ART – When is the Standard too Standard?

The Simpsons Quotes:

Bart: What a perfect plan. Now, Roger Myers will tell as just…
Myers: [announcing the studio’s re-opening]
And so when no one could think of a plan to resurect Itchy &
Scratchy, a young boy, a wonderful irrepressible young boy,
took it on his own to solve the problem. He discovered that the
postal service’s Mr. Zip. was just a rip-off of my father’s
stick figure character Manic Mailman.
[crowd murmors]
So the government gave me a _huge_ cash settlement, and Itchy &
Scratchy Studios is back in business.
[engines start up again]
Thanks to you, Lester.
[a Tracey-Ullman-era Bart comes on stage]
Bart: What the hell is going on?
Lisa: I don’t know, but it looks like you might have a little
competition all of a sudden.
Lester: Thanks everybody, but I couldn’t have done all this without the
help of my brainy sister Eliza.
[a Tracey-Ullman-era Lisa joins him]
Lisa: [gasps]

This question was asked to a Facebook group that I’m a part of. It was specifically about two things: Superheroes and Manga:

When is fitting the standard too… standard?

I’ve been looking at some kids’ writings and comics and have thought about familiarity between readers and the border of having something too generic and having something familiar that a reader can be comfortable with.

What comes to mind is when people draw things for Mangas and Comics. In comics, we all love superheroes in outfits, but how long until everyone looks the same or try-hard? Same goes for anime; how long until they all look like schoolgirls or kids who stumbled into a hot-topic?

There are a lot of memes that come into the expectations of our media, so it’s difficult to be really different, yet remain in the comfort zone long enough as to not scare off any prospective audience.

What are your experiences? Thoughts? Things to add?

I LOVE this question and I’ll do my best to answer it in the video below.  I also wrote out the answer if you’d rather read it. Either way you get the same info.

I didn’t answer the question thinking I have THE answer, I just wanted to try to give one:

The Sea of Sameness

So Manga has a standard and there’s also genres within Manga. So you’ve got the “school girl” genre, right? And you know there’s a market for the school girl kind of stories. If you want to join in, how are you going to stand out in a sea of sameness?

Same problem with Superheroes.  There’s a bunch a guys in tights fighting and they’re all superheroes. How are you going to stand out? Marvel and DC have basically monopolized the market.  How do you stand out in a market like that?

Well, I’m no expert, I don’t think I have THE answer.  If I did, I’d be doing it and I’d be rich, right? But I’m going to throw out my thoughts on the matter.  This is how I would approach the situation.

Okay so here goes:

My Answer

One of the reasons you’re not standing out is because you’re not saying anything new.  You’re not taking that genre and saying something new enough.

I understand that the genre exists because people are looking to get specific things within the genre.  Specific emotions, a specific experience. Every genre has specific experiences that they draw from that people are attracted to.

YOU have to hit all those beats…but different.  It’s like the idea from the book Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder:

“What people want is the same but different.” They want to be surprised. They want to get something they didn’t see coming while experiencing the familiar.

I think, the problem is that you’re trying to say the same thing everyone else is saying. You don’t have a voice, you’re not saying ANYTHING.  YOU are not in the work. I think that’s really the problem.

I think you can make a successful Superhero story or School girl story if you’re actually saying something of VALUE.  That is new, that also fills a NEED.

Search for What you can Uniquely Fill

In order to do that, you have to find out what is MISSING. Then see how YOU can uniquely bring that subject to the table in a way that has not been done or said.

So it the end, it’s not really the genre. It’s about what is missing that you can fill, that you can uniquely say, within the confines of the genre.

You can also do this without being within a genre. You can do this by just finding something unique that you’re interested in talking about.  You can start there first and then put the genre on top of it later.

So that’s what I was thinking.  That’s my two cents.

What’s YOUR Answer?

What do you think? Am I wrong am I right, am I missing something? Let me know. Seriously, I don’t have THE answer here. I have a possible answer, I have a possible solution.

If you think it’s a good solution, let me know, if you think it’s not, let me know.

It’s a good topic for conversation.

I hope this was something worth thinking about.

Pulp Simpsons

If your still interested in seeing the Pulp Simpsons drawings, I’m sending out five more drawing to my email list this week.  Join up and see what you’re missing.

CATHOLICISM – Pope Francis

Viva il Papa!

Hurray! We got a new Pope and I think he rocks!

I’ve been following all the new about him pretty obsessively.

I also like his face. So much so that I got an overwhelming urge to draw him.  So here’s my drawing of Pope Francis.

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.