Can you say bad ass.........?

[nicehighs]

http://mael-gourmelen-interview.blogspot.com/

Some of the MOST inspirational art I have seen in a loooooong time.

[Max Challie]

I think a cartoon style makes things easier. I think a cartoon-based artist less than half-way there. When we discover things, we tend to exaggerate them as were are exploring. Later though, it all tones down into subtlety. To aim for an unusual, subtle thing and to achieve it is a measure of being native to the subject. There are so many young artists these days that look at other comtemporary artists and think that's the end of the road.

[nicehighs]

I agree that the cartoon style is easier but man a lot of people don't do it this good. None of the students work at my college are at this level. The end of the road for me are people like Khang Le, Feng Zhu, Mark Goerner, once I get at that level it's gonna be hard figuring out where to go from there.

[squidmonk3j]

I think a cartoon style makes things easier. I think a cartoon-based artist less than half-way there. When we discover things, we tend to exaggerate them as were are exploring. Later though, it all tones down into subtlety. To aim for an unusual, subtle thing and to achieve it is a measure of being native to the subject. There are so many young artists these days that look at other comtemporary artists and think that's the end of the road.

Successful simplification of form and economy of stroke is harder than you might think:)

[Kiera]

what up Max, hanging out too much in the Lounge?
Hope I got your entry wrong, you don't think that that masterful Gobelins guy is "half-way there" and doesn't use subtle elements?
And you don't look down on people with an exaggerated style because they aren't native to their subjects?

thanks for the link btw

[choke up]

Awsome link, just fucking sick. Wonderful gesture/expression. :)

[nicehighs]

YES! This guy inspired the crap out of me. Not my style but I know amazing work when I see it. It has a graphic element to it. I don't mind sharing amazing art to you guys when I stumble across it. I wouldn't be surprised if he stops posting his art soon all of my favorites always stop posting for better or worse.

[Ashtonw]

Successful simplification of form and economy of stroke is harder than you might think:)

So much fucking word. The other day I was talking to someone who thought fewer lines meant easier to draw. I invited him to draw Popeye and Mickey Mouse. :)

[Farvus]

Yeah. I agree. Simplifying character especially when you invent them is not as easy as it seems.

[sfa]

Thanks for sharing. These are incredible.

I used to have a similar bias against animators too, until I took a class where we sketched costumed models in a more cartoony style and I got my atelier-trained ass kicked to the curb. It's much more difficult than it looks.

[Bill]

I agree that the cartoon style is easier ...

I disagree with this a lot. To be able to exagerate the forms and the gestures and still have it work, especially without a realistic model to refer to... No, I disagree with you guys 'strenuosly'.

[HunterKiller_]

I think a cartoon style makes things easier.

No it doesn't Max. Those fine art teachers getting to your head?

[Kiera]

http://grudoaaameriques.blogspot.com/
his blog

About being subtle.. I just wanted to mention that it is a style for animation
(some similair styles are used here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxhejQsrbfs
same school - Gobelins. Some excellent animation )
For animation some subtle elements don't work, the animator has to stretch, distort, overplay and accent his works to make it look realistic, this why rotoscoping (tracing over real movie) looks almost never as good as a hand-made anmation.
The whole point of the characterdesign is that it is done for a fast, loud, colorful, funny animation.
But even if it wouldn't be for animation, using a certain style to communicate things is just another art device and there shouldn't be any judgment if this is better or worse.

And actually.. a lot of subtle rules and principles are used in these drawings.. the figures are believably 3d, they are in dimension, the poses are readable, the silhouettes are clear, the balance between drawing and negative space is there, the figure looks always dynamic and in motion and the design itself looks beautiful and nice ... all this needs rules and principles to work in every drawing. (Max never used one of these things in his sketchbook drawings, but he did a lot of other things.. so I guess this is where the critique comes from XD)

[Bill]

^ That vid if frickin' gorgeous. Thanks Kiera.

[Derek the Usurper]

rotoscoping (tracing over real movie) looks almost never as good as a hand-made anmation.

using a certain style to communicate things is just another art device and there shouldn't be any judgment if this is better or worse.



You just contradicted yourself. I personally like rotoscoping a lot, especially when film isn't traced, but used as a guide, and used equally with hand drawn animation.

[arttorney]

Come on over to POW 28 and show us non-natives how easy it is. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=165854

[Kiera]

You just contradicted yourself.
There's a difference between never and almost never.

I thought about rotoscoping with human/animal movement - I can only think of one example where rotoscoping looked better than hand-drawn.
It even looked awkward (for me) in Disney movies, no matter how straightened out, there is always some wooden, strange, badly timed or artificial movement and you see the actor underneath the figure instead of the figure itself. Throws you out of the illusion.
A scanner darkly used the flaws of tracing in a good way, but that's really the only movie where it worked for me.
It looks nice on objects or environments btw.
haha, in the end it's a matter of taste anyways C:

[Serpian]

holy cow, the movement!

[GriNGo]

Cartooning is not as simple as it seams, but realistic drawing from the mind will always be harder.

[nicehighs]

OMG Kiera! the movie!!!!!! Thank you so much :)

[Max Challie]

I agree that the cartoon style is easier but man a lot of people don't do it this good. None of the students work at my college are at this level. The end of the road for me are people like Khang Le, Feng Zhu, Mark Goerner, once I get at that level it's gonna be hard figuring out where to go from there.

By the time you get there, you'll probably have new goals on your mind. :)

[PieterV]

Wohoo! Cartoons vs realism! Ready set FIGHT!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy5THitqPBw

[p sage]

Let me try.

bleay arsh

bard use

bild ace

Crap. I can't say it :upset:

[hitnrun]

Ok, at the risk of being flamed, I don't think cartoons are difficult to draw, and you can work them fast so expression/movement should be easier to capture than some replies make it seem. As long as you know how to illustrate the emotion to begin with, making it cartoony shouldn't be *that* difficult right?

[SoufMeng]

I dunno, you say its not difficult, to then add "as long as you have x, y and z skills". But you can say that for virtually anything.
Ok, at the risk of being flamed, I don't think mattepainting are difficult to paint, and you can work them slowly so volumes/textures should be easier to capture than some replies make it seem. As long as you know how to illustrate the way light falls on forms, making it photo-realistic shouldn't be *that* difficult right?

Im not really into animation but i assume an excelent animator artist has no less merit than e.g. an excelent mattepainter.

[Arshes Nei]

Drawing a cartoon character may not be so hard, animating that character is another story. Getting the gestures right and understanding the timing and spacing to get the correct movement is a lot of work.

Then you have to remember its creating a design that all your department has to work with for the film too complex, harder to animate. Too bland not a successful design.

Then you gotta learn how many frames are in a walk, getting the inbetweens right etc. It's a lot of drawing. Comic book artists have it easy compared to them ;)

[Kiera]

It's a lot of drawing. Comic book artists have it easy compared to them
fwriting an interesting story, plots, actions, jokes, the dialog, research, choosing a style, character design, backgrounds, make a readable and narrative composition and new pose every new frame, is it still readable?, pagelayout, rhythm of pictures, inking, colour maybe .. a bunch of pages every week ...how am I gonna publish this?? Can a human survive on ramen only?


this thread can easily go into this direction:
Why is not everything highly realistic quality polished? Easy styles are for lazy people.

[Xeon_OND]

Talking about cartoons, not sure if you guys have seen those cartoon strips that appear in a small section of the national papers (not sure about your country, but some newspapers have a very small section where there's a bit of comic strips for leisure).

Now, those cartoons in those newspaper look very simple to me. Of course, I can't even draw any cartoon, but I mean, if you compare those newspaper comic strip cartoons (my newspapers have Calvin & Hobbes, and those Dilbert ones) to the many CA members' sketchbooks here, those cartoons look like kids' ABC to me. :D

HELL, it's LIKE you DON'T EVEN NEED TO STUDY LOOMIS OR VILPPU to be able to draw those stuff. Maybe all you need is a good basic foundations of drawing, like perspective, lines, curves etc.

HEAVEN, you don't even need to learn anatomy or which muscle overlaps which muscle to draw those.

Again, no offense to cartoon fanatics here. :D
I could very well be wrong. :)

[Sekino]

Bill Watterson created an entire universe of vivid daydreams, long winter afternoons and agonizing school hours with only a few lines and restricted panels. If that is not great art to the full extent of the words, I do not know what is. Enough already with the pointless one-upmanship.

[velderia]

Just by looking at the thumbnails, I was amazed. The guy's stuff is really effing smooth. o_o