- Aug 8, 2017
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Again, I've been there. I've done that. I know. I literally have the model sheets for the original Invader Zim.Animation is a huge industry in which the vast majority of artists will be doing storyboards or cels and very few will ever get to be in charge of their own show, so the job heavily revolves around being able to replicate the style of the showrunner or whoever did the character designs.
All this all well and good. And maybe it's true because with a quantifier like "most" it's hard to tell without getting actual data on most artist's professional works and personal works. If you want to assume it's true. That's on you. My literal experience with actual artists, a good amount of which have done comics, says differently. Assume all you want. I've literally seen differently.In comics, on the other hand, personal change and growth as an artist is entirely based on self-motivation. There's very little outside influence to draw in a dictated style, people often choose to follow the leader in the sense that they may go "Well that guy's book is a best seller right now, if my work looked more like his, I'd sell more copies, get more job offers, make more money" which is what happened when guys like Marc Silvestri, Fabian Nicieza, and Adam Kubert all started drawing like him. Not to mention the infamous Rob Liefeld's style is basically trying to copy Lee's angularity and heavy use of hatching, the reason he stands out as unique is just because he's so bad at anatomy it results in its own thing. But Jim himself never had to copy anyone else, he was the leader being followed. So he's never attempted any other style. The Jim Lee style seen on mid-90's X-Men when he created the famous suits you see in the Fox cartoon is the exact same Jim Lee seen on Batman: Hush a decade later, is the same Jim Lee who designed every character for the Nu52 reboot and the game DCU Online, is the same Jim Lee who drew costume designs for Mortal Kombat's Scorpion and Sub-Zero as guest characters in the Injustice games.
Most western artists who don't work in an industry where they're expected to be chameleons who can copy anyone's work such as in animation or graphic design, are downright encouraged by our "everyone is a unique and beautiful snowflake and you should emphasize what makes you an individual in order to stand out from the crowd and prove your worth" culture to hone in on having a style of their own and defend it from detractors even when the criticisms are valid (again I point at Liefeld who still can't fuckin' draw feet).
But none of that answers the question:
Is Jim Lee unable to do another style?
Not most comic artists or all artists.
Is Jim Lee unable to do another style than his own style?