annathecrow: The OP who the original of

annathecrow submitted:

The OP who submitted the original of this asked for a redline, and while I think this isn’t what they meant, it’s IMO even more useful. It’s something that is absolutely ubiquitous in the art that appears on Eschergirls: tangents.

The term appeared here before, so just briefly: A tangent, in illustration, is when two (or more) unrelated lines intersect, usually two objects overlapping due to perspective. This creates confusion and makes the image much harder to read, because our brain relies on the lines to tell the objects apart and place them in 3D space.

We could argue forever about art styles and acceptable levels of sexy posing in art… but tangents are objectively bad craft in art meant to depict a scene (e.g. 99% of comic artwork)*

And, well, this cover is a tranwreck, tangent-wise. My count is 15 (!) tangents, and I am fairly sure I could find others. My “favorite” is the gun sticking out of the blonde’s gum bubble. Also, notice the way the brunette’s hair merges with the blonde’s crotch, because the gun smoke tints it blue.

*I am not saying that tangents are some terrible mistake and no good image can have tangents in it. Tangents happen. Especially in a composition like this, with so much foreshortening. What I’m really asking is, why is there so many artists who can perfectly render an erect nipple, but not make their art  do what it’s supposed to do?

Very nice breakdown.  As I’ve said before, the issue isn’t sexiness in comics, but when the prioritization of sexualization detracts from other aspects of design and construction.