

Like Gantz for example has characters with realistic faces instead of big eyes
and hair colors but to use to this can be expensive so why is it cheaper to
use anime and manga faces that lack realistic features like characters with no
visible lips?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-04T21:49:56.863
27812
2015-12-06T20:06:32.277
2015-12-04T23:07:07.483
63
18661
question
anime-production
Why is it expensive to create realistic faces in the anime industry?


Like ton.yeung said, more detail takes more time and thus costs more money. In
theory you could make an anime with every single frame having the same level
of detail as a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, but it would be prohibitively
expensive; it took Leonardo years to finish a single painting, and you would
need a whole team of Leonardos churning out thousands of them in a limited
timeframe.

That said, I doubt that it was significantly more expensive to animate Gantz
than, say, K-On. The question seems to presuppose that cost is the only thing
keeping anime from having more realistic facial art, but I believe it's more
about artistry and style. The experience that Gantz was trying to create was
drastically different from the experience that K-On was trying to create.

[![gantz
screenshot](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vSsT5m.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vSsT5m.jpg)
[![K-on
screenshot](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DHqixm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DHqixm.jpg)

The K-On characters _are_ lacking some facial detail compared to the Gantz
characters (in line with well-known rules of cuteness that, yes, seriously,
have been studied and derived by anthropologists). Gantz uses smaller eyes,
chunkier bodies, and a more subdued color palette; this makes it _seem_ more
realistic. However, we can see that both of them are lacking a lot of detail
compared with, say, the work of American comics artist Alex Ross.

[![Alex
Ross](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1RkMtl.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1RkMtl.jpg)

(I should note that Ross is primarily a cover artist, because of the time it
takes him to produce works of such high detail. To create an animated feature
at Ross's level of detail would be untenable.)

Also, shows like K-On and Clannad often have very detailed clothes,
backgrounds, and other objects. Look at the instruments in K-On.

[![Azusa with
guitar](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oditam.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oditam.jpg)
[![real
guitar](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cNbZVm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cNbZVm.jpg)

Look at the detail in the background of this random screenshot from Clannad.

[![clannad kotomi
garden](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tHh3e.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tHh3e.png)

So I don't think the difference in style is primarily about cost. It's about
artistry. K-On was well enough funded to make its art look like Gantz had the
creators wanted to; but that art style didn't fit with the goals and aesthetic
sense of the series. It's the same reason Bugs Bunny looks like this:

[![bugs
bunny](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iaz2I.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iaz2I.png)

and not like this:

[![photorealistic
rabbit](https://i.stack.imgur.com/S3H02.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/S3H02.jpg)

While the typical anime art style may have originally been created as cost-
saving measure, that seems to be no longer the case. It is recognized as a
unique style on its own and appreciated by many people on that basis, the same
as the highly unnatural
[Cubism](http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm) and
[Mannerism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannerism) (which produced what
seems to be the [first known forerunner of the Shaft head
tilt](https://mydailyartdisplay.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/longneck-
reduced.jpg)).


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-06T20:06:32.277
27858
2015-12-06T20:06:32.277
7579
27812
answer