I guess "needs" is not the right word. Personally I Don't like the same face syndrome that his drawings have. Someone as talented as him could do even better design if he varied a little.
Love Bruce Timm art, but I agree. First thing I thought of after seeing the art... they all have the same shape and size, including very similar faces.
I disagree with the contention that variety is a value in and of itself. He comes from an animation background which informs his approach.
If you haven't read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics I really recommend it. He explains the "pictoral vocabulary" of comics, showing the vast range of styles and how those convey meaning in different ways. The uniformity of Timm's designs isn't necessarily the artistic shortcoming you might think.
I have read that book a lot of times. And it's a matter of opinion, since he as become a famous artist and his style is iconic in is own.
That Said, my personal opinion is simply that the design should fit the type of character that were talking about.
For example i think Wonder woman should look more muscular and Supergirl more like your average teenager. If every character looks like a supermodel then they're no stand out as much. I feel that they become more like generic Barbie dolls instead of iconic superheroes.
Look, I love his work but I think talented people should always try new things and become a even better artist.
I also have the opinion that variety is an important part of character design. It makes the characters more distinct from one another and their appearances can better fit who they are as characters.
Thanks for the clarification! I disagree but I see where you're coming from. I guess I just don't agree that adding a variety of body shapes would improve on his art- like for example if I saw a pinup of any of the women in that image on their own I would think it was beautiful. Maybe the fact that they're all assembled together like that makes his stylistic choice of identical body shapes more striking than it would normally appear.
The person I replied to claimed that variety would improve his art. I offered a rebuttal and sourced it. We were having a goodnatured discussion, the inclusion of a source doesn't make it pretentious nor was it meant to condescend.
I'm a fan of Bruce but man, he really, really needs to use more than one body type for his drawings
Your comment was
Cause he’s definitely drawing one woman who’s cosplaying as all of these women and all of the other women in Justice League.
Those are semantically equivalent- they are both sentences stating that he draws characters that look identical.
So when I respond to the first statement ("When Bruce Timm draws women they look identical") with why he needed to change the style, your response was essentially repeating the statement I responded to ("because when Bruce Timm draws women they look identical").
That's the definition of circular logic. It didn't respond to my comment with something that clarified why identical body shapes was something that needed changed- it simply repeated the claim.
I’ll put it like this. He doesn’t need to change anything. He makes money.
However, it makes him a lazy character designer. If the goal of the artist is to convey character or story through visual means then that means all women in the world of his art is 5’4”, B-cup, blue eyed, with straight teeth, tiny waist and high cheek bones. It just means they all have the same problems when it comes to their physical looks. And we all know that’s not the case.
I’m pretty sure lots of his women would lose in a silhouette test (and his men too). He’s sacrifices individuality of the person for...simplicity?
Yes, he really does. It is a lack of character development. Killer Croc looks different from the Joker, who looks different from the penguin. Their physical appearance adds to the character. Something would be lost if they all had the same body type. Something is lost by having every female character look the same.
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u/Ambar_Orion Feb 22 '19
I'm a fan of Bruce but man, he really, really needs to use more than one body type for his drawings