# "CalArts style" Western cartoons



## CeeDee (May 23, 2018)

So a new Thundercats reboot, _Thundercats Roar!_, was announced recently, and a lot of complaints about a "CalArts style" have arisen lately.
Stuff like this:





Where the faces look similar, circly, simple, flat, with simple shaped bodies.
I'm personally okay with the style myself, but I do wanna see this forum's opinions on it.

Do you guys think it's cliche crap? What would you guys like to see out of modern cartoons? Are y'all just too much of weebs to think _any _western cartoons are good?


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## FAST6191 (May 23, 2018)

The style itself I don't have a problem with, however most cartoons I have seen use it would also be described as simple and flat and to that end it has become something of a visual shorthand.


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## Veho (May 23, 2018)

CeeDee, your image isn't loading because it's from a private conversation on Slack and only those logged into the particular channel can see it. 



Spoiler











I suggest you rehost it somewhere more public. But the most commonly reposted image related to "CalArts style" is this one: 







Art styles in cartoons and comics go in cycles and the vogue shifts with each decade. I don't think the style warrants as much hate as it's getting, especially since half the criticism can be applied to half the art styles from the history of animation, and the other half is forced nitpicking. People complain about similar heads as if the sameface bobblehead extravaganza has never happened before. Noodly appendages pop up every now and then as well. Elements of what's currently called "CalArts" style have been present in cartoon designs before and will be again. 

I find Genndy Tartakovsky's art style and similar styles popular two decades ago (has it really been that long? [/old fogey]) far worse and more annoying than the so-called CalArts designs; ironically, Genndy Tartakovsky is a  California Institute of the Arts alumnus and his designs are "CalArts style" by definition, but are for some reason praised. It just goes to show "CalArts" is a dismissive term that has become a blanket insult for "anything I don't like". 

It's just people overreacting to things they want to hate.


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## CeeDee (May 23, 2018)

Yeah, that's the one. Sorry about the link thing, I thought I had rehosted it here, amd I saw it fine because I was logged in there, yeah it's that same image.

Anyhow! Yes, definitely agree. More detailed and realistic cartoons were pretty popular a while back, I believe. This is different, but I don't think it's shit.
"CalArts" is less about the place and more the style, apparently. Still, yeah, mostly just complaining.


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## VinsCool (May 24, 2018)

The reason why they happen IMO is because trashy artwork requires less time/work to animate, so they can produce shows en masse.
The scenario is usually what matters the most anyway.


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## Veho (May 24, 2018)

VinsCool said:


> The reason why they happen IMO is because trashy artwork requires less time/work to animate, so they can produce shows en masse.


Hey now, cheating and simplifying is a time-honored tradition in animation. If it weren't for corner-cutting to save on production costs and time, we wouldn't have modern anime, for one   
(No, seriously. The number of anime tropes that came about solely as cost-saving methods is _huge_. "Fights too fast for the eye to see?" Cost cutting. And so on.)


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## LittleFlame (May 24, 2018)

VinsCool said:


> The reason why they happen IMO is because trashy artwork requires less time/work to animate, so they can produce shows en masse.
> The scenario is usually what matters the most anyway.


Ah yes but nobody knows how to produce cheap cartoons a the Canadians do (no offense brother)


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