The fingerprints we leave behind.

I could start this post off in so many ways, But I think I'll be blatant and say, Its seven thirty in the morning and I have yet so sleep. So if this is a rant of a crazy girl severely lacking the right chemicals- Well I guess I just can't control that.

Artists, We leave fingerprints.

Now, If you asked my mother she'd concur and spew a list of all the strange places I've left fingerprints in my life time. A short example would be the time we went to Virginia beach for a Street Art Contest most belovedly known as "Chalk the Walk" and I had created a lovely portrait of Frankenstien in Black and White. Which meant I was quite literally head to toe covered in Charcoal and chalk.

I raced in shorts and a bikini top (Shoeless) to my hotel and into my hotel room to use the restroom. I swear up and down that I don't remember leaving any charcoal stains/Finger prints/ Or marks of any sort.

Apparently the room was covered in black smudges and Kellie Shaped finger prints.

Right after the cleaning lady had come.

So artists are messy, Or maybe its just me- But those aren't the type of finger prints I want to dwell on. I wanna talk about the signature a person leaves on their own masterpiece. Not the one written down as their name or initials. I mean their style of choosing- Or the tilt in the way their piece is centered that they just cant control.

I'm left handed, And although I apparently do most things with my right hand- I spend all of my artistic time using my left. In school I dealt with the pain of being left handed, Because no matter what you do; Leaning over a binder or a spiral notebook was a pain in the behind- It resulted in a slanted font in my hand writing- And a quite similar effect when I start to draw.

At one point, When I had started learning how to write; I had such a problem with the notebooks/ Binders that my sentences would fall off the lines! I couldn't keep it there because I couldn't reach, And its not like I could write upside down.

In the throws of self induced mania, For personal reasons that I don't need to state; I drew several, And I mean SEVERAL emotional portraits of scooby doo and company. I want to say I just noticed this, But I'd be lying considering how observant I am to things I care about- And just things in general.

Every artist has a fingerprint- I'm focusing on Scooby Doo and Hannah Barbara because its something I'm undoubtedly familiar with. To name something I just moments ago described to my mom, I'll call it the "One fell Swoop" that Hanna Barbera perfected.

Not many people will notice, Not many people will care- But if you look closely at the H.B. cartoons from the 70's you'll see that most of their characters are created by starting one line and not stopping till the specific feature you are drawing is done. Such as Scooby doo's legs.

When you look, You'll see a long line, Sometimes curved and then jagged- A turn and the knobs for his toes. All usually in one fell swoop of a sketched line. Rarely the drawing instrument leaving the paper. The only time they don't use the technique is for when the specific part of the character is moving or in a moving position.

You can tell easily its done all at once, No matter how good of an artist you are- You cant cover up drawing over a line to connect it. Thats just impossible.

-So after drawing scooby doo and all his emotions/Reactions quite a billion times, I noticed I've picked up the one fell swoop technique. When you watch the later installments of the scooby doo franchise, You'll notice once H.B. fully partnered with Warner Bros, The latter ended up adding some of their own artists and the drawing process changes.

Shaggy Roger's face is more oblong- Velma, Daphne, And Fred's eyes are different- So are the clothes and the body shapes for most part. The way sharp edges had been drawn were now smoothed out.

Although I love most of the later installments of Scooby Doo almost as much as I love the originals, I can say we could all live without Be cool scooby doo- Where the artistry was try hard trash, And we could have all lived without digital animation being dragged into the franchise I love so much.

My purpose for ranting on the Hanna Barbera technique, Is that every artist leaves something with them in their work- Their signature or "Finger Print". Van Gogh preferred staccato Strokes in his oil paintings, Monet preferred to work in dabs or blots- His paintings meant to be admired from afar and not up close, Because you'd never be able to see the full picture that way.

When you look at Digital Animation, Such as Frozen, The new Scooby Doo movie, Or really just any digitally animated film or movie- You should be able to notice that something is missing.

If you're like me and still weren't sure what? I'll tell you.

Digital Animation is missing the Humanity.

Artists put themselves into their works- Even if we don't like what we're making, We try to make it the best we can do. Artists put their blood, sweat, and tears into everything we make.

When you look at a piece and you have a knowledge on the subject- Most of the time you can pinpoint who made it- Because to people invested, Its as blatant as an I.D. card. The only people who can look at a 3.D. animation and tell you who made it are the following;

1. The people who read the credits.

2. Hackers who can break down code.

3. The people who were in the room while it was made.

4. Their very proud (As they should be) parents.

Please dont take this as me saying digital animation isn't a form of art. I'm just saying it doesn't share the blatant intimacy that you get with classic hand drawn animations.

Did you know William Hanna and Joseph Barbera drew all their original characters and made cheat sheets for the animators- That way it wouldn't lose its originality and soul? So the animators had something to work with.

The finger print of the artist is the humanity- Not the pixels of hair strands you can count from Elsa's hair in the first Frozen.

Thanks for reading,

Xoxo, Kellie