Keskustelujen arkisto

Quote from user: BarkoHere´s a bit from a Rosa interview. It´s from a recent Norwegian newspaper. Seems like new stories could be a problem although he does´nt say so per se:

But I actually don't enjoy any part of drawing. It does not come easily to me... I think any trained professional artist can look at my work and see that it's far too stiff and awkward to be considered "good". For me it's physical labor, but it's part of the job of telling the story. I know real cartoonists who just LOVE to draw and will scribble on tableclothes at restaurants. But I never draw anything for fun. I only draw to entertain a comics fan (or hopefully so).
This isn't something new. Don Rosa have said this in interwievs since Son of the Sun.

As Don Rosa himself, I have never considered Don Rosa amongst the best "artists". Even though he is evolving and getting better at the art, he is a bit stiff and awkward in his drawing. But I have always ranked him among the best writers. Art and story together really makes him one of the greatest, but not his art alone.

I think Rosa has drawing ability aplenty. He more than makes up for his "stiff" figures with his sense of scale and proportion, light and shadow and the beautiful way he delineates and contrasts this, his incredible sense of eye-catching-and-holding detail, his ability to convey character expressions like no one else (with the possible exception of early Scarpa) and his uncanny design sense in which his work appears cinematic almost in the way it flows from scene to scene with his exciting layouts. His artwork is largely underestimated and unappreciated in this forum from what I have gathered, with most individuals repeatedly honing in on the "stiffness" thing and hardly ever noting his many other noteworthy drawing merits.

In my humble opinion, and even Don's own opinion I think, Don Rosa is a not very good technically (regarding perspective, expressions etc.). But then art is not only a question of technical skills.

Quote from user: MorequackI think Rosa has drawing ability aplenty. He more than makes up for his "stiff" figures with his sense of scale and proportion,
I seem to remember stories where the heads of the ducks were drawn too big to fit their bodies. Aside from that, I agree with most of your post...

Hmmm, can you offer some specific examples? I was just looking at the "Son of the Sun." I don't really see the heads as too big for their bodies:

http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Rosa/sonofthesun/Thumbnails.html
http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Rosa/sonofthesun/26.html

Granted, the style sure has changed over the years...

I just found an old article about the 19 years old Don Rosa (including a photo of the young Don!) here: www.comicpedigrees.com/don_rosa_article.htm
Another curiosity: did you know that Don loves the works of Hayao Miyazaki? He said the following in an interview: "My absolute favorites are the works of the Japanese animation producer/director/designer Hayao Miyazaki. I think the best animated feature ever made is his "LAPUTA" - the animation is limited, but the design and the plot and the style is, to my way of thinking, far superior to anything Disney ever did." www.pizarro.net/didier/_private/interviu/rosaang.html This information was a big suprise for me. I love Miyazaki's movies!

I agree Don Rosa does have good taste in animation. Too Bad the article is so small that you can barely read it.