Art: The Future and the Past
Today was our first official hybrid strip with an authentic reprint, and it looks a lot like those strips of Luann, where Greg Evans takes a vacation. With Lynn Johnston getting a divorce, her primary motivation for retiring appears to have disappeared. So, it should be interesting to see if she backs off the idea of the hybrid, or at least decides to continue creating quite a bit of new stuff for the hybrid.
As for the strip itself, it’s old For Better or For Worse. Crude art or not, there is a lack of almost all the artistic things about which I have been complaining in the modern age strip. Michael may have dots for eyes, which is less realistic-looking, but at least he has eyes. I fear when Lynn Johnston goes back to the Liz / Anthony saga with a final panel pun in each strip, the two strips will not compare well.
Lynn’s art style development over the years reminds me a lot of when a performer, who has certain traits, allows those traits to take over the performance. For example, I remember last year seeing the movie, Dreamgirls with Jennifer Hudson singing up a storm on her character’s main number, “And I am Telling You.” I remarked to my wife that Jennifer Hudson was as good as Jennifer Holliday in the original Broadway Show. Thanks to the wonderful world of Youtube, I was able to find Jennifer Holliday in the original Broadway Show doing that number and showed it to my wife. But while I was looking, I also found the modern day Jennifer Holliday doing the same number. The modern day version had all these vocal ticks and grunts, and I was surprised how bad she had gotten. But when I looked back at the 1982 version, the vocal ticks and grunts are all there. However, they were subdued and did not overtake the overall performance.
When I see modern Lynn Johnston art, it reminds me of modern day Jennifer Holliday. The little tricks like changing the perspective, or putting silhouettes in, are no longer something used to enhance the story-telling; but something done almost all the time as the way Lynn Johnston does her drawing. There is no reason for it anymore. In this week’s worth of strips, every strip except Monday’s has a silhouette. Every strip changes perspective in every single panel. The tricks have overtaken the art.
As for the strip itself, it’s old For Better or For Worse. Crude art or not, there is a lack of almost all the artistic things about which I have been complaining in the modern age strip. Michael may have dots for eyes, which is less realistic-looking, but at least he has eyes. I fear when Lynn Johnston goes back to the Liz / Anthony saga with a final panel pun in each strip, the two strips will not compare well.
Lynn’s art style development over the years reminds me a lot of when a performer, who has certain traits, allows those traits to take over the performance. For example, I remember last year seeing the movie, Dreamgirls with Jennifer Hudson singing up a storm on her character’s main number, “And I am Telling You.” I remarked to my wife that Jennifer Hudson was as good as Jennifer Holliday in the original Broadway Show. Thanks to the wonderful world of Youtube, I was able to find Jennifer Holliday in the original Broadway Show doing that number and showed it to my wife. But while I was looking, I also found the modern day Jennifer Holliday doing the same number. The modern day version had all these vocal ticks and grunts, and I was surprised how bad she had gotten. But when I looked back at the 1982 version, the vocal ticks and grunts are all there. However, they were subdued and did not overtake the overall performance.
When I see modern Lynn Johnston art, it reminds me of modern day Jennifer Holliday. The little tricks like changing the perspective, or putting silhouettes in, are no longer something used to enhance the story-telling; but something done almost all the time as the way Lynn Johnston does her drawing. There is no reason for it anymore. In this week’s worth of strips, every strip except Monday’s has a silhouette. Every strip changes perspective in every single panel. The tricks have overtaken the art.
posted by howard at 1:49 AM
6 Comments:
The tricks have overtaken the art.
That’s a very interesting comment - something that seems to happen often. For example, I’ve noticed that professional chefs tend to get too focused on food presentation. In fact, I’m also guilty of this. I’ve been teaching for thirteen years so I tend to tell many stories; this makes the lessons more exciting but takes too much time from instruction.
Not having anything to do with LJ, but I laughed when I read your comments about Jennifer Holliday singing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." Guess which song I was listening to at the time I was reading your remarks? :)
Anonymous,
Ah! The teacher's stories. I am reminded of my 8th grade history teacher, who served in WWII. The story was passed from generation to generation that if you could get him to talk about WWII, he wouldn't stop until the bell rang for the end of class. And the story was true.
Kimberlyrose,
You have good taste in music. But if it was 2006 Jennifer Holliday, your ears have my sympathy.
he wouldn't stop until the bell rang for the end of class.
Students try this all the time - and in my class they often succeed!
Anon NYC
Anon NYC,
Well, then you must have some good stories.
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