I was walking by the set the other day, and I saw a friend in the art department painting a sign. He was doing a really bad job, which was kind of surprising, since I’ve seen him paint some nice signs in the past.
I asked him about it, and he said it was supposed to look like it was done quickly and unprofessionally. Which it did. So, good job, then.
It must be an odd thing that sometimes you’re required to do your job badly. (Most of us do it on our own initiative.)
I once visited the set of the first Spider-Man. They were shooting inserts of Peter Parker designing his costume in one of the most ridiculous glossing over montages in film history. Anyway, on this occasion, I met Phil Jimenez, an accomplished comic book artist, who was doing the actual drawing. (It’s his hands, not Tobey Maguire’s, that you see in the film.)
I asked him if it was easier not having to worry about drawing, you know, good. “Actually,” he said, “it’s really hard. I have to un-learn everything I’ve done over the last twenty years.”
I guess I didn’t realize how hard it is to suck, since I’m so naturally talented in that regard.
2 Responses
It’s one of the crappiest parts of the job. We are taught to be perfectionists but characters and their environments are not all perfect so we have to dumb it down sometimes based on how crappy we think the character or story requires.
Try explaining that to an idiot director or producer looking through your portfolio. Ugh… I should link them to you post.