John K has become Darth Vader
Okay since when are there rules to cartoons? Isn't that what makes cartoons awesome and wonderful? They have no rules, no boundaries, and therefore they can be anything. I couldn't get over John K's post about what a cartoon is http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/
Why do cartoons need to be catagorized, labeled, filed away, and given boundaries? I love how he states that
"I figure it's my duty to remind everyone of what cartoons are and to come up with some defining characteristics"
Wow thank god John K has been sent from the heavens to save us from non cartooniness. I keep going to read his posts, and all I get from them is
1) He's John K
2) He made Ren and Stimpy
3) You better make cartoons to his standards or you suck.
This line I feel says it best.
" All real cartoonists think the butt is the funniest part of the anatomy and tend to do an inordinate amount of butt poking and crack exposure in their cartoons. If you are ashamed of buttcracks, you are probably ashamed to be drawing cartoons and shame on you for doing it."
So if I want to be a real Cartoonist I need to make sure I have tons of butt drawings in my sketchbook. You are not a cartoonist unless you draw butts. Plain and simple.
So why has John K become Darth Vader? He's become everything he hates. John K isn't a good artist because he followed rules, he's a good artist because he did things his way, he took a style of art and made it his own, and he didn't let anyone say anything to him about nothing. He shoved his passion for rear ends, and hillarious cartoons into the faces of exces and got away with it. So why now is he shoving his "rules" of being a cartoonist down the throats of everyone else? Why must he attack everyone elses attempts at funny cartoons? Why has he dubed himself the high know all of know all about cartoons?
John K has become Darth Vader, because he forgot how he got to where he is. Which is sad, because he's a really good artist, and I like a lot of his stuff. But I think the sadder part of all this is that there are artists out there that idolize him so much and he's pushing his rules on them with out telling them to just think for themselves. Funny cartoons come from having fun while you draw. It really makes a difference when you pick up that pen and just draw freely and let the ideas come out. But when you feel confined by rules you no longer have fun drawing.
And I'll probably receive tons of Hate mail for disagreeing with John K.
Oh well.
posted by Bill Drastal Blog Mode!! at 10:34 AM
7 Comments:
Hey that's an awesome post man! I totally agree with you by the way, it is a shame...but I think it's called getting old. I think the use of butts can be funny, but not nearly as funny as John K clearly does, and there's nothing wrong with that. Some guys are butt men, some guys like brea...ok this may be getting weird. lol The point is John K tends to look at his options as facts and as you pointed out the whole setting rules for cartoons thing is getting a little out of hand. But Hey, real funny drawing! Keep up the good work man!
Oh thanks god someone agrees!!! I thought I might have been insane, but someone agrees!!! Hey man thanks for the comment!!
BTW I meant to write "opinions" not "options". Sometimes my spelling is so bad even spellchecker gets confused. :p
Great post, Bill. I just have to apply those unrules myself in my own work. I go around and ask everybody, "how'd you do it?", trying to learn their rules when I can just wing the bitch and come up with something new. preach on.
Thanks for the reply man. I was expecting to get reamed up the ass for saying this, but its nice to hear some people agreeing.
Hi, I hang out with a couple of John K. yokels myself, which seem to idolize him for far more than he's worth at the moment. I totally dig his art, but talk to every seasoned artist out there and they'll tell you imagination's the only limit to creativity. No rules about it. Methinks Mr. Kricfalusi is indeed steering towards the darker side, imposing what-do's and what-nots on his loyal followers, like you said. What really gets my goat more is his so-called 'animation lessons,' which sound to me as if one would like to paint as Dali, but Dali tells you to go copy paintings. . . from Picasso! I'm not saying copying anything is bad. Fine artists do it all the time. But is it worth all the hoot? If you're a serious cartoonist, you don't need anybody - not even John K. - to tell you that you should be practicing from Preston Blair's book. Sounds like a lame attempt at being a guru to me. And laziness on his loyal followers' part. The best thing you can learn from John K. is his overwhelming passion for the animated cartoon, and it shows in his product (back in the Spumco era, which is, sadly, no more). We can safely define John K. in either the Pre-Spumco / Post-Spumco age. I enjoy the former a lot better. Sorry I wrote a novel, but your article came thru quite well and deep. Lesse if I can yap less in other comments...
Btw, your art's groovy, from what little I saw so far. Eye-catchy. No ass-reaming tonight! :p
-LDL
wow thanks for the comment, and I completely agree, Pre-spumco John K was probably his peak. Well said though about learning from John K's passion, but I think we can also learn from John K where too much passion can take you. Thanks again for the comment, it awesome to see that people are reading this post.
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