|
Here's an objective and technical reply from me as an animator.
Animators outside Japan are not encouraged to draw in anime style, basically because it is a style that has developed over many years of pigeon holing. It is a style designed to target a niche audience, people who like big eyes and sharp chins, thin figures and colourful hair, people who only like to see things 'pretty'.
The average anime or manga style art prefers form over function, for example physically strong characters don't have to look strong, but they have to look pretty or cool, resulting in stick thin figures with super human strength. Manga and anime popularity depends on its style alot, artists work on their 'unique' style so much that they often are stuck with a very narrow range of design ability. This creates characters that all look alike, combined with the already pigeonholed design preferred by average anime and manga fans, it makes anime and manga designs technically inferior compared to the west, which prefers form over function.
Speaking purely in artistic context, western animation and comic designs are far superior technically and have extremely broad range of designs. Western characters are designed to reflect completely their personality and appeal. If a character is to be hated, he will look evil and downright ugly. If a character is lazy and gluttonous, he will be drawn fat. No evil bishies and gluttons who are skinny, function of characters determine their appearance.
Also anime suffers from low budget and man power, limiting the quality of design and animations. Anime character design cannot be too tedious to draw, the same can be said for manga, characters must be kept within manageable line mileage to keep up with deadlines.
As for whether I prefer 80's or current character designs, I'd say 80's, they have more soul. Character designs now are too manufactured and made to look too pretty over their function.
|