Line #5 Main/LazyArtist


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5	[[quoteright:209:[[Webcomic/TheSystem https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lazy_artists_copypaste.png]]]]
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7	->''When you're drowning in a sea of work with not enough time, why pour your soul into assets that get used all of...what, once? Really. Have some compassion.''
8	-->-- '''Joshua''', ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''
9
10	Many {{graphical tropes}} are simplifications, used to make the scene easier to draw. Books are always open in the middle, bite marks are smooth, and so on.
11
12	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/animate a particularly hard or detailed scene. 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 and can't just back out. 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.
13
14	A SubTrope of LimitedAnimation, specifically the sub-type that makes the format so infamous.
15
16	'''Prominent examples:'''
17	[[index]]
18	* ActingForTwo: One voice actor for multiple characters. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it shows a work's lack of budget or possibly interest when several characters sound the same or too similar to each other.
19	* BigBallOfViolence: A fight scene is obscured by a large cloud of dust or smoke with the occasional fist or leg sticking out.
20	* BattleOfTheStillFrames: Fight scenes are represented by freeze-frames instead of actual animation.
21	* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Characters in dark areas are drawn as a disembodied pair of eyeballs.
22	* 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.
23	* CheatedAngle: A part of a character's body is always drawn a certain way, even if it really shouldn't be from that angle.
24	* CheekyMouth: A character's mouth drifts from the center of their face to their cheek when viewed in profile.
25	* ClipArtAnimation: Moving flat 2D images around instead of drawing new images for each frame.
26	* CutAndPasteComic: Copying and pasting a set amount of poses or shapes instead of redrawing the character every time.
27	* CutAndPasteSuburb: Reduplicating the same blocks of property instead of making it more realistic with various installations.
28	* DullSurprise: Staring at an event that should elicit shock or surprise with an expression that ''screams'' "duh...?"
29	* FacelessMasses: Drawing background characters as generic, featureless humanoid shapes.
30	* FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue: Skimping on backgrounds when the focus is on the conversation.
31	* FilmingForEasyDub: Drawing a character's mouth conveniently out of frame to avoid having to animate mouth movements.
32	* FlashyProtagonistsBlandExtras: Everyone who isn't important has an extremely bland design.
33	* FourFingeredHands: They are much easier and take less time to draw than five-fingered hands.
34	* FurriesAreEasierToDraw: It's easier to avoid the UnintentionalUncannyValley with a FunnyAnimal than with a human.
35	* GISSyndrome: Using generic stock photos (paid or not) as backgrounds or object instead of drawing them from scratch.
36	* GoingThroughTheMotions: For budget reasons, video game characters have a tendency to reuse the same poses over and over instead of having unique ones.
37	* HandsInPockets: Hands are hard to draw--so why do it? Just have them obscured by something else!
38	* InvisibleAnatomy: Characters without certain appendages are depicted manipulating their environment as if they did anyway.
39	** FingerlessHands: Hands are drawn without fingers, but still manage to perform acts as if they did.
40	** FloatingLimbs: A character's hands and feet are visible, but the limbs attaching them to their body are not.
41	* InvisibleBowstring: Bows shooting arrows without a bowstring drawn on.
42	* IrislessEyeMaskOfMystery: Masks that make a character's irises and pupils disappear.
43	* ItsAlwaysSpring: The setting is always depicted in what appears to be the season of spring, no matter what time of the year it is.
44	* ItsAlwaysSunnyInMiami: The setting has clear skies and a bright sun, no matter what.
45	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Dragging out pointless scenes or scenes with nothing happening to pad the runtime or not have to animate anything.
46	* LimitedWardrobe: Characters usually wear the same outfits.
47	* LongPants: Separate clothing articles drawn as one whole garment.
48	* MotionlessChin: A character talks but their chins don't animate.
49	* MouseHole: A mouse hole depicted as a perfect semicircle in a wall.
50	* MouthFlaps: Characters speaking is animated with two or three frames rather than dynamically. One for a closed mouth, another for an open mouth and perhaps a third one that's half-open.
51	* NoKnees: Legs appear to be depicted without knees.
52	* NoMouth: A character has no visible mouth to save on animating mouth flaps.
53	* TheNoseless: A character has no nose.
54	* OffModel: When the animation/art is inconsistent in quality.
55	* OnlySixFaces: Multiple characters are designed with very similar faces.
56	* OnlyOneFemaleMold: All female characters in a show seem to be based on one (usually voluptuous) template.
57	* PaintedOnPants: Clothes drawn so skintight the character might as well be nude.
58	* PerpetualExpression: Character is depicted with an unchanging expression, despite ostensibly emoting.
59	* RainbowLite: Rainbows are depicted with fewer than the standard seven colors.
60	* RecycledAnimation: Reusing old animation, but with different characters/backgrounds.
61	* RingAroundTheCollar: A garment worn around the neck of a character to cover up the fact their heads are separate animated assets from their bodies.
62	* {{Rotoscoping}}: Animation traced from depictions of real-life actors.
63	* RubberHoseLimbs: Limbs are animated as if made of rubber, even though the character is not actually [[RubberMan made of rubber]].
64	* ShadingColourDissonance: Monochromatic works imply that the tint or shade something has is different from what colored versions depict.
65	* SkintoneSclerae: The whites of a character's eyes are not actually white and just take the color of the character's skin.
66	* SolidCartoonFacialStubble: Beard stubble is illustrated as a patch of solid color.
67	* SparseListOfRules: A rulebook is shown to be complex and extensive, but only rules that apply to the plot are ever shown.
68	* SpeedStripes: Simple lines drawn parallel to the direction of motion to indicate that something is moving fast.
69	* StockFemurBone: All bones are depicted as a femur, regardless of which part of a skeleton the bone is from.
70	* StockFoodDepictions: Various foods always look the same:
71	** CartoonCheese: All cheese in cartoons is wedge-shaped, orange like cheddar, and holey like Swiss.
72	** CartoonMeat: Each type of meat is limited to one or two cuts.
73	** EveryPizzaIsPepperoni: Drawing pizza with the generic red spots.
74	** ISOStandardUrbanGroceries: Groceries are in a paper bag, with bread and greens protruding out the top.
75	* StockFootage: Reusing previously-used or archival footage.
76	* SynchroVox: Superimposing film of a character's mouth over a still image to avoid animating mouth flaps.
77	* SyntheticVoiceActor: Using text to speech or machinery instead of hiring human voice actors, unless it's to voice a clearly mechanical character or AI, or if it's in a game that predominantly uses MadLibsDialogue.
78	* TalkingHeads: A work seems to consist of characters just talking to each other and little else.
79	* TracedArtwork: Drawings made by drawing over the lines of other sources such as photos, stock images and even other artists' drawings.
80	* ToothStrip: A character is shown with a white "strip" in their mouth, rather than individual teeth.
81	* 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.
82	* UnreliableIllustrator: Whatever is being drawn doesn't match up with the text or dialogue it's accompanying.
83	* WheelOFeet: A running character's feet are drawn as a series of circular lines.
84	* WraparoundBackground: A scrolling background simply repeats the same drawing over and over.
85	* YourSizeMayVary: Scale is inconsistent in the series, resulting in items or characters seemingly changing size throughout the story.
86	[[/index]]

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