First: A link

http://www.comicrelated.com/news/3964/art-in-webcomics

Now, the rant:

Most of you know how big of a web comics dork I am. The attached article discusses the "lazy" art styles of some comics, namely stick figures, photocomics, and poser models. The Author argues that the above comics styles are either not art, or are "lazy." She goes on to say "Ultimately, anything canned, pre-rendered, or... lazily scrawled can't compare to the true creativity, quality, and beauty of a drawn,sequential page/strip, which is part of why we love comics in the first
place." She also says that hiring an artists "is my favorite method because it produces the most genuine results, and it gets me work." You can practically hear her "lol!" after that.

I sure as hell don't recognize your work, lady. I do recognize everyone one of your "stick figure" citations though, and I read them on a regular basis because they are either constantly funny, or they have excellent writing. XKCD, Order of the Stick, and Cyanide and Happiness are all extraordinarily well done web comics who's simplicity allows them to push the boundaries of thought, story, or even just absurdity without having to agonize over art and style for every panel.

XKCD, for example is a triumph of minimalist art work with humor that has had me literally laughing until I couldn't breathe. Some of the stories have been at times so touching that you can't help but feel sad for the creations he has so lovingly doodled. Some are just absurd to the point of wondering where the hell he gets his ideas.

So, Jules Rivera, whoever you are, take your high minded "art in web comics" ideals and stick them. Just because you can't make a buck off their simplicity doesn't mean they're not art. They're certainly better than what you've got to offer.

What say you, Zeta Channel?

However, though, I can understand how it can be irritating to put in hours of work on art or whatever and some stickfigure comic is a billion times more popular than yours. But thems are the breaks sometimes, sonny boi.

People are already ripping her a new one in the comments, so I don't think you're alone Coon.

Item the first: That was a poorly written, childish rant.

Now that that's out of the way; I don't read Order of the Stick but I am an avid follower of XKCD, and not just for the jokes. Randall is an outstanding artist. He can make incredibly complex expressions out of one or two little lines. He expresses body language with stick figures!

Besides, attacking minimalists for being lazy is like criticizing cubism for not being realistic.

I have two words for Ms. Jules Shamelessly-Trying-To-Drum-Up-Business Rivera: Sour. Grapes.

If you go back to the beginning of XKCD, you can see how much his art has improved- like most webcomic artists.

And I don't think someone could improve that much if there was no talent in it to begin with.

So I agree with Fixer, is what I'm saying. ^_^

"It's been in decline..."

You know, no matter what anyone is talking about, there's always someone who says that.

I just don't agree. But maybe I am getting something different from it.

Yeah, I still love it, too. 

I look forward to it so much that I sometimes check it the night before MWFs, since I live on the west coast and it's only 9pm here the day before when the new one goes up.  I XKCD.