Speaking of John K. we’ve linked to his blog all kinds of stuff before, but it’s really must reading. Kricfalusi is notoriously cranky and disdainful of bad work, and on his blog he has endless tips on drawing, animating and other technical matters. Here’s a sample on composition. Click for a larger version.
Milt Gross is an amazing designer. Most comic artists, even great ones like Jack Kirby draw just one basic face and body type over and over again-especially in crowd scenes. Who can blame them? In this Gross crowd, every lady, while all following a unified line of action, is a completely different design. Invention just flowed out of this guy’s pens.
Now why is he doing all this? Kricfalusi wonders the same thing:
I’m starting to wonder whether all this free knowledge is going to anyone any good, least of all me.
It didn’t do any good when I actually paid people money to read and apply it, so why should anyone benefit from learning something without a gun to their head in an age when knowledge and skill is completely out of fashion?
Is it really? What do YOU think?
I think Kricfalusi has a hell of an ego, that’s what I think…
Kirby had inventiveness flowing out of his pencils.
Didn’t John K. say that being the best comics writer was like being the best writer of baseball cards? I can’t believe this guy can come up with anything funny, but there you go.
I cant help but think that he has a tendency to tell the same old “nowadays everything is crap and real artists/entertainers arent appreciated” rant that’s always being said. Probably even back when the cartoons he worships were new.
of course he’s not right. Look at all the people leaving fawning and appreciative comments on his blog. Seems to me he could fill the vacuum left by Alex Toth for “straight talking criticism”, man certainly doesn’t pull any punches. I’d take him more seriously if I could see evidence of what he promotes under his somewhat gross “underground” inspired work. The surface detail puts me off looking to closely at anything he’s done.
He’s very talented but believes there’s only one way of doing things. He’s notorious for stating that no one should write animation unless they can also draw. But some of the best animated cartoons I’ve seen in recent years were written by people who can’t draw (such as The Simpsons and Batman The Animated Series, to name just two).
I agree with most of what John K says in that particular post, but when he uses Samurai Jack as an example of bad work, he loses my support. I remember John K having a mad-on for the work of Parker and Stone on South Park as well. I do believe he has a point that craft and the knowledge that supports craft are in short supply today and are not valued by the majority of current production executives, but that doesn’t mean that funny isn’t funny and brilliance doesn’t shine. I think that most of John K’s work is fantastic but he lessens his opportunity for impact when he derides the work of equally talented individuals.
John K has never made good work that didn’t rely on others forcing him to be subversive.
When he’s given free reign, he makes utter shit. And he thinks it’s god damned golden. That’s the part that pisses me off.
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