Post #434897 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Feb 18, 2009 7:17 AM

Holden, that connection to MAD magazine rings true. And I like the sculpt above. My two cents would be what I always say, and try to remind Tiki artists of today of: Remember why the moderns, Picasso and his contemporaries, were drawn to primitive art --because, for the first time, it showed them a non-naturalistic way of how to portray man. So as an artist I would try to look for elements in my Tiki that look too humanoid, and try to make them more cubist/primitive/blocky/out of proportion/stylized--NOT naturalistic.

A lot of the "cartoony" elements in this Tiki already do that, but when, as in the above rendering by Von, the roundness and organic-ness of the body leaves it still human, it is too reminiscent of a caricature of a person, and not enough a new take on tribal art. A lot of folks seem to like that kind of cutesy, troll-like look, but what strikes me as the prime quality of Tiki style is its fine balance between cartoon, modern and primitive style elements. As you all know. :)