After reading Hergé's Tintin series, Siegel and Shuster's Action Comics are like a shock to the eyes. Hergé's ligne claire style allows the reader to easily make out all the details within each panel. However, Siegel and Shuster's drawing style is much more "crude." Their heavy use of hatching and cross-hatching to create shadows give their comics a somewhat messy and unpolished quality. In fact, their drawings look more like colored sketches that were haphazardly put together for print.
The simple, often solitary and unrealistic, colors used for backgrounds allow our eyes to focus on the action and dialogue. But, this lack of creativity just adds to my belief that Siegel and Shuster prioritized quick turnarounds over artistic quality when producing their comics. Using thick blocks of black and single colors are quick solutions to avoid having to add precision and detail in their comics. Still, the simplicity of their drawing style speaks to the stripped down get-to-the-point feeling of each action sequence in this series.
I definitely agree with you Eunice, the overall quality of the drawing are not visually pleasing. The shift in colors from one panel to another also doesn't have a smooth transition. It looks messy and like a quick sketch but it does tell an overall story.
ReplyDelete