To be perfectly honest, I never comment because if you put a gun to my head, I wouldn't know a single one of these characters. Ever. Not one. No anime. No manga. Nothing. But I know when something is well executed, and this certainly is.
People mistakenly think cartooning is easy. Or easier than realism or others styles, I'll say. That couldn't be less true.
Oh, if I had a gun to your head, I'm sure you'd be....inspired...towardss knowing all sorts of things.
😀
Thats right. Alot of anime artists I've seen mock or ridicule cartoonish type styles, or things that are anime but a mixture of different designs, and they call this easy or childish or something. I don't think they can appriciate it because they're not trying to. And until they understand the real hard work that can go into something seemingly simple, their opinions are shortsighted.
nerrad said:
Another detail that makes these work is that all the eyes are different. They instantly show both the emotion and the level of said emotion. Making the eyes all the same give a trance-like impression. I've taught some college courses and I could use these for an hour-long lecture on what to do/not do and why something works or doesn't.
Yeah, I wanted each side of her conscience to be different. And you're right, if you can't achieve that things can look muted and tranquilized. Even I have been guilty of that, but in my case it's because I wanted a serene look or a gentle sort of thing going on, not this extreme feeling like a big old grin or something like that. For some reason, I'm drawn to drawing that sort of serene, gentle demeanor and atmosphere. I don't mind action and movement, and such, but I prefer to reserve that for when it's needed, because then it's stronger and more impactful.
Like, for example, in Return of the Sith, when Windu confronts Palpatine in the office, it doesn't jump right into a saber duel, but it start with being provoked, works it's way up to a threat, then an ultimatum and then the duel. The interesting thing is how rather calm both men were until they realized neither one was going to cooperate, but I still consider the dialogue up to that point very important to the action, as well as their mannerisms. If they had just walked in to arrest him and then bam, that wouldn't have worked for me. Although now I'm just ranting. The point I'm trying to make is that the disposition of the characters and whether the emotions they display are fluid are very important things, and in the case of artwork, it's even more so important, since you only get that one shot to get it right, unless it's a series of pictures, a comic, etc. Being able to draw what the character is thinking is always a benefit. It's not to say that they should be transparent, but when the viewer can see what they are thinking by reading their face, you know you've hit a sweet spot.
