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@charafan @zemichi it might be a culture of people going "oh, i can't /do/ art" in the west, which prevents people from even trying
meanwhile on the other side people just doodle for fun and might even churn something nice out
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@charafan @zemichi hmm yeah i guess that's probably the likelier cause, people discarding tradition for doing whatever
i blame the expressionists mainly for starting this trend
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@charafan @zemichi why do you even go on tumblr anymore
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@zemichi @charafan @hakui
here's my non researched rambling rant.
1. I think hakuis observation about people in the west giving up art easily is very true. Drawing cartoons in the west still has a strong stigma against it. It's seen as a childish thing adults don't do. I'm sure enough artists here have anecdotes about having to hide their drawings out of embarrassment from their peers. Japan has rigid rules on what adults can and can't do, but I don't think drawing is really one of them.
2. Making safe designs isn't exclusive to the west. Japanese mainstream anime has shifted closer to homogeneity because of their need to appeal to the masses (of otaku). Mainstream artists don't draw ugly or unappealing things even if the story needs it. Everything exists to sell merchandise. That's what mainstream is like everywhere though. The exceptions to this rule can become very popular too. A good example of an artist that isn't afraid to draw unpleasant things is Fukumoto Nobuyuki, the artist of Kaiji and Akagi which appeals to older audiences.
3. One of the biggest factors on why anime looks so homogenous these days has to do with the technology. Since production has shifted towards digital, the imperfect hand drawn feel has become much harder to implement.
4. Back then, the moe formula wasn't perfected yet. There was a lot of experimentation on making moe characters. When evangelion came out, Anno was surprised that people liked Rei so much even though he didn't write her to be moe. Her character archetype became a staple of moe anime since. There are a set of almost universally appealing proportions that most artists are aware of.
If i'm going to make broad cultural generalizations:
Japs draw what other people like rather than their own "artistic" self expression. At worse, this causes samey formulaic crap. At best it maintains a high standard of technical skill. Even the shittiest doujin artist has far better paneling and composition skills than most modern capeshit comics because they adhere to the rigid set of laws set by pioneers like tezuka on HOW to draw comics.
Westerns draw what they personally like without thinking of their audience. At worse you get self indulgent technically unskilled crap, or degenerate meaningless modern art bullshit. At best, there is far more creativity in the 'meta' aspects of art, occasionally making something groundbreaking and innovative by subverting the medium itself.
These are extreme generalizations. There are artists who can excel in both ways. The best artists are the ones that started out perfecting their skill by sticking to the rules, and then get influenced by foreign sources. Tezuka, Araki, Inoue and Urasawa are examples in comics while Kurosawa would be an example in film.
御園はくい
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