Firstly, full disclosure: Scott Kurtz and I had a bit of a falling out last year. Despite this I remain a huge fan of his work, and once my finances are more balanced I intend to pick up the books I haven’t bought yet (namely, all of the post-Awesomeology ones). PvP is consistently one of the most entertaining webcomics out there, and it’s one of the comics I look forward to each day.
Despite this, it’s hard to ignore that Scott’s art has been a little… well, difficult to look at lately.
I’m no artist, but take a look at the latest PvP. Compare Jade (black top) with her sister, Miranda (the “hot librarian”). Compare the physique of the two – Jade is well-proportioned and distinctly cartoony, while Miranda appears to have a cartoon head affixed to a body with reasonably human-ish proportions. The two styles don’t mesh. It hasn’t worked, and it pulls me out of the comic. That’s not even touching upon Miranda’s hair, which is apparently a character all of its own with its own feelings and motivations.
This bizarre juxtaposition of the real and the cartoon also occurred in the previous strip, where Miranda is a little less cartoony than in today’s strip, and yet is still human enough to clash with the distinctly cartoon appearances of Jade and Brent. The proportions of her head are even worse in this strip. If Miranda had always appeared in the comic in this form (and she hasn’t) I’d wonder if she and Jade were actually biological siblings. Perhaps Miranda was adopted. Perhaps she was found amidst the wreckage of a small, slightly too-real space vessel, the last survivor of a planet on the edge of the PvP reality and a bordering “trace-comic” universe that was destroyed by, I don’t know, space zombies or something.
And here’s that weird reality-bending look again, this time with Jade appearing to be the quasi-real person instead of Miranda.
Looking through some of Scott’s other recent strips, it becomes rather apparent that his weakness appears to be the female form. All of the male characters – Cole, Brent, Francis, Robbie, as well as Skull the Troll (gender variable) – are distinctly cartoony, and drawing those male characters seems to come incredibly easily to Scott. I mean, look at this strip. The character designs, the shapes… they’re brilliant. Yet Jade and Miranda aren’t coming as easily as they used to back in the old “head and shoulders” days. Drawing a cartoon-friendly version of the female form isn’t something Scott’s quite got a handle on yet.
It’s likely because he’s trying to push himself by drawing his characters in more dynamic poses other than the more static look of earlier strips – something I definitely approve of – but you can see it’s still a learning process. He’s not quite there yet. He’ll get there, provided he can push beyond the “trace stuff from the real world” phase he’s been in for the last couple of years and start using reference photos as, well, reference photos.
For now, though, he’s stuck in this weird webcomic Uncanny Valley. It’s a tricky spot to be in, and it’s far too easy to get comfortable in that space and not want to leave it, but hopefully Scott can push forward. In fact I’m all but certain he can – it’s been a joy to see his art grow from strength to strength these last few years, and I look forward to seeing that stuff because once Scott has it all figured out his art is going to shine brighter than ever.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to tell Jamie Oliver how to be a chef despite my having virtually no experience in the kitchen other than operating a microwave.