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BIG_HEAD

                                             August 4, 2010

  A piece of jargon I picked
  up from interviews with
  artists in the comics/
  cartooning business:
                                       There's an old joke about
    "big head" vs. "little head"       how "the little head isn't
                                       as smart as the big head".
  This refers to two different
  styles of graphic art.  The             In the comic art
  "big head" style is a broad,            world, it's the     Except that
  comedic form: short, puffy              other way around.   getting buffoonery
  bodies, over-whelmed by giant                               right is no joke.
  tottering heads.
                                    As someone -- I forget who --
  The "little head" style is        observed some time back,
  intended to be more realistic,    this "big head" style apparently
  more naturalistic, an attempt     registers as "cute" because
  at rendering human beings in      it's close to the appearence
  something like their normal       of human babies.
  proportions.
                                       There was a careful study
    So, big head and                   done of Disney art,
    little head is one                 demonstrating that Mickey
    axis of variation...               Mouse had gradually moved
    realistic as opposed               from rodent-like to
    to comedic, rather                 baby-like in gradual stages.
    than realistic as
    opposed to romatic.    PLAYING_ANGLES
                                            The people who like
       DRY_FLESH                            this stuff are
                                            also, usually the
         Then there are oddities            people who've
         out their like Will                decided that the
         Eisner's spirit.  His              central purpose of
         human figures used to              life is raising
         seem too much like                 kids, bringing up
         goofy "big-head"                   the next generation.
         cartooning to me, but
         riding the subway                     The "hipsters" who look
         around New York one                   askance at it tend to be
         day, it occured to me                 (but are not limited to)
         that real people look                 people like myself who've
         an awful lot like Will                given child-raising a pass.
         Eisner cartoons.

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