Simplistic artstyle or complex artsyle?

[Chronitis]

Just wondering what you prefer to see in a comic. With a complex artsyle it looks cool and detailed, but with a simpler artstyle facial emotion can expressed better.

[Shanny8]

Doesnt matter to me; I just have to like what I'm seeing- whether it's complex or simplistic.

[dawgofdawgness]

I think I need a little bit of both in my life ^_^
Super-simplified art styles are not my favorite.. I prefer when it has a stylistic/cartoony feel but still shows off cool details and textures.
I really like Jillian Tamaki's work, she has a variety of more realistic and cartoony/simplified.

[Shanny8]

Like the tones on that page. I wanna eventually do a comic using solid color & tones like this.

[Hexigate]

I see advantages to both, so i won't worry about the art style all that much.

[Kamikaze]

IDK @Chronitis I'm not sure I agree that simple art styles allow for more expressive emotions in characters. I've seen really complex designs that hit the same notes as well! Uncanny valley aside, character emotion isn't hurt base on a simple or detailed style so much as the artists skill in conveying that emotion in that style.

Personally, I really love both simple and detailed work. It just depends on what kind of story a person is trying to tell. I've seen very few examples of simple styles doing well with darker stories for example. The darker storylines aren't served as well by simple styles because sometimes the...idk goofiness of a simple style doesn't lead to a reader taking them seriously?

Meanwhile really detailed work can hurt a simple comedic style because the art can look too stiff if it's not done right.

Personally I work in a more detailed style on my own comic. Makes things more dramatic, and fits with a scifi/dystopian theme.

That said, because of the nature of our style we have to play it REALLY carefully to get the comedic timing right.

Are you trying to work out what style you want to use for your own project? :3

[storytimebiondi]

This is quite an impressive style! I will have to look up more of this Jillian Tamaki. I also have a tendency to like this style of work as well. With marginal black levels, but very emotive postures and expressions. It's harder to emulate than it looks... Wait... what book is this from?

[DiegoPalacios]

He made the kids cringe so hard they went out to smell air......wow!
The woman's smile makes me think it was on purpose.

[dawgofdawgness]

The book is called This One Summer. One of my favorites ^_^ she also drew for a book called Skim, which I recently read. The art style is much more realistic there, but also kind of creepy. Which matches the mood perfectly!

[Knight_Wolf]

virtue his in the middle I think!

[GalacticPotato]

I think it all depends on the tone of the story. I'd prefer a simple artstyle for a comedy comic and a more complex one for a drama comic. I'm doing sort of like an action-adventure comic and i decided to meke it look sort of like the 90's to 2000's action cartoons and i think it fits nicely.

[punkarsenic]

i think it definite depends

one of my favourite graphic novels is goliath by tom gauld, which is simplistic with a capital S

i cant give examples on the flipside but i like a lot of comics with gorgeous and detailed art.

the way that art can affect storytelling in comics is so interesting to me, so i dont think i can rly prefer one or the other

[AVXP]

I like attention to detail, not really complex or simple- just expressive.
If there's a fire or explosion- throw some reflections around. The detail is expressing the light- doesn't really matter (to me) whether it was depicted perfectly.

Sometimes too complex or super-busy line work make it hard to see the whole composition. Sometimes loose or simple artwork leaves too many points of expression missing and the scene loses weight. I guess art needs to find its balance.

[nixxusnibelheim]

Personally, i'm more drawn toward fully fleshed artstyle where you can see the work behind the composition, lighting etc.
But I do agree that simplier artstyle can be way more relatable because of how expressive it can be.
One of my inspiration is an animated movie called "Tekkon Kinkreet", the style can be defined as "simplistic" but the work puts on ...basically everything make it "complex" in a way, it's gritty while relatable at the same time <3

It's a matter of finding the balance and what suits you the best as an artist.

[Rhombik]

Little bit of both but maybe not at the same time.

[craicin]

i like art styles that look like, individual to their owners. like you can TELL whose it is. regardless of how simple or complex it is. if its got immense thought and process behind it, its very easy to tell when folk haven't thought it all the way through. especially as you grow and look back at your own work like: i dont know this bitch.

and not to throw a spanner in the works. but i kinda dislike hyper realism.
mostly because im really into facially expression, and a lot of the time, hyper realistic style dont tone it down. so when someone shouts the person is like FULL ON OPEN MOUTHED scrunched up eyes, aggressive body language. when in reality thats not how that dialogue would be conveyed. Its always very disconnected. Like they've googled images on Child Crying, and just copied it. And it doesnt really match the scene or sometimes even the characters face.
so i think its important to keep it like 30% cartoony, to allow for all the movement within the boundaries youve set.

often when you've got a hyper realistic style, you're brought onto a projects because you're kinda interchangeable with other artists. your work isnt unique, and although thats a good asset to have, especially in animation, its not good for it to be YOUR only skill. At the end of the day, your styles your product.

[storytimebiondi]

Oh! I have read This One Summer. I thought I recognized it (hence the ask). I really enjoyed that artists style for pages, as well as the single colour tones. It was a great read (if not, too fast).

[teacup_creations]

I think from an artists point of view it would work better to do a simplistic style simply because of the amount of time it takes to draw the pages.

But what I find the most amazing is the styles are are both simplistic yet show so much emotion. You don't really need detail to be a good comic u//u

[fakey]

I would say I lean more towards a simplistic style. It doesn't necessarily have to be "cartoony" though. It goes along with that whole "less is more" idea, I think.

[UrMom]

I'd have to disagree with the lack of expressiveness in realistic art, realism and styles leaning towards it can express emotion just as well. Sure, it's not excessive, mouth flying off the face expressive like simplistic styles can be, but it's there. Humans in themselves can show an array of colorful emotions. Most realism artists are just more focused on trying to get in those details, and portray their work realistically than on putting life into their work. It's not a fault of the style/base, but a fault with the artist when the characters lacks expressive emotion.

Having a more "realistic" style myself, I'd like to think my characters convey emotion with little to no issue.

To answer the question. I'm fine with whatever, but it depends on the story and how well done the style is. Not a big fan of horror stories with cutesy styles though, I never really got why people like it. Seeing some adorable character getting destroyed just isn't something I can take seriously. If you're going to have a deeper, or darker story, more complexity (in the right places) is preferred. Otherwise, I'm chill with mostly anything... As long as it's not like... Hello Kitty.
Although as a creator I like detail, visually fleshing out the world the characters live in, adding subtle things you won't see without paying attention. Yeah, that's my jam.