I was reminded that anyone who says women and girls aren’t into comic is lying through their teeth.
The bootleg DVD industry has to be feeling the pain of illegal downloading too. I mean, $50 for the entire series of Billy and Mandy or Kim Possible must have been a bargain at some point, but now that’s just crazy expensive.
The only way it could have been even more enjoyable was if I actually read comics on a regular basis.
Oh, and I saw Stan Lee through a gap in the curtains.
It’s a tough question that’s not too easy to answer straight off the bat. So let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages and compare them at the end, OK?
Having you own particular style of animation can have many advantages. Although it may sound tough to be unique in a market filled to the brim with creativity, there are always ways to make your own mark. A unique style can serve as a fantastic calling card. For example, look at the picture below. Can you tell who drew it? I bet you can.
It is of course, Bill Plympton. His pencilly style is known throughout the animation world and beyond. The same goes for the likes of Bruce Timm, Matt Groening, John Kricfalusi, David OReilly, etc. etc.
Besides being instantly recogniseable, a particular style can serve you well in your films as well. Arguably Bruce Timm’s style of hard edges and stylized characters and backgrounds served the original Batman: The Animated Series very well and played a significant role in that TV show’s success.
The same goes for the likes of South Park. Yes, it is incredibly crude, but it suits the incredibly crude nature of the show and after so many seasons, it is impossible to imagine it any other way.
Is there anything else a certain style can help you out with? How about merchandising? It’s something that is not necessarily at the forefront of your mind when you create a TV show is it? Or is it? Did you know that Chowder creator C. H. Greenblatt supposedly designed Chowder with a plush toy in mind?
Forget the fact that Cartoon Network never took up the opportunity but think about how easy it would be to turn the round little guy into a toy. Chowder is not a toyetic show in the traditional sense, but it style does lend itself quite well to marketing.
Now the bad news. Can a style hurt your career? Sure, it is easy to become typecast into a particular style although a lot of the time, this could be due to a multitude of other reasons besides the style of your work alone.
In fact, if you think about all the poor animated films out there, the style normally doesn’t even factor into it. Why? Well for one, a lot of poor films attempt to copy successful styles and appear as such, and secondly there are usually even bigger problems with the likes of the story or script that overshadow the style.
As an animator, it is these problems that will be the ones you will have to watch more so than your style. Having said that, there are still plenty of opportunities to go wrong, especially in the are of character design. An area where many non-Disney animated films seemed to fall short (at least according to my mother).
The second danger with having a strong style is that it may go out of fashion. A great example are the fantastic Cartoon Modern TV shows and films put out in the 1950s and early 60s. As fantastic looking as these shorts are now, they apparently could not stay in style forever and by the end of the 1960s, it was extinct in the mainstream.
This is not fault of its own, just the whims of consumer taste. Just bear in mind that if you have a very strong, contemporary feel to your style, you should be prepared to adapt a new one at some point.
Overall, the reasons for adopting your own style far outweigh the disadvantages. Signs of uniqueness and individualism can go a long way in the creative arts (just ask Andy Warhol or Georgia O’Keefe). In animation, developing a particular style should be a priority when it comes to your personal films or indeed your creative pitches to others.
What are your thoughts on a unique animation style?
Even though this is an animation blog, the link between comics and animation is obvious. So it’s not surprising that I dabble a wee in the other side.
Cleopatra in Space is the creation of the very talented Mike Maihack. While I could (and do) recommend checking out his regular blog for tons of awesome illustrations and sketches (I have three on my walls here at home) it is his current work that I am focusing on today.
Cleopatra in Space is Mike’s latest webcomic that focuses on, you’ve guessed it, Cleopatra. It’s not set in ancient Egypt however, but far in the future (hence the ‘Space’ part of the title). With her sidekick Kenshu, she gets into all sorts of mischief that require quick thinking and lots of blasting with laser guns.
What I like best (besides Mike’s excellent handiwork) is the fact that the characters are well-rounded and believable and their flaws make them easy to relate to (c’mon, we’ve all gone through the trials and tribulations of school at some point).
Mike has been putting up one page every Monday and the always get my week off to a great start. He’s up to chapter 2, page 32 so there’s plenty of stuff to read back through but not enough to put you off doing so (you can always start from the beginning). So head on over and start reading now. You will be rewarded for your efforts!
