Intini & Straying Off Model

[Rob Klein]

Thanks Kriton for the scan of Intini's artwork.  I must say it is
expressive. But I agree with you and Olivier, that it is much too drastic
over several panels on the same page (not to mention all panels in all
stories - if that is what he does).  This type of overuse of drastic poses
made many stories by Daniel Branca much less enjoyable for me.  His
acceleration of the percentage of drastic poses in his stories in the early
to mid 1990s dissappointed me, as he is one of my favourite artists.

The many varying styles of the Ducks drawn for Western Publishing (K.K. &
Whitman) show that much self expression and a reasonable degree of
variation from the character models was tolerated; as noted by the
difference in style from Barks to Hubbard to Murray to Lockman to McSavage
to Strobl to Moores to Buettner, etc.  And, Taliaferro's style being
different from most of them brought even more variation.

The same was shown in the variation for Oberon in the 1970s - 80s from
Jippes (2 main styles), to Gulbransson to DeJonge to Verhagen to Reiche to
Heymans (early work) to Coenen to Milton to Nadorp,etc.

There is even some variation in the styles of the Egmont artists (not only
among Van Horn, Rosa and Rota - but also to a lesser degree, among the
others).

I believe that the Italians, as a group (on average), have strayed most
from the Disney Studios model.  This is not to say that I believe they have
all gone too far for my taste.   But, certainly Intini has (if the scanned
page is truly representative of his general current style).   Even if I
would otherwise enjoy the story, it would be ruined for me because I could
not "get lost" or "live in" the story.  That is what Barks' stories allow
me to do (as do well-made films and good books).  As drastic poses ALL THE
TIME form an unnatural state, they then make it impossible for me to get
lost in the story.  I focus on the artwork, instead of the blend of visual
and print storytelling.

My comment regarding "no one being forced to work for Disney" refers to an
implicit agreement made between the artist, through his contract studio or
independently, and the Disney Publications Office or franchisee.  This
agreement, sometimes in writing, often vocal and de facto, states that the
artist must make his characters close enough to the studio's or
Franchisee's model sheets, or they will be rejected and done over until
acceptable.  I don't know what model sheets the Italian's use.  They have
developed their own style over the years which varies much from the
original US Studio models.  Perhaps they now use an Italian model sheet
based on their first degree of variation.  Given that all studios allow
some variation for artistic expression, inspiration and creativity, current
artists are allowed to vary a reasonable amount from their Italian model
(which already probably varies more from the other studios - or at least
the Old US version).  This situation would result in a second degree of
variation; while their may be only one degree of variation in many of the
other franchisees.  This is a theory based on no knowledge.  Therefore, I
ask any of our Italian members who are knowledgeable on the subject of the
Disney Italia character models or related policies, to comment.

Rob Klein