A teacher once told me a story about an in-law who worked in the animation studio for a very popular children’s cartoon. The studio used hand-drawn animation for the first season and transitioned to more computer animation for season two and season three. The job entailed drawing the main character of the series over and over again for eight hours, five days a week. The art had to look exactly like the original creator intended, exact measurements and line weight.
The animation studio was known for making characters that looked very unique, more zany. The faces had features that were very grotesque. It was the kind of style that would alter anyone’s drawing style if required to draw repetitively for forty hours a week.
I imagined what a lifetime of drawing this particular cartoon character would feel like and I challenged whether the tradeoff of creative energy for a payment was worthwhile. First, recreating another artist’s style to perfection is not a simple task; second, a takeaway from drawing in a different person’s art style, is that my own drawing style is altered by inheriting new techniques or tools of the trade; third, I had a difficult time imagining how much personal free-time was left to draw when the day job required such a large creative output.
In a follow up conversation with my former teacher, I would ask if the animator eventually left the studio and whether their own original style was forever changed. If the answers to both questions were, “Yes.” I would ask, “Was it worth it?”
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Absorbing Another Artist’s Art Style
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 7, 2022
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TheJagged at 10:47PM, Feb. 9, 2022
Underwater Pineapple? That wouldn't be a subtle hint, would it? :> We unconsciously copy other people's styles all the time. I notice it with myself when f.e. i use typical anime expressions like the sweatdrop or the giant anger vein, it just happens. Only when i feel it really fitting with my already existing style will i copy a specific aspect of another's art on purpose. Since art is such a personal thing it doesn't feel right to draw anything other that what comes natural to me. Of course I often think i may become more popular if i simply stopped drawing personal art, and started drawing commercial art. (Anime babes, anime babes as far as the eye can see!) Then again, it might make me rich (doubtful lol), but it certainly wouldn't make me happy. It's an age old conundrum for artists: Do you sell out and live a comfy life or do you stay true to yourself and die content but poor?
cdmalcolm1 at 1:38PM, Feb. 8, 2022
This is more like assembly line artist vs a single artist copying another artist they may like. The assembly line artist are forced where as the single artist is trying to learn how. Assembly line artist are artist that already know how to draw, assuming that’s what they are hired for. A learning artist copying will eventually spin-off into their own when they start incorporating their own thoughts on how to draw an object or person. As you get more experience you begin to see you own way from the style you were copying from.
PaulEberhardt at 10:16PM, Feb. 7, 2022
A famous counter-example (at least famous to Europeans, where there is a much larger fanbase for some reason, even if he is an American) would be Don Rosa, who started out as a huge fan of Scrooge McDuck comics by Carl Barks and whose main interest was in drawing just this kind of thing. He was rather vocal about his discontent with Disney's policies towards their freelance stuff, and managed not just to give his comics his own recognisable edge, but also to improve some things regarding royalties and artists being credited by name. The inquisitive European fanbase certainly helped here, as well as Rosa's dedication to the Ducks and that because of his family background he has always been well-versed in business matters.
PaulEberhardt at 9:45PM, Feb. 7, 2022
It's a great exercise to try and draw something in someone else's style, perhaps as an affectionate parody. You do learn a lot, also about yourself when you switch back to your own. It can be fun, too. This said, I doubt I'd want the job a lot of Koreans used to have in animation. It probably takes a lot of discipline not to shout "Argh!" after the first week and draw penises on every character in the hope that they'll fire you quickly from this dead end - or, even better, just shoot you in a dark alley, saving you the bother of having to do that yourself. If you had that discipline and still get dumped just like that because computers turn out to be cheaper - welcome to today's world of work. Never try to turn your hobby into a job, because it'll turn into business.
Ozoneocean at 8:26PM, Feb. 7, 2022
Interesting! I know that in the 1970s for a while almost ALL fantasy artists were doing versions of Frank Frazetta's art and SciFi artists were doing versions of Chris Foss ^_^ Great Quackcast topic!
hushicho at 12:32AM, Feb. 7, 2022
It's a little sickening to think about, if I'm honest, and yet it's common to find. While I do think that it's fine to be influenced by the styles of other artists and the stylistic movements of art, it rarely benefits an artist to try and become another one. The experiences in existence aren't the same, the artistic message isn't the same, and it almost always comes off as looking extremely artificial and sad. Most every time, an artist who starts out imitating another one only really comes into their own when they stop trying to be that other artist. Always be yourself, I say. After all, you can only ever be a second-rate someone else at best.