Regular or Stylized? Which do you prefer?

[ylldre]

When it comes to webcomics i’ve seen a lot of styles and i tend to categorize them based on to the spectrum, where there’ll be two ends; the regular and the highly stylized. My example of regular ones would be most anime-ish or western-ish ones with kind of regular anatomy....i don’t really know how to put it in words i hope you understand what i mean by those regular ones. On the other hand, my example of highly stylized ones would be like lore olympus and suitor armor, edith iykwim. What is your preference? It’ll be great if you can share your opinion.

• Regular
• Highly stylized
• Neither

Show results

[sorible]

Highly stylized comics just stand out to me more, even if I don't really like the art style in the beginning, I'll eventually start becoming more used to it.

I think my personal favorite style I saw on webtoon was thisisangle's comic, The devil is a handsome man(?). I was obsessed with the art even though the story didn't really interest me. I love noir comics.

edit: I follow the creator on twitter and I just

[ylldre]

Wow i don’t remember the story either but i instantly remember the artstyle. I also like the artstyle of that comic.

[vothnthorvaldson]

I will always prefer realistic anatomy, although I don't need it to be detailed. So, it's more about realistic proportions.
I dislike unrealistic proportions in general, and even more when it is used (and that is the majority of the time) to exagerate gender differences or personality differences. I find it lazy, and worse, it often carries debatable ideologies. I know the majority of people don't think that deep when they do it, but I think they should think more if it, of why do they draw like that.
If everyone is drawn very stylized in a more random fashion, I don't have such a strong dislike, but I still prefer biologically sound bodies

[ylldre]

I get what you mean, i don’t like unrealistic proportion either, especially for the reasons you mentioned (looking at one of the longest shonen titles) i tend to prefer stylized artstyle like ava’s demon for example.

[vothnthorvaldson]

Yeah, I thought when writing, it's not clear cut because it can be highly stylized with relatively reasonable anatomy, or more realistic, but with anatomical choices that are completely unrealistic (eg with a lot of manga: enormous eyes on otherwise realistic characters).

[ylldre]

Don’t forget boooobs.

[darthmongoose]

I don't dislike comics with highly stylised proportions, but I'm naturally more drawn to more natural ones, and have been ever since I was a kid. I could never really connect with stuff like The Beano or Asterix as a kid, like I didn't hate them and I'd happily read them, but when manga started turning up in my country in my teens and I saw Cardcaptor Sakura and Megatokyo, it was like something lit up in my brain; it just clicked for me. I'd never really thought about drawing comics before, but suddenly it felt like there were comics I could relate to and I was excited to make similar things myself.

I'm not a fan of hyper-realistic comics, like I personally think they often look awkward and lack expression and energy, so my ideal is something in the middle. It's stylised enough to have charm and to look clean and expressive, but it's not so abstract that it starts to feel more like a concept than a person.

[ylldre]

I watched a review of sandman by neil gaiman and idk who the artist on youtube and i dig the style, it’s dreamy enough to feel the ‘magic’ but real enough so i can relate and take the story seriously. Tbh the three titles i’ve mentioned above, i really can’t relate to the story because i can’t take them too seriously like you said, too abstract for me, but this is just my opinion. Ava’s demon on the other hand feels real enough to me that i can dig into the story more.

[Mallory]

I might be weird because my own comic is highly stylized, but I actually prefer more realistic proportions, as long as they still have an air of motion/life to them. Artists like Fiona Staples merge energy with more realistic proportions flawlessly and I think that's my absolute preference. There's actually an 18+ comic here on Tapas that I don't really care much for in terms of story (or sex) but my god the art style... I read it just for the art style.

I read a lot of kid comics because of my job and sure, I like super stylized comics, but I do secretly wish I could enjoy drawing more realistic stuff as much as the toony stuff.

[rajillustration]

So I said Neither because I honestly don't care. Whatever works best for the story.

[Kelheor]

I don't see how Suitor Armor is highly stylized?... I'd probably say "regular", because I am mostly into various kind of manga, but then I can't read American comics because of how they look. So I suppose I don't care and it just depends on the particular artist's style

[LCT_m_a_d]

When I think of stylized, I think of certain fundamental principals of the visual language being purposefully over-embellished. Not so much as a way of categorizing visuals into types.

I usually prefer to read anything that feels like the actual creator's personality or culture is the visual influence. If I feel like the look is "adopted" whether it's stylized or not, I kind of lose connection with the creation.

[Dialusion]

It's all about catching a reader's eyes. Two stories could have identical plots, characters and story beats. But if one is stylized then it has my attention first. Of course, it's important in creating to balance an eye catching outer shell with a satisfying interior. Great visuals shouldn't be a substitute for great storytelling.

That's something I take personally to heart. I don't want my series that I work tirelessly on to be lost or looked over because "Oh, it all looks the same". I want at least a brief moment of "Oh? That's different" cause with so many creators and so much art, that split second pause could be the win.

[Kaydreamer]

My favourite styles to watch and read are the sort of western-anime ones, such as Avatar, The Dragon Prince, the She-ra reboot, and so-on. They're stylised, and some characters can have exaggerated proportions, but they tend toward fairly conventional anatomy. I create in that style, and I gravitate toward comics which are similar.

That said, so long as the art is still solid, the style is rarely a dealbreaker for me. My favourite webcomic artist has a more traditional comic style. Come to think of it, many of my favourite webcomics are slightly more realistic in their art styles as compared to mine. Punderworld, The Dark Orient, Winds of Spring... I have other favourites which are more toony, but those are the ones where I look at the art and go "Woah..."

[Kuma]

It depends on the story you want to tell and the feel you're going for. Art Style and Story should synergize with each other.