New-Run Count = 179
We have a new-run today in For Better or For Worse. This brings the total number of new-runs since September 1 to 179. Back when Lynn went to the new-runs, she promised it would be a return to a simpler style of drawing and she promised that for the first year, at least half of the strips would be new-runs and half would be reprints. As the month of August draws to a close, Lynn is now 3.5 new-runs away from meeting that goal. Half of 365 is 182.5. I have little doubt that she will make it, and probably surpass it. Just to make sure, I will be keeping a count.
In the beginning, Lynn did make an effort to imitate her old style of drawing, but it did not last very long. As it turned out, her imitation was less an imitation and more the use of a style of drawing that Lynn used primarily for background characters, which she often drew as what I call “mutants.” In other words, they were more like geometric shapes with eyes, mouths and teeth drawn on them. By January, Lynn was pretty much back to her old style.
Lynn’s old style was essentially an imitation of Charles Schulz’s work on Peanuts. As time went on she developed her own style, and the artwork improved. With the new-runs and reprints, we have able to compare and contrast them regularly.
It has been interesting to see the differences. In the modern style, Lynn much prefers to draw from a long distance perspective, oftentimes drawing the whole body of the characters. In the old days, Lynn much preferred close up, oftentimes drawing just the head and shoulders of the characters. Looking at the construction of the older strips, with characters’ bodies sticking in from the sides of the panels and the generous use of disembodied heads, I get the impression that Lynn did not like to draw the full body. The art is better in the modern style, but the story-telling via facial expressions is better in the old style. As in today’s strip, young Michael is supposed to be worried, but he is drawn so small in the panel, he has no discernible emotion on his face. If this were a reprint strip, his head would fill the panel with beads of sweat jumping off of it.
In the modern style Lynn loves the use of silhouettes for background and for characters. In the old style, Lynn sometimes would do one-panel strips and would fill the background with loads of details which would supplement the story with funny things going on. For example, the rotgut roadside strip from last week had funnier stuff in the background than the foreground, by showing little Lizzie struggling to handle her hotdog. In the modern strip, Lynn almost never does this.
One of the things both styles have in common are evident in today’s new-run. Lynn oftentimes ignores perspective in order to draw a character into the panel. In the last panel, the dog kennel lady is drawn looking on from behind Elly; because Lynn didn’t have the space to draw her anywhere else. However, if she were to draw her with her height relative to Elly’s, what we would see would be just the head and shoulders of the character. Lynn chose to draw her from the waist up, making her look like she had grown much taller, or had sprouted out of Elly’s butt.
The other style in common is the apparent inability to redraw a character mid-drawing. In the fourth panel, Lynn clearly drew the upper half and lower half of Farley separately, since the upper half is in profile and the lower half is a rear view. When I draw, I occasionally end up in this situation too. Mid-drawing you realize that you like a different perspective better. It looks better or it conveys the situation better. What you do then, is pick up an eraser, and redraw it so the whole body is in the preferred position. For whatever reasons, Lynn Johnston has never learned this skill. She just inks it in and leaves it. I see it in the old strips and I see it in the new-runs. This habit takes away Lynn's credibility as a competent artist in my mind more than anything else she does.
As the end of August approaches, the question that comes to my mind is “What next?” Lynn has said that her goal is to get the story strong enough to go to straight reprints. However, I can’t see her giving up drawing new-runs. I can see her drawing fewer new-runs. Her fans have grown accustomed to seeing the reprints, and a lot of them can’t tell the difference in the art style. If Lynn dropped the number of new-runs, I doubt they would know it. I will. And as long as Lynn continues to produce the occasional new-run, the syndicate can still offer the strip as a combination of new and old material. We will see what will happen in September.
In the beginning, Lynn did make an effort to imitate her old style of drawing, but it did not last very long. As it turned out, her imitation was less an imitation and more the use of a style of drawing that Lynn used primarily for background characters, which she often drew as what I call “mutants.” In other words, they were more like geometric shapes with eyes, mouths and teeth drawn on them. By January, Lynn was pretty much back to her old style.
Lynn’s old style was essentially an imitation of Charles Schulz’s work on Peanuts. As time went on she developed her own style, and the artwork improved. With the new-runs and reprints, we have able to compare and contrast them regularly.
It has been interesting to see the differences. In the modern style, Lynn much prefers to draw from a long distance perspective, oftentimes drawing the whole body of the characters. In the old days, Lynn much preferred close up, oftentimes drawing just the head and shoulders of the characters. Looking at the construction of the older strips, with characters’ bodies sticking in from the sides of the panels and the generous use of disembodied heads, I get the impression that Lynn did not like to draw the full body. The art is better in the modern style, but the story-telling via facial expressions is better in the old style. As in today’s strip, young Michael is supposed to be worried, but he is drawn so small in the panel, he has no discernible emotion on his face. If this were a reprint strip, his head would fill the panel with beads of sweat jumping off of it.
In the modern style Lynn loves the use of silhouettes for background and for characters. In the old style, Lynn sometimes would do one-panel strips and would fill the background with loads of details which would supplement the story with funny things going on. For example, the rotgut roadside strip from last week had funnier stuff in the background than the foreground, by showing little Lizzie struggling to handle her hotdog. In the modern strip, Lynn almost never does this.
One of the things both styles have in common are evident in today’s new-run. Lynn oftentimes ignores perspective in order to draw a character into the panel. In the last panel, the dog kennel lady is drawn looking on from behind Elly; because Lynn didn’t have the space to draw her anywhere else. However, if she were to draw her with her height relative to Elly’s, what we would see would be just the head and shoulders of the character. Lynn chose to draw her from the waist up, making her look like she had grown much taller, or had sprouted out of Elly’s butt.
The other style in common is the apparent inability to redraw a character mid-drawing. In the fourth panel, Lynn clearly drew the upper half and lower half of Farley separately, since the upper half is in profile and the lower half is a rear view. When I draw, I occasionally end up in this situation too. Mid-drawing you realize that you like a different perspective better. It looks better or it conveys the situation better. What you do then, is pick up an eraser, and redraw it so the whole body is in the preferred position. For whatever reasons, Lynn Johnston has never learned this skill. She just inks it in and leaves it. I see it in the old strips and I see it in the new-runs. This habit takes away Lynn's credibility as a competent artist in my mind more than anything else she does.
As the end of August approaches, the question that comes to my mind is “What next?” Lynn has said that her goal is to get the story strong enough to go to straight reprints. However, I can’t see her giving up drawing new-runs. I can see her drawing fewer new-runs. Her fans have grown accustomed to seeing the reprints, and a lot of them can’t tell the difference in the art style. If Lynn dropped the number of new-runs, I doubt they would know it. I will. And as long as Lynn continues to produce the occasional new-run, the syndicate can still offer the strip as a combination of new and old material. We will see what will happen in September.
posted by howard at 5:28 AM
1 Comments:
howard,
Back when Lynn went to the new-runs, she promised it would be a return to a simpler style of drawing and she promised that for the first year, at least half of the strips would be new-runs and half would be reprints. As the month of August draws to a close, Lynn is now 3.5 new-runs away from meeting that goal. Half of 365 is 182.5. I have little doubt that she will make it, and probably surpass it. Just to make sure, I will be keeping a count.
This probably means that the next year will have a slightly lower number of new material; whether it's 25% or 40% really depends on Lynn.
The art is better in the modern style, but the story-telling via facial expressions is better in the old style. As in today’s strip, young Michael is supposed to be worried, but he is drawn so small in the panel, he has no discernible emotion on his face. If this were a reprint strip, his head would fill the panel with beads of sweat jumping off of it.
I know; it's hard to sympathize with someone who looks like he's yards away from you. If he were closer, he'd be easier to identify with.
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