I’m looking for forms of art (in particular drawings or writings) with several creators, but trying to look as though there is only one. Also, how hard is it to do this?
Examples: Tatty Teddy/Me To You Bear is drawn by 4 people, with no visible difference in style
Michael Gambon played Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films after the death of Richard Harris
I know comics like Batman have several illustrators, but their styles are different. Would cartoons also count? I think they’re drawn by teams, but they have to have the same style.
Thinking of this because one of the theories about Cecil Adams is he’s a team of writers, and I’m wondering how hard it is to find/train people to write with the same style.
The Archie comic books have used quite a lot of artists over the years. They’ve been experimenting with different styles lately, but the default (preferred by readers, I expect) is the standard style.
Disney comnics have been drawn by a host of aretists over the years – newspaper strips, comic books, promotional giveaways (in addition to all the cartoons themselves). Carl Barks was notable mainly for the difference in his storytelling, rather than his art.
That’s precisely the opposite of what the OP is asking, but Batman is STILL a good example - for many years - up into the 50s, at least, maybe into the 60s, all artists were made to draw like Bob Kane.
This is common in comics…when an artist is particularly strongly connected to a title, when they retire, leave the company, or pass on, their replacement will frequently try to mimic the original artist’s style, possibly shifting into their own after a while…and, also, when a particular artist’s style becomes particularly popular, other artists will decide, or be encouraged to, ape it, to improve their own popularity.
I can’t address comics, but I do have experience with this one. It is not that hard to write in a common style when you are an experienced writer, especially if there’s a common editor.
It’s a very common creative writing practice to write the same story several different times in different voices - say, in the voices of Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, the King James Bible, Dr. Seuss and ee cummings. (I never could do Dr. Seuss, but I can pull off the rest of them.)
I’m always reminded of my days in high school newspaper when I was the editor for our opinion section. One of the writers turned in an article that was garbage, and about half of the length I’d asked for. I changed some of the original writing and finished the other half, but left the byline alone. Furthermore, this story was half of a pro/con piece where I was writing the con and this writer did the pro.
Imagine my chagrin when a good friend of mine said “Her pro argument blew yours out of the water!” So… I managed to beat my own argument, in a style so different that no one knew it was me. :smack:
It was quite common for comic strip or comic book artists to have ghosts who often tried to mimic the creator’s style. Even many of the grand masters (painters) had studios with students who copied their styles. At times these paintings have been mistaken for their mentors.