A discussion about styles.

Very often, I see the anime/chibi/manga style being drawn. Myself, I've drawn it for a while. But to me, it's getting boring. I see it too much. Don't get me wrong, I do like anime, but the style is getting kind of same old same old unoriginal stuff to me.

So I know there are some cartoonists here, really neat artists who have developed their own cartoony styles (Dustindemon, Rage, Jello..Duckboy, and more)
I want to know if there are any more non-anime artists here. Discuss your own unique styles.

My goal is to soon create my own cartoony style and slowely creep away from the anime style, but since I've done it for so long, all of my attempts still look like it D:

:raises hand:

:raises hand:

Please discuss how your original art style and how it differs from manga. Even post examples. I'm really curious to see.

I like to throw some variety into the mix, but I usually favor the Japanese-inspired style, myself.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/51068878/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53025626/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52290276/ (flash)

As you can see, I'm quite mediocre.

I've tried manga style before, didn't turn out well.

Since Quickie-La asked... here's an example of my more favored style:




And the styles I enjoy experimenting with:

I really like this one. The whole pose is cool.

my art is so sketchy.. It's also mainly plans for large scale pixel art.. like i have this giant peice of paper of a Isometric Kirby's adventure map.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/57627363/

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/47546435/

here's 2 examples when I draw, I usually go for classic cartoon styles, I'm trying to get to make hilarious expressions with my drawings, I haven't done much though.

Those are both really cool, Josiah. Especially the Mario. You did great with the facial expressions.

You know, anime have a variety of styles too. The genre kinda bleeds together somewhat, but there are different styles other than the GENERIC COOKIE CUTTER ANIME ART from time to time. Shin Chan comes to mind. Also, FLCL is the best looking (and best period) anime I've ever seen. Compare FLCL to Azumanga Daioh, which also has it's own established artstyle.

Rants aside, my artstyle differs from time to time. I try to keep a sense of realistic (by cartoon standards) placement and proportions, while still making it look cartoony and interesting.

It's like comparing the artstyles of Ren and Stimpy to, say, the Super Mario cartoons (not a very good example but it's all I could think of right now). They both have really great art s tyles, in my own opinion. Ren and Stimpy can go extreme and wacky to the point where the drawings don't make any sense. They can have really skinny limbs, gigantic heads, etc. The Super Mario Bros. cartoons, however, like to keep a solid, slightly more realistic design. Their limbs and torsos are proportionate, while still looking cartoony and nice.

I think I'm somewhere in the middle, though I do tend to lean closer to the SMBC side.

This post has been edited by Judge Fudge on Jun 27 2007, 10:24 PM

Yeah, anime does have a lot of different styles, but I'm trying to get something that falls out of the manga-styled artwork category, which to me is difficult since that's all I've drawn all my life. I love the wackyness of Ren and Stimpy, but I also like the Super Mario cartoons. Those were two really good examples.
Me, I want to create my own cartoon style that's not exactly like any other, which is pretty difficult. Something that's unusual, but not totally wacky. Not disguesting to look at, but interesting to look at.

I suppose you could call mine "anime" still even though I've sort of drifted away from it, people claim all my characters look "anorexic" so, yeah. :x

Funfact: I was in almost the exact same situation as you some odd 4 or 5 years ago. I was originally going to go for some sort of anime style, but for some reason it never "clicked". Then I reliased I grew up watching mostly American cartoons, so I started to slowly drift my style towards that.

Warner Bros., Disney, MGM, etc. all played a rather large role in the evolution of my art style, as it came from stuff like this to eventually unfinished stuff like this or something like this.

I'm still trying to expand more on my style, more specifically I wanna make retarded expressions like John K. :[

Well, my style comes from various sources. I've been surrounded by tons of comics and cartoony series when I was a brat, then there's those times where I see the works of others and try to imitate them (specially expressions). In fact, my current style was inspired by Edmund Mcmillen (creator of Gish and other flash series).

I've been sticking so long with a cartoony style that I literally cannot draw other way. I can do realistic animals and objects, but when it comes to realistic and anime characters, I'm utterly horrible at them.....

I don't have and probably will never have my own style. I always imitate, and usually poorly, other ones, especially if I'm drawing a fan picture. I can't really produce straight lines without using computer tools either, so everything comes out pretty sketchy unless I semi clean it up.

Because of this, I look at art as mostly fun and just do it for enjoyment or to make quick goofy sketches. Sometimes I really wish I could produce something cool, but I feel I'd need art classes or tutorials or something before I could move on for this loop I'm stuck in.

Kinda of a bummer but at least it's fun to draw.

I dont know if its a style but I just draw using simple shapes and lines.

I use an anime based drawing style, but the head is really the only anime like part of my drawings. I would show you an example if I had one.

i actually try to avoid using straight lines on anything that isn't "man-made," so to speak

organic shapes 4 life