art thoughts
Feb. 12th, 2025 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kradeelavtwo-three months ago i was struck by an off-hand comment by an artist who i really respect and whose style feels "alive" in a way most don't to me, and the (paraphrased) comment was that the current in-vouge thin-line style usually lacked a soul.
to a large degree, i agree. mentally (in my snarkier days) i call it the "genshin impact CSP" look (Clip Studio Paint is the hot inking program as of now and i find it has a distinctive look by itself). it's also probably the look you see a lot of mangaka/professional animators throw out sketches in.
but the comment made me think about what i do like about the thin line style. if i had to boil my answer down to one word, it's clarity.
(very specific to my learning: I do also think dabbling in that thin line style over the last two years has vastly improved my 3D spatial ability in ways that it lacked before my cataracts surgeries; only dealing with those thin lines forces you to snap together three-dimensional shapes and anatomy in a way you can't hide like you can with a sloppy ink wash sketch.)
but the "clarity" word made me think about what specific drawing themes i come to the desk for. i really love dissecting that clarity of body language and facial expressions and exploring those non-verbal relationships (or at least how body language can be very separate from dialouge). the thin-line artists who i admire also have a strong focus there as well.
but what's even more interesting: that's almost entirely separate for what i like seeing in art. i like art with bold dynamic shapes and bold colors - not hyper-focused on the expressions. so i'm currently flipping through my inspiration stash having a lightbulb moment at the disconnect i've always felt between what i like to draw, versus what i like to see in a drawing (and feel inspired by).
to a large degree, i agree. mentally (in my snarkier days) i call it the "genshin impact CSP" look (Clip Studio Paint is the hot inking program as of now and i find it has a distinctive look by itself). it's also probably the look you see a lot of mangaka/professional animators throw out sketches in.
but the comment made me think about what i do like about the thin line style. if i had to boil my answer down to one word, it's clarity.
(very specific to my learning: I do also think dabbling in that thin line style over the last two years has vastly improved my 3D spatial ability in ways that it lacked before my cataracts surgeries; only dealing with those thin lines forces you to snap together three-dimensional shapes and anatomy in a way you can't hide like you can with a sloppy ink wash sketch.)
but the "clarity" word made me think about what specific drawing themes i come to the desk for. i really love dissecting that clarity of body language and facial expressions and exploring those non-verbal relationships (or at least how body language can be very separate from dialouge). the thin-line artists who i admire also have a strong focus there as well.
but what's even more interesting: that's almost entirely separate for what i like seeing in art. i like art with bold dynamic shapes and bold colors - not hyper-focused on the expressions. so i'm currently flipping through my inspiration stash having a lightbulb moment at the disconnect i've always felt between what i like to draw, versus what i like to see in a drawing (and feel inspired by).
(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-13 09:24 pm (UTC)(not mentioned on there but relevant to sleaze due to her underground comix work: Trina Robbins)
If I may be navel gazing for a bit, it reminds me of how friends and acquaintances will point out my thinness in lineart as a positive--and that's interesting to me, because I can see where I could have been influenced in doing the same by accident (mostly shoujo manga is a big obvious one lol, along with some anime character designers), but at the same time, I keep looking at my art and going "damn, idk y'all, my stuff looks like it's thicker compared to the current zeitgeist." Along with comments of my art looking retro (which I take as a positive) and folks wondering why my stuff doesn't hit harder with the general populace under my sfw handle...*shrug emoji* It feels a lot like surface > anything is what people prefer. I'm sure some sociologist will connect the dots to how the current hellscape is though LMAO.
I also tend to concentrate on other things before my lines, like expressions or posing, so that's why I oft feel like my lines are messy. I mean, I like them but apparently only certain people are allowed to have messy lines LEL
But yeah, I also am with you in terms of drawing vs seeing in art. If I tell someone that I consider George Pérez or Keiji Gotoh to be inspirations and always feel like drawing after rifling through my own stash, I would understandably get confused reactions. Gotoh may be closer because anime dude, but both are vastly different styles to my own or even from other "genres." But both have a dynanmicness to them that I absolutely have always leaned towards, and aim to try to do in my own work.