Compare Liefeld to, say, Aeon Flux.

Aeon Flux has weirdly distorted, absurdly skinny/contortionist figures... but I believe most folks would agree that Aeon Flux was going after a particular look and esthetic, while Liefeld, not so much.

Quote from: Will;814690Compare Liefeld to, say, Aeon Flux.

Aeon Flux has weirdly distorted, absurdly skinny/contortionist figures... but I believe most folks would agree that Aeon Flux was going after a particular look and esthetic, while Liefeld, not so much.

Actually, I thought the art in Aeon Flux sucked so much I couldn't watch it.

*shrugs*

Opinions will vary and there's no accounting for taste.

Another example would be Ross Campbell. Some people absolutely love his work. It think he draws distorted bizarre androgynous freaks. Good for monsters and baroque demons but for actual people not so much.

Quote from: Will;814690Compare Liefeld to, say, Aeon Flux.

Aeon Flux has weirdly distorted, absurdly skinny/contortionist figures... but I believe most folks would agree that Aeon Flux was going after a particular look and esthetic, while Liefeld, not so much.

Some artists actually understand anatomy well enough to distort it in a way that still somehow "works". I'm willing to bet that some of the most stylistic artists out there first drew a lot more traditionally and could actually depict the human body in a competent way.

I bring up Mignola again: his earlier work is more traditional comic-book style (i.e., more "realistic"), but he gradually evolved into his trademark style that we know today. I've seen plenty of artists (some in the indie RPG scene) just jump from whatever they were doing into a copy of Mignola's. And it usually doesn't QUUUIIIIITE work. It's hard to explain, actually. Most people don't notice, though.

I mean, compare Liefeld's drawings to Jim Lee: same school of comic drawing (a lot of similarities) but somehow Lee's stuff was always more coherent and solid.

Although to be fair, Mignola usually skipped out on drawing feet all that accurately . At least he drew them, though.

Nexus: I didn't say Aeon Flux was good or that I liked it. I can't stand it, myself.
But it achieved a style on purpose.

This isn't a popularity contest. Despite the morass of gamer commentary that is nothing more than 'stuff I like is good, stuff I don't like is bad,' it is actually possible to engage in coherent criticism apart from personal tastes.

Necrozius: A good example of this is Picasso. If you look at early Picasso, and you weren't a student of art history, you'd have no idea that it was his...

For example, this is a Picasso:


He did that at age 15. Man.

Then, later, he did Cubism. (more stuff here: http://www.mcguilmet.com/articles/could-picasso-really-paint-yeshe-really-could-as-the-evidence-shows )

The thing is, for artists, generally you need to learn to do things 'right' before you mess with the rules on purpose.
Half-assing it and then claiming you are doing something 'stylized' is just lazy bullshit.

Quote from: Will;814698Nexus: I didn't say Aeon Flux was good or that I liked it. I can't stand it, myself.
But it achieved a style on purpose.

This isn't a popularity contest. Despite the morass of gamer commentary that is nothing more than 'stuff I like is good, stuff I don't like is bad,' it is actually possible to engage in coherent criticism apart from personal tastes.

And I don't think it achieved any "style" but was just unappealing off putting art. Saying it was that way on purpose is fine, but still a judgement call. I've seen similar "style" that I've liked allot better. It is possible to engage in coherent criticism but much of its subjective in the end and much of the time, IME, the so called objective evaluations are pretty much "I don't like this so nobody should" Its difficult to tell the difference much of the time. The "objectively good" art (music, games, etc) always happen to coincide with speaker's tastes.

Quote from: TristramEvans;814685Liefeld's art is bad. That is not a subjective statement.

In your opinion.

Quote from: Elfdart;814746In your opinion.

In my educated professional evaluation.



I may seriously have the most useless diploma in the world, but at the very least I get to invoke my authority in evaluating art.

TristramEvans: In my educated professional evaluation.

Quote from: Elfdart;814679Or they simply realize that like most other cartoon art, it's not meant to be realistic.

Thats fine when its aliens or cartoon people.

But most comics are about human beings with standard human anatomy limitations. The average reader expects the human spine to bend this way. NOT to swerve like an elephants trunk unless they are specifically shown to have some sort of elastic power.

Captain America's head does not rotate 180 degrees. But Leifield drawing it and all bets are off that the head is going to even be generally located on the shoulders.

Quote from: Will;814690Compare Liefeld to, say, Aeon Flux.

Aeon Flux has weirdly distorted, absurdly skinny/contortionist figures... but I believe most folks would agree that Aeon Flux was going after a particular look and esthetic, while Liefeld, not so much.

Aeon Flux, and Phantom 2020, though both still adhere to basic human anatomy limits. To a point with Aeon - who seems to have the sort of flexibility of a contortionist - but not to the inhuman level flex of my niece has.

They may be stretched or such but they still move like people move. Muscles tend to be about where they should be even.