Richard Scarry’s books were such a cozy universe growing up, I'd still like to live in "What people do all day." I wonder what that book would look like if he made it today.
I left the Old Country for my adopted country in part because it reminded me of "What do people do all day" – although I was not conscious of the resemblance until my father, having seen the not-a-pig dude from the city coming around with a little vehicle specially outfitted to water various geraniums, pointed it out.
Actually the modern publishing of What do people do all day removed a bunch of the jobs. I don't have info on why they did that, but if you want to read it make sure to get the original unabridged (uncensored?) version.
Also something about the characters gives me the cold, dead feel AI generated art (even though they do not appear to be AI generated). Can't put my finger on exactly what it is, though.
The posts are from 2015-2020 so these are definitely human-made. Here's some things that are probably giving you that feeling:
* every pose is pretty static, nobody's actively doing anything, they're just sitting or standing in the middle of their workplace - Scarry's folks are always running around doing something.
* lots and lots of wide eyes with the pupil not touching any part of the edge, which makes them look like a dead doll - I'm looking through some Scarry drawings and he almost never does this, and when he does it's with a much smaller, simpler eye that doesn't require any rendering.
* in general these drawings are much more detailed than Scarry's work, there's a lot of nervous repeated mark-making going on, and that would prove to be a hallmark of AI imagesludge a few years later.
* "cold and dead" might be something being deliberately aimed for here, "look at all these people who are dead inside" is a definite vibe I could see going for with a project like this - Scarry wants you to like everyone he draws and I do not think this artist wants you to like any of these people.
* Scarry's animal people all basically look like cute babies due to his choices of detail and stylization. These all look more like taxidermied animals in a clever pose, due to radically different choices in those domains. One of these things is cute and appealing on an instinctual level. One of these things is kind of creepy.
I left the Old Country for my adopted country in part because it reminded me of "What do people do all day" – although I was not conscious of the resemblance until my father, having seen the not-a-pig dude from the city coming around with a little vehicle specially outfitted to water various geraniums, pointed it out.