CUTE:
Big eyes and big pupils is a quick formula for appeal.
A little round tummy for a cute drunkard.Cute is hard to define, but you can see the contrast between Tytla's drawings and the animator who did the next scene in the same cartoon.
NOT CUTE:
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BONUS RETARDED INBETWEEN:
WHAT IS CUTE?How do you define cute and appealing in the first place? It's especially hard to now, because the whole concept has fallen out of style. Most artistic efforts are purposely unpleasant now, whether visual or audio.
BABY PROPORTIONS:
The most general and obvious traits that make us think "cute" are big heads and big eyes.
Babies, kids, kittens, puppies are all cute to us because we are wired to want to protect the helpless.
These babies are generic cute. They say only the obvious.
This Chuck Jones kitten has the obvious traits too, but also is a very specific design which makes it even more cute because it appears more real.Bugs Bunny can be bland, cute, funny or ugly, or some combination of everything, depending on who is drawing him and when he drew him.
Friz tends to draw him non-descript.
Jones draws him many ways. Here he is not exactly cute, but handsome. Taller proportions, but well designed shapes and good balance.
He's a bit cuter and more stylish here.
McKimson is not known for cute. He has a tendency to draw his characters with tiny craniums and big jowls.
His cartoons are hilarious, but I think he sometimes gets a bad rep for drawing the characters too "adult".
McKimson drew Porky with a huge head here, but still it doesn't add up to cute. See how hard it is to define what actually makes something appealing?
This is REALLY supposed to be cute. I love McKimson even though he has a tough time with cuteness. He is the Man's cartoonist.
This McKimson title card is more appealing than many of his drawings. I think it's a Scribner pose and Scribner has a natural appeal and cuteness in all his drawings-even when he tries to draw ugly.
Jones has an appeal in his characters when he doesn't get too cutesy.
This character is supposed to be ugly but is drawn with much appeal.Cute and Weird is good too
FUNNY WEIRD AND CUTE
Clampett strikes an amazing balance of all at the same time.
Big pupils adds to the big eye effect. Clampett drew the biggest eyes of any animator in the 40s.
McKimson drew a lot cuter when he drew for Clampett.
Scribner too. The combination of him and Clampett makes for the ultimate cute weirdness.
Some pure cuteness is too much for me (like Disney babies), but when you add in other spices, like weirdness and twists it makes for a cute but sick combination and that's what I like best.
Rex Hackelberg is a perfect combination of cute, weird and great imagination.
Rex is one of the last few men who still have an eye for visual appeal. The last efforts to keep cute alive seem to be coming mostly from a handful of girls. You know who they are.
Young guys love ugly today-in all things, cartoons, music, pants, unshaven faces, you name it. They think it's not "cool" to have taste and pleasure. Thank God that girls have more sensitivity to pleasure and the finer things in life. Maybe they can save us from ugly coolness.
CUTE/UGLY
You can even draw ugly with cuteness and appeal, as Basil Wolverton proved.
Appeal and cuteness comes partly from the baby traits, but there's more to it. A real designer has a way with shapes and balance and those attributes are much harder to explain. I'll work on it.
It's especially hard to explain today, since the last 40 years have largely abandoned the concept of visual appeal so no one even knows what it is. I wonder when ugly girls will come into style?
Will CG animation EVER achieve appeal?
I'm curious, which of these do you think of as cute or appealing?
