One of my favorite parts of writing in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres is creating amazing characters to fit into the fantastic worlds where my stories take place. I’m not alone; most of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy authors in my writing groups agree that this is one of the things that makes our genre so much fun.

But how do you create a believable race from scratch?

There’s a lot that goes into creating a race, but one of the things I see that is most commonly overlooked or under thought is skin color. Too often, authors fail to consider the practical, biological reasons for different skin tones, and end up just assigning a random pigment to their characters. Or, worse yet, purposefully choosing a skin tone that doesn’t fit the character/environment for the sake of “diversity”.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, diversity is absolutely important, and should be included where it makes sense to include it, but diversity for the sake of diversity just ends up creating random “token” characters that really don’t fit into your story. This is a hundred times more true when it comes to creating fantasy races.

So, what makes different skin tones appear? 

In animals, different skin tones are important for camouflage. The better a color fits into the environment, the easier it is for a predator to sneak up on its prey and for prey to hide from its predators. The better camouflaged predators are the ones that eat and therefore live long enough to reproduce, and the better camouflaged prey avoids predators longer and is able to reproduce. That way, the genes are passed on to the next generation, and the next, and eventually the better camouflaged color patterns become dominant.

In humans, there’s a much different reason for the differing skin tones: sun protection. The more melanin (the pigment responsible for darker skin) that is present in the skin, the better protected the person is from the sun’s harsh rays, and the less likely they were to develop deadly skin cancers. On the flip side, the less melanin that is present, the easier it is for the skin to absorb Vitamin D, allowing those in less direct light to get enough of this essential vitamin to survive. Because of this, human civilizations that lived closer to the equator and got more of the harsher, more direct sunlight, developed darker skin, while those that lived further towards the north or south poles had progressively lighter skin.

When developing your fantasy races, these are some of the things to take into consideration. Does the race have green skin because it helps them blend into the undergrowth of the forest? Or does it protect them from some sort of medical condition? What causes anomalies in skin color? Can your characters’ skin get lighter or darker with exposure to a certain element? Are there diseases that can cause discoloration? Can their skin change color in accordance with their moods, like some species of lizard (certain colors to make them stand out when in love, others to make it easier to hide when afraid)?

And these considerations can apply to the normal range of human skin tones, as well. After all, a country in the far north probably wouldn’t be mostly populated by dark-skinned humans, just like a desert country to the south probably wouldn’t be mostly populated by incredibly pale humans. Of course, there can be examples of any skin color in any region; we’re speaking only of the native populations that developed over generations in these areas.

Another thing to consider is interracial skin tones, if the genetic “laws” of your fantasy world permit the races to mix (not all worlds allow crosses between, say, humans and elves, because of biological differences). Of course, we know the generalities of how light skinned humans and dark skinned humans mix, but what does the offspring of your green-skinned elf and your dark-skinned human look like? Is it one tone or the other? Is the skin tone somewhere between? Is it linked to gender (females get the green skin, males get the dark skin, or vice versa)? 

Skin tone is a fascinating part of building your race, and building your worlds. It’s also a very important part! Hopefully this guide gave you a good place to start, or at least a little food for thought.