History Main / LazyArtist

It should be noted that, despite the name, these tropes don't necessarily mean that the company/artist using them was just being lazy by doing so. They might [[NoBudget not have had the budget]] to afford artists who could draw a particularly hard or detailed object. They might have been working under time constraints. They might find that they have not yet gained enough skills to draw a particular thing, but they are a ways into the project already. They might have devoted a lot of their time and budget to a particular moment and are now working with what they have, or the trope's use may even be genuinely stylized or artistic.

* SyntheticVoiceActor: Using text to speech or machinery instead of hiring human voice actors, unless it's to voice a clearly mechanical character or AI.

It should be noted that, despite the name, these tropes don't necessarily mean that the company/artist was just being lazy when resorting to them. They might [[NoBudget not have had the budget]] to afford artists who could draw a particularly hard or detailed object. They might have been working under time constraints. They might want find that they have not yet gained enough skills to draw a particular thing, but they are a ways into the project. They might have devoted a lot of their time and budget to a particular moment and are now working with what they have, or the trope's use may even be genuinely stylized or artistic.

* TracedArtwork: Drawings traced from other sources such as photos, stock images and even other artists' drawings.

* MouthFlaps: Characters speaking is animated with fewer frames than is accurate for the words they're saying.

* ActingForTwo: One voice actor for multiple characters. Becomes lazier the more characters are given to the voice actor, and more so the more similarly they sound.

Replace "lazy" with "low-budget," "time-limited," "unskilled," "prioritizing other things", and/or "working smarter, not harder" as appropriate.

* FourFingeredHands: They take less time to draw than five-fingered hands.

* NoBackground: Backgrounds that are nothing but a blank white space.

* TalkingToHimself: One voice actor for multiple characters. Becomes lazier the more characters are given to the voice actor, and more so the more similarly they sound.

* SyntheticVoiceActor: Voice acting generated by a computer.

[[quoteright:210:[[Webcomic/TheSystem https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lazy_artists_copypaste.png]]]]

* FurriesAreEasierToDraw: It's easier to avoid the UncannyValley with a FunnyAnimal than with a human.

* BigBallOfViolence - A fight scene is obscured by a large cloud of dust or smoke with the occasional fist or leg sticking out.
* BattleOfTheStillFrames - Fight scenes are represented by freeze-frames instead of actual animation.
* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes - Characters in dark areas are drawn as a disembodied pair of eyeballs.
* CartoonJuggling - The act of juggling is drawn or animated in a way that is not accurate to real-life juggling, depicted in a much more crude and simpler fashion.
* CheatedAngle - A part of a character's body is always drawn a certain way, even if it really shouldn't be from that angle.
* CheekyMouth - A character's mouth drifts from the center of their face to their cheek when viewed in profile.
* ClipArtAnimation - Moving flat 2D images around instead of drawing new images for each frame.
* CutAndPasteComic - Copying and pasting a set amount of poses or shapes instead of redrawing the character every time.
* DullSurprise - Staring at an event that should elicit shock or surprise with an expression that ''screams'' "duh...?"
* FacelessMasses - Drawing background characters as generic, featureless humanoid shapes.
* FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue - Skimping on backgrounds when the focus is on the conversation.
* FilmingForEasyDub - Drawing a character's mouth conveniently out of frame to avoid having to animate mouth movements.
* FlashyProtagonistsBlandExtras - Everyone who isn't important has an extremely bland design.
* FourFingeredHands - They take less time to draw than five-fingered hands.
* FurriesAreEasierToDraw - It's easier to avoid the UncannyValley with a FunnyAnimal than with a human.
* GISSyndrome - Using generic stock photos (paid or not) as backgrounds or object instead of drawing them from scratch.
* GoingThroughTheMotions - For budget reasons, video game characters have a tendency to reuse the same poses over and over instead of having unique ones.
* HandsInPockets - Hands are hard to draw--so why do it? Just have them obscured by something else!
* InvisibleAnatomy - Characters without certain appendages are depicted manipulating their environment as if they did anyway.
** FingerlessHands - Hands are drawn without fingers, but still manage to perform acts as if they did.
** FloatingLimbs - A character's hands and feet are visible, but the limbs attaching them to their body are not.
* InvisibleBowstring - Bows shooting arrows without a bowstring drawn on.
* IrislessEyeMaskOfMystery - Masks that make a character's irises and pupils disappear.
* ItsAlwaysSpring - The setting is always depicted in what appears to be the season of spring, no matter what time of the year it is.
* ItsAlwaysSunnyInMiami - The setting has clear skies and a bright sun, no matter what.
* LeaveTheCameraRunning - Dragging out pointless scenes or scenes with nothing happening to pad the runtime or not have to animate anything.
* LimitedWardrobe - Characters usually wear the same outfits.
* LongPants - Separate clothing articles drawn as one whole garment.
* MotionlessChin - A character talks but their chins don't animate.
* MouseHole - A mouse hole depicted as a perfect semicircle in a wall.
* MouthFlaps - Characters speaking is animated with fewer frames than is accurate for the words they're saying.
* NoKnees - Legs appear to be depicted without knees.
* NoMouth - A character has no visible mouth to save on animating mouth flaps.
* TheNoseless - A character has no nose.
* OffModel - When the animation/art is inconsistent in quality.
* OnlySixFaces - Multiple characters are designed with very similar faces.
* OnlyOneFemaleMold - All female characters in a show seem to be based on one (usually voluptuous) template.
* PaintedOnPants - Clothes drawn so skintight the character might as well be nude.
* PerpetualExpression - Character is depicted with an unchanging expression, despite ostensibly emoting.
* RainbowLite - Rainbows are depicted with fewer than the standard seven colors.
* RecycledAnimation - Reusing old animation, but with different characters/backgrounds.
* RingAroundTheCollar - A garment worn around the neck of a character to cover up the fact their heads are separate animated assets from their bodies.
* {{Rotoscoping}} - Animation traced from depictions of real-life actors.
* RubberHoseLimbs - Limbs are animated as if made of rubber, even though the character is not actually [[RubberMan made of rubber]].
* ShadingColourDissonance - Monochromatic works imply that the tint or shade something has is different from what colored versions depict.
* SkintoneSclerae - The whites of a character's eyes are not actually white and just take the color of the character's skin.

* SparseListOfRules - A rulebook is shown to be complex and extensive, but only rules that apply to the plot are ever shown.
* SpeedStripes - Simple lines drawn parallel to the direction of motion to indicate that something is moving fast.
* StockFemurBone - All bones are depicted as a femur, regardless of which part of a skeleton the bone is from.
* StockFoodDepictions - Various foods always look the same:
** CartoonCheese - All cheese in cartoons is wedge-shaped, orange like cheddar, and holey like Swiss.
** CartoonMeat - Each type of meat is limited to one or two cuts.
** EveryPizzaIsPepperoni - Drawing pizza with the generic red spots.
** ISOStandardUrbanGroceries - Groceries are in a paper bag, with bread and greens protruding out the top.

* SyntheticVoiceActor - Voice acting generated by a computer.
* TalkingHeads - A work seems to consist of characters just talking to each other and little else.
* TracedArtwork - Drawings traced from other sources such as photos, stock images and even other artists' drawings.
* ToothStrip - A character is shown with a white "strip" in their mouth, rather than individual teeth.
* UnmovingPlaid - Plaid and other complex patterns are [[ChromaKey chroma-keyed]] into an animation and therefore don't move or even distort with whatever it's printed on.
* UnreliableIllustrator - Whatever is being drawn doesn't match up with the text or dialogue it's accompanying.
* WheelOFeet - A running character's feet are drawn as a series of circular lines.
* WraparoundBackground - A scrolling background simply repeats the same drawing over and over.
* YourSizeMayVary - Scale is inconsistent in the series, resulting in items or characters seemingly changing size throughout the story.

* BigBallOfViolence - A fight scene is obscured by a large cloud of dust or smoke.

* FilmingForEasyDub - Drawing a character's mouth conveniently out of frame to avoid LipLock.

* LeaveTheCameraRunning - Dragging out pointless scenes or scenes with nothing happening to pad the runtime.

* JudgeABookByItsCenter - Whenever a book is opened, it's always to the midpoint.

Replace "lazy" with "low-budget," "time-limited," "unskilled," and/or "prioritizing other things" as appropriate.

* ShadingColourDissonance - Shades and tints do not accurately reflect the base color.

** FingerlessHands - Hands are drawn without fingers, but still manage to performs acts as if they did.