Schulz continues to work out the problem of how to handle character arm lengths when doing things like jumping rope. This one's a little better than Patty's early jump rope session, but her head still seems to shrink in size in the forward-facing frame.
Another thing that's difficult with these jump rope strips is what to do with character legs when facing forward while jumping. The first panel here is good, but the second, the legs don't seem to be in the same places.
It's possible to see some simularities between Schulz's art style and the later Japanese manga/anime style called "super-deformed," and I think there may be something to that. However, I can't help but thinking if it had been a stereotypical manga artist who had rendered the second panel here, regardless of appropriateness, he wouldn't have been able to resist giving little Violet an upskirt shot.
Also, the joke is really funny!
ReplyDeleteI like Shermy's hair here. It is really well-drawn and looks like the crew cuts all us boys had in the 50s. Schulz makes it look like it was really cut with one of those barber-style hair cutters. And I agree--it is a funny joke! Sixty-One-Teen! She did get fifty right though.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting you compare this to "super-deformed" art, since I believe Schulz's work was very popular in Japan from about the 60's onward.
ReplyDeleteNot just Japan. Peanuts was a sensation throughout the U.S. too, a genuine cultural watershed. Peanuts was influential in so many ways that it's difficult to categorize it all.
ReplyDeleteNot bad for the shy son of a barber.