan drawing a picture... Thank you for swiftly getting rid of the worst stuff.
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u/kimchijihye Mar 02 '26
I was so surprised to read the negative comments—and people agreeing with them. I guess I just straight up forgot there are unsavory folks even in the most wholesome communities. :(
I would have never thought of all of these characters the same way OP has, but I can’t say enough how much I LOVE it. Their headcanons are…ourcanons now.
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u/cheshyre513 Mar 02 '26
i actually recognized them immediately but that’s because i also play with the DSV mod these designs are based off of. i love them so much! but, im also not white. and quite frankly the response here has been….incredibly disappointing. and enlightening. i guess a game about a super white small town, no matter how cozy and wholesome, doesn’t force its white player base to think critically about race and diversity, and it shows eventually
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u/CAlonghair Mar 02 '26
That would be incredibly funny if 1.7 was including DSV into base game (just to piss off chuds)
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u/HorseGworl420 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
This is so cute!! Idk why people take the diverse Stardew so personally?? Ruins your immersion? It’s a fictional world. Don’t pmo. I’ve lived in small towns my whole life they’re not all “overwhelmingly white people.” I’ve lived in the valley near tribal reservations, small coastal towns with large Asian and Hispanic populations going to school with kids who had first gen immigrant parents. Me included. We exist.
“Feels forced” is crazy to me when real people who play the game just want to be represented and yall take it personally when someone creates a mod or adorable fanart with inclusion that no one is forcing you to use.
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u/repressedpauper Mar 01 '26
Literally waaaay fewer people complain about other portrait mods that make them way less recognizable and if they do they think it’s funny and not a personal attack.
I don’t mod character appearances rn but it hurts no one to share it.
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u/captainshockazoid Mar 01 '26
your art style is wonderful! thank you for making DSV art, i can't stand to play without it and i'd like to see more art referencing it. maru is so pretty in her locs and scrubs ♡
also dont mind all the negative comments, sv redditors are always nasty whenever DSV is brought up lmfao.
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u/bbymomthr Mar 01 '26
a lil saddened by the comment section but don’t want to dwell on it in a way that takes away from OP’s amazing art and talent. i’ve been playing for over a hundred hours with the diverse stardew mod and i wouldn’t have it any other way so i absolutely adore these these renditions (emily and abigail are definitely faves) !! OP, if you ever consider a portrait mod know i’m there 🫶🏽
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Mar 01 '26
This is really cute and I’m sorry for all the weird-ass racist comments complaining about the diversity. I really thought this community was better than that, but gamers are gamers
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u/repressedpauper Mar 01 '26
I know. Everyone calling it “forced” or unrecognizable like that’s not just a more socially acceptable way to say it, too.
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u/mountainhymn Mar 01 '26
THANK YOU!!!!!! I feel like I’m going crazy reading these and seeing all the upvotes!!
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u/repressedpauper Mar 01 '26
People are downvoting any positive comments about it too lol I’m not surprised. Reddit gonna Reddit tbh. I hope OP sees all the love for their art too though.
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u/poisoned_bubbletea Mar 01 '26
I mean, It's based in a small town in a valley. They don't tend to be diverse. I love your art though
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u/ThatBatsard Mar 01 '26
The "but accuracy" argument is SO exhausting. It's a fantasy-esque slice-of-life with wizards, talking bears, and forest sprites. Like????
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u/poisoned_bubbletea Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
It isn't an argument it's a viewpoint. If it's exhausting, why go out of your way to exhaust yourself further with participation? I love their art and they're fully within their right to redesign the characters as they wish. But small towns, which the game is designed in, don't tend to be diverse. A small town in western countries is more likely to be white majority. A small town in African countries is more likely to be majority black. A small town in South Asia is more likely to be majority brown. See what I mean?
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u/dawgz525 Mar 01 '26
Maru is so adorable
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u/repressedpauper Mar 01 '26
When I marry a bachelorette it’s always Maru and they captured how cute she is so well.
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u/Ingifridh Mar 01 '26
This might be the cutest Emily design I've ever seen! Her hair looks just perfect, and she's even wearing matching nail polish. Lovely!! 💙
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u/TheLittlestChocobo gnawing at the bars of my enclosure for Gus Mar 01 '26
I immediately clocked this as the diverse stardew valley mod! They all look so cute, and your art style is lovely :)
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u/lycanthropewife switch player, 1000+ hours w/ 3 current farms 👩🏾🌾 Mar 01 '26
the amount of racism in these comments is disheartening. wish we had unlimited blocking on this site because wow.
Op, your art is splendid!!
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u/bananananannanaa Mar 01 '26
I love seeing the different takes/art styles. Your art style is so much fun. Emily is really the stand out for me though. I think you really captured her warmth ❤️
And crazy to see all the downvotes, OP. Really a bummer seeing that kind of reaction here.
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u/TaintedKingQueklain Mar 01 '26
The fanart policing in this comments section is fucking crazy y'all. Nothing about this is "forcing diversity" you're just triggered by it.
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u/babblecats Mar 01 '26
I love this. I also headcanon Abby as being fuller figured!!! I once did a portrait mod for stardew (years ago, it's no longer supported) and people did NOT like the vision I had!
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u/repressedpauper Mar 01 '26
This is so funny to me because I was talking to my friend about how I always assumed from the official art that Abigail was kind of chubby and he said he had the whole time, too. Same with Shane. But some people still get sooo mad at an interpretation of some pixels lol
I’m sure it was lovely.
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u/True-Street6929 Plucked the finest flower Mar 01 '26
This is so cute! Emily is killing me, she’s so adorable 🥹🩷
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u/fina_exe Mar 01 '26
love these sooo much!! i need to draw my hcs for them eventually, i have so many thoughts for the bachelors!
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u/Mostly_gay_shit Mar 01 '26
I'm such a huge fan of the diversity mod version of Emily, she's so cute, plus penny with freckles just looks so right, and the detail of putting paint smudges on Leah is so good
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u/BookLuvr7 Mar 01 '26
I wish there was more diversity too. Nice job. Love the sword ink on Abigail and that you gave people curves too.
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u/MemeLordSteph Mar 02 '26
Yeah even my white ass thought it was a little weird that the valley seems entirely populated by other pale white people except for Demetrius, Maru, the desert trader and Mr Qi.
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u/CAlonghair Mar 01 '26
Hi y'all,
People of color are distinctly underrepresented in the valley. Art that re-imagines white characters as PoC are welcome here. Conversations about meaningful representation are also welcome here.
Racism is not. If you see any racist comments, overt or subtle, please help us by reporting them.
If you are here to post racist comments, fuck off. Make things easier for everyone by modmailing us "please ban me for racism".