Art Appreciation Thread

[AcetheSuperVillain]

I have a big collection of cartoon reference images on my computer. I like studying different styles to broaden my horizons and define my own style. Feel free to show me some styles that inspire you.



To start off with, 80s anime! This is basically the style that attracted me to making cartoons, way back when. The simplicity of anime-style was much more approachable than western style animations (which at the time was Disney and Hanna Barbara to my mind) When I was first introduced to anime it was pretty much DBZ, Sailor Moon and Robotech on Toonami and Pokemon and Digimon on those other stations. Robotech was always extra special to me, and the similar looking 80s anime has always held a place in my heart.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Hey! Bonus! It turns out that Sherlock Hound was also technically an 80s anime. Sherlock Hound is something of a rarity, a japanese take on Disney/western style anthro characters, combining elements of both styles, but offering its own unique look. A must-try for anthro art fans. There's also a splattering of quasi-steam-punk from before steam-punk was a thing.



The opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYuFHLezUyo

[foundling]

I grew up with more 90's anime so I've never seen some of these here. I'll definitely have to check them out!

I love old Russian 2D animation. When I was little I had a tape that Disney put out that had a bunch of fairy tales that were originally from there. Another favorite tape was the Swans that I would watch every time I visited my grandma, though I'm not sure which version as there were many different English dubs. I suggest looking them up on YouTube. My favorites are Vasilisa the Beautiful, the Frog Princess (same fairy tale), Thumbilina, the Little Humpbacked Horse, and a Winter Tale. Obvioulsy I have a preference for fairy tales, but there are lots more. Here's some examples I was able to dig up:







The detail is just stunning isn't it?

[AcetheSuperVillain]

That's interesting. The way that they draw faces is reminiscent of medieval artwork, which is interesting because western art (or more western than Russia I guess) generally tries to forget that the middle ages ever happened. An example:



Medieval art was generally intended to convey a specific message, in Europe, generally christian propaganda or political propaganda such as a scene of victory. As such, they are a closer in purpose to modern cartoons, especially political cartoons, which I think they closely resemble.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

That reminds me, one of my favorite styles of art that you'll never learn about in school is Viking Art. This is often met with the response "Vikings had art?" To which I often reply, "Fuck you, of course we did!"



The gods:


And oddly enough, one of the big artifacts you find from the Viking Era are combs:

[foundling]

I wouldn't say that Western art likes to to "forget" about medieval art. Medieval art encompasses many styles, and I think some are just more popular than others depending on what country we're talking about. Russian art draws a lot of inspiration from Byzantine art. Not surprising as Russia is influenced by the Byzantine empire a lot.

Also, hell yeah Viking art! That was always one of my favorite subjects in art history class. It's sad people only think of Vikings as big dudes in furs and a horned helmet pillaging villages. Those guys had a great culture, and of course great art!

Getting back to Anime, this is not the first time Western Art has been influenced by Japanese art. In the late 1800's there was this thing called "Japanisme". When Japan started trading with Europe, the art coming out of there made a huge impact for artists.



This is a painting by Mary Cassatt, and you can clearly see the influence of Japanese woodblock prints.



Or how about this painting by James Tissot:


There's also a lot of Japanese influence in Impressionist work from that time, too. It's amazing to see how at from a different culture influences another.

And for you enjoyment, more Japanese woodblock prints because these things are amazing.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Van Gogh did the japonisme thing as well. He would actually try to repaint trending japanese paintings. Original on the left, vangogh on the right:



Maybe a side note, I don't really get vangogh. He is often called the greatest painter ever, but frankly, all I see is a crazy dude who made crazy paintings. I have heard the argument that vangogh paved the way with his use of bright bold colors, and without him we just wouldn't have invented the bright colorful cartoons that I specifically enjoy today, but that sounds like bullshit to me. The world is full of color, we see colorful things like flowers and rainbows and birds and fish and think "ooh! color!" As color technology developed, we would have been drawn to it anyways.

I love the kitsune party scene. Seeing the japanese woodblocks again reminds me of how often you see "cartoony" artwork throughout history. Art snobs and museums might try to tell you that cartoons are not real art, but if you look across history, I think cartoons really capture more of the true essence of the human need for art than the shitty paint blobs "modern artists" try to sell us. Goddam could I rant about that all day...

[foundling]

van Gogh was good, but I wouldn't say he revolutionized anything except a specific style maybe. I doubt he is why cartoons are colorful ans agree it's probably technology. They're colorful because they're art designed to grab attention and are often exaggerations of reality, which is generally more toned down. People just like color. I wonder if the reason people believe van Gogh to be so great because of his story than just his art. He's the ideal artist. He dedicated his life to art, had no job and relied on family to support him. He was a starving artist and no one bought his art when he was alive. I think a lot of people look up to that.

I always thought it funny when someone would criticize cartoony stuff, too. Naturalistic stuff is great, but sometimes it can't be expressed well enough within the limits of what is little possible in reality. I could draw a realistic picture of a person waving their hands in the air and screaming, but it wouldn't get as much across as a drawing of a unrealistic person with their mouth larger than is natural and their arms waving around like noodles. The first time I thought about this sort of thing was when I was in middle school and a teacher was talking about it and I looked at her confused before pointing out Egyptian paintings, pointing out how unnatural everything looked like in a cartoon. The Egyptians cared most about the entire body being on display, so they had to break the rules of what was physically possible to express that. I don't think enough people who supposedly know about art know much about art history earlier than the past century or so. No one has to know everything, but be aware at least. Also, video games supposedly not being art. That's what they said about film before it managed to gain the respect deserved. It's art. Complex, typically made by groups than one person, but it's art. Just because there's a lot of soulless stuff doesn't mean it's not a form of art.

Abstract used to bother me more before I had to make some for a couple of my art teachers. It's like with non-realistic stuff being about expression than what's real, but turned up to eleven. It's more about process, emotion, intent, and all that. Unfortunately, a lot of it doesn't make it good for people other than the artist to understand as it's very much as near a raw form an expression that can be made and it only makes sense to that person. This form of art usually needs explanation, which is not exactly a good thing. Also, there's a lot of bad abstract and other contemporary art. People mistakenly think it's easy and just throw some paint on a canvas, completely missing the point. Or it's just really off putting, but then again art's not always pleasant. I don't particularly care for abstract paintings or drawings, but sculpture can be fascinating. I'm especially fond of instillation art.


"Raumzeichnung (Drawing of a Room)" by Monika Grzymala


"Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded" by Cornelia Parker

And here's a YouTube video of an instillation of a light garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt9POU_FNhE

Can you imagine seeing these in a gallery, seeing them in a physical space and existing? It's pretty mind blowing because you subconsciously interact with it even if you're not touching it.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Oof, no, installation art is not for me. The closest I will ever get to appreciating non-representational art is the western artistic continuum of art nouveau-art deco-streamline moderne-googie. Some will describe the entire continuity as Art Deco, as that was the most global movement, and lasts longest in the form of architecture, but it is technically distinctive on its own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau
Art nouveau was part of a reaction to "academic art" of the 1800s, in which the art schools tried to limit the types of art available to renaissance-style classically trained artists. Reactions in general argued that it should enough for art to just look good, it shouldn't need to reflect the styles of ancient masters or make any sort of direct statement about the world. Furthermore, art nouveau argued that art should be everywhere, clothes, furniture, architechture, advertisements were all part of the art nouveau movement. Art was no longer something to be locked away in a museum or hung up on a wall, but as common as eating sleeping and breathing. Art nouveau would pave the road for both art deco and the modernist movements.

Art nouveau is defined by smooth, organic, natural curves, bright but not harsh colors and a lighthearted mood, often with women. One often gets the impression of standing in a garden. In an increasingly industrialized world, nature and plantlife became more and more rare, so representing nature represented taking a break from the poluted cities and the hustle and bustle. Art nouveau has not quite broken free of the 1800 neo-classical vibe, so there is a strong greco-roman undertone.










More to come

[AcetheSuperVillain]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco
Art deco is an incredible and vast artistic movement that almost anyone should recognize. Art deco was an evolution of art nouveau, once again it was an art movement that encompassed every visual media. But where nouveau clung to natural life and simpler times, deco embraced industrialization and celebrated mankind's achievements as it marched into the 20th century. Bold geometric designs celebrated the math and science that brought the first skyscrapers to life, while ancient ziggurats and obelisks inspired their design. Organic forms are often heavily simplified and portrayed as metallic or stone, a sharp contrast to its predecessor, nouveau.

As art nouveau had embraced less traditional forms of art, like furniture and fashion, art deco started to abandon the more traditional art mediums of canvas and museum. Art deco was truly art for the masses, for the modern era, for the future and for infinity.

Art deco is a massive movement, so I can only hope to scratch the surface, but it is by far one of my favoritest art movements, so I encourage everyone to try some google searches yourselves.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamline_Moderne

As time marched onward, the world was hit hard by the Great Depression. A new world needed a new art movement, and art deco was replaced in America with streamline moderne. The lavishness of art deco was replaced with simple elegance and efficiency. Where art deco celebrated mankind's past glories, streamline moderne put its hope into a brighter future, filled with new technology. Streamline moderne was dominated by product design; cars, trains and planes became the new canvas, even a lowly radio or sewing machine could become a work of art. Speed was equated with new technology, and a lot of streamline moderne art is designed to look aerodynamic and speedy.

Streamline moderne is often called "art deco" and pegged onto the movement as a whole. Indeed, streamline moderne shares much in common with its immediate predecessor, the differences being a bit subtle to the casual observer. However, the mood of streamline modern shines through, it is not just a celebration of human achievement, but a need for new achievements, a promise that every step forward is a step away from the horror of the Great Depression and into a better tomorrow. In art deco, the bright future is all around us, in streamline moderne, the bright future is just ahead, and you would be the first to get there.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture

With the end of World War 2, modern art spirals out of control into zillions of different styles, more or less ending the art deco continuum around the world. However, California and the western United States delivered a new evolution of the streamline moderne mindset known as googie. Like streamline moderne, googie was a vision of the future, this time of space travel, broadcast waves and the atomic age.

Googie refers specifically to architecture, but you see a similar vibe in cars of the era, and in works of fiction portraying the future, especially the Jetsons. Googie continues the use of geometric designs, they become less mathematic and more whimsical, emphasizing the imagination, moving away from a belief in technology specifically to a belief in the human mind and human spirit. Very bright colors are used with the invention of synthetic paints and the lifting of WW2 rations on resources. Again, googie is sometimes referred to as art deco, mostly for lack of a better term as few people have ever heard "googie".

[AcetheSuperVillain]

To sum it up:

Art Nouveau


Art Deco


Streamline Moderne


Googie