Artist's Enthusiasm

[Rob Klein]

I agree one hundred percent with Daniel.  After an artist draws (and writes) 
for the same character after several years, the spontaneity, freshness, variety 
of their work may suffer to some extent.  I've seen evidence of this in the 
work of most artists (including myself). And, that includes musicians, all 
other forms of art and just about any endevour in life. That does NOT mean the 
artist has less enthusiasm for the work, (although that can sometimes be a 
contributor). It surely occurs, at least in part, because the artist has 
developed a regular "system" of working, or style which slips into "automatic 
pilot". He can work more efficiantly, often on a more-demanding work schedule 
than he had when he was new to the field (trying to break into the business). 
He is often less willing, at this later point in his career, to spend "extra" 
time, making sure EVERYTHING in the story is "PERFECT". There is often less 
experimentation.  The artist may not even be conscious of this change in work 
methods. There is an "instinct" developed, for what works best in each 
situation, which is then used subconsciously. This tends, over time, to result 
in less "analysis" for each decision, and thus, leads to less variety. The 
great artists often make up for this normal spontaneity loss, by the increase 
in some of their craft's skills which have been honed by the practise of their 
work, and increase in knowledge, gained through experience. This is paralleled 
by the aging hockey player, who has more and more aches and pains to play each 
game, and cannot skate nearly as fast as when he was young, but is yet a very 
effective player because he knows better the tendencies of opponents, and where 
to position himself.

To my taste, both Barks' and Gottfredson's works lost freshness and spontaneity 
in their later years, but still remained at an acceptable level (if not as well-
loved as their earleir and classic period works) because of experience.  In 
addition, after several years, the artist/writer has less "new stories to tell" 
(even an artist who only draws other people's stories, has less new "visual 
stories" to tell). Barks was scraping the bottom of the barrel, to come up with 
new story ideas. he had lost some enthusiasm for telling his stories.  I 
believe the same was true for Gottfredson, as he recycled similar themes 
several times.  

I agree that Freddy Milton's work is not as fresh as it was when he and Daan 
Jippes were spending inordinate amounts of time to make the "perfect" Donald 
Duck stories.  Neither of them can afford (careerwise) to spend such time on 
stories now. After emulating Barks'style when starting out, Freddy eventually 
slid into his own style (which I believe, personally, was greatfully influenced 
by the many hours he spent drawing Woody Woodpecker for SEMIC). Naturally, he 
developed regular ways of drawing similar actions and scenes.  This results in 
an unconscious and undesired loss of variety and freshness.  I can think of 
VERY FEW artists who worked on one character or "universe" for over 10 years, 
who didn't suffer such an effect on his/her work (e.g. a "fresh" beginning 
period; soon after, a classical period; and late in career, a declining period 
(at least, in terms of freshness and spontaneity)).

Rob
Klein

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