>>100633115You're not wrong. I've made a few CalArts style joke redraws, but I also enjoy several shows that fall under that umbrella. For exmple, despite its no-frills, minimum-effort character designs, I still think Gravity Falls is one of the best cartoons of this decade. But had it been drawn in a style that stood out from the pack, it could have been an all-time classic.
The frustrating thing about the trend is how self-evidently practical it is to economize with geometric shapes for good-looking animation. There's nothing wrong with that idea itself, especially for action-oriented shows. You can see its benefits best in OKKO, which often has surprisingly nice action and motion shots. I just hate how that comes at the expense of distinctive and appealing character designs. What good is the most gorgeous, fluidly animated show if all you're drawing are colourful, heavily symbolized, interchangeable blobs?
Amateur animators already took this line of thought to its logical conclusion back when Flash animation first took off. Everyone and his dog was drawing stick figures to achieve action sequences with maximum complexity through minimum effort. Some of it looked fucking fantastic (well, relatively speaking, considering the low level of skill involved). Guess how many memorable, interesting characters came out of that trend, though? Zero.
So I guess that's my gripe with beanmouth noodlekin. They sacrifice personality and charm, and sometimes they're misused for shows that should have prioritized those over fluid animation.
