The First Realistic TV cartoons

It's funny that the very first so-called "realistic" cartoons were drawn better than everything that came after.
I mean, they're still stiff as hell, but at least they had some solidity and a bit of design.

Probably because they used actual comic artists to draw them and didn't try to animate them.



In the production process that came later, they would just design the realistic characters on model sheets, then get artists who couldn't draw well to lay them out. Then animators who couldn't draw in this style either had a hell of a time trying to not only move them, but even pose them naturally. Then assistants would trace the already awkward poses and stiff animation and they'd lose another generation.

I did like Jonny Quest when it came out - for the same reason: Doug Wildey was a realistic comic artist and he did most of the layouts, and they inked them in comic book style. I think they found out that this wasn't a very efficient or cost effective way to make cartoons, so all the HB realistic cartoons that followed weren't even as good as Quest.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/tv-guide-on-clutch-cargo.html

A Change Of Pace

I didn't wanna wear you out with all that crazy cartoony stuff so thought I'd take a left turn and show some killer Alex Toth comic book work.

I'm not that big on "realistic" comics in general but I do admire skill when I see it. This stuff really wows me.

Toth is not as splashy as some of the superhero comic artists and his style is more subtle.
He draws like a sonuvabitch though and I'd love to know where he studied and how he learned to do this.
His human characters are pretty much from his own stock stable, but he is able to draw them from any angle.
These dinosaurs are something else though. It's not like he could actually copy them from life, but he is staging them in poses and from angles that are really challenging. That open mouth above is pretty convincing.
I like these teeth and assume he just made them up.
His compositions are spare and yet really well balanced.
I like the way he drapes the wrinkles around the forms of the dinosaurs. They really feel like reptile flesh.
I've never been able to draw a hand holding a gun. It baffles me.
I'm also impressed by artists who do just intricate hair.
I wonder how he achieved the texture on the icebergs below. Maybe he painted a black foundation and then created the texture by painting white strokes over the black. Pretty clever.
He has a knack for drawing buttocks wrapped in khaki.
His wrinkles help describe not only the forms of the fleshy globes underneath but also the tactile feel of the fabric pulled around them.

They knew what kind of subject matter kids liked: huge primeval monsters, sexy women wrapped in hideous slimy tentacles...

SEE THE WHOLE AMAZING COMIC HERE!

NORDIC HANNA BARBERA TALES