In Japan in the 1970s, an art movement known as heta-uma began in the underground manga magazine Garo. Heta-uma translates to “bad-nice” or “unskillfully good,” and the artists who adopted this style rejected the slickness of commercial art and embraced a more childlike approach to art-making. When I first encountered this work 20 years ago, it unlocked something in my brain—I wanted to make art that was this free. The following books were my guides towards an art practice that celebrates imperfection.
It helps to know that as when I go to my local Art Hive, there is this guy who's autistic and does the nicest hand drawn reproductions of birds in pencil. On his first one, it came out almost photographic. And I'm there doodling a tiki-god that looks like it was made by a teenager...🙄
"drawing is fun, but putting too much emphasis on technical skill can drain the spirit from your art, and that spirit is the most important part" So true! I find these days, I'm more and more drawn to badly drawn spirit-filled work. Maybe it's a reaction to all the AI generated perfection out there 🤔
I totally agree. I think AI excels at visually “spectacular” work, which has started to feel cheap and empty. It does not do modest and wonky very well, and now that work feels more meaningful and valuable.
Always inspiring Erik! Bad-Nice is one of the best way to describe what I like the most in art. In music The Pastels have that feel. I love the Pastels!
That big king terry book is one of my white whale books (feel free to post more pictures lol) - a favorite heta uma / Garo artist of mine is Mizumaru Anzai - so many simple/phenomenal drawings and comics, though nothing in English (yet - I think D&Q is working on one) highly recommended!
I could start a Substack devoted entirely to that big King Terry book—there’s so much in it! Thank you for mentioning Mizumaru Anzai. I have a couple copies of early Garo and my favorite drawings were from Anzai, though I couldn’t figure out his name! I would buy a book of his in a heartbeat.
I think I need to paint the words Bad-Nice above my desk (imperfectly) as a daily reminder - this is gold.
I love that idea!
Me too!
OH MY F'ING GOD, this is too good!
This is so good! They sure don't show this in Art History classes at University.
Now I don't have any reason to be afraid of my ugly scribbles 👍
Haha! I'm totally pro-scribbles. 👍
It helps to know that as when I go to my local Art Hive, there is this guy who's autistic and does the nicest hand drawn reproductions of birds in pencil. On his first one, it came out almost photographic. And I'm there doodling a tiki-god that looks like it was made by a teenager...🙄
Oooh this post is a gold mine of art book recommendations! So relate to wanting to channel childlike imperfection in my art too.
So glad you liked it, Carolyn!
Thank you for sharing this.
"drawing is fun, but putting too much emphasis on technical skill can drain the spirit from your art, and that spirit is the most important part" So true! I find these days, I'm more and more drawn to badly drawn spirit-filled work. Maybe it's a reaction to all the AI generated perfection out there 🤔
I totally agree. I think AI excels at visually “spectacular” work, which has started to feel cheap and empty. It does not do modest and wonky very well, and now that work feels more meaningful and valuable.
Yay! Thanks for so much for sharing these. I can see now how this art must have influenced other artists (like the king star king animators)
Thanks so much for this introduction! I will be lurking on thriftbook.com to see if I can find some of these!
Oh, nice! Also take a look at the Nieves site. They have a ton of beautiful and affordable art zines.
As usual, your way of opening eyes, opening minds, is a pure delight. Love it all!
Thank you, Karen! ❤️
I don’t know if Mogu Takahashi is in heta-uma movement, but I found that her style is very heta-uma ! And I love her art !
Thank you for heta -uma
😁🙏
Definitely! I wanted to include her but the email was getting too long. I love her work too.
Always inspiring Erik! Bad-Nice is one of the best way to describe what I like the most in art. In music The Pastels have that feel. I love the Pastels!
I love bad-nice in music too. I’m a long-time Pavement fan and I feel they have that vibe. Looking forward to checking out the Pastels!
Pavement is amazing too. Bad-Nice vibe absolutely.
This is their classic track: https://youtu.be/wn-njpBoVEE?si=hRtTg9lW-ECgd_so
But it's just the tip of the iceberg.
I used to live a 10-min walk from Nieves. Lovely owner.
Oh, that’s amazing. Getting to visit Zurich, and that shop, would be a dream come true for me.
So good, thank you so much for sharing!!
That big king terry book is one of my white whale books (feel free to post more pictures lol) - a favorite heta uma / Garo artist of mine is Mizumaru Anzai - so many simple/phenomenal drawings and comics, though nothing in English (yet - I think D&Q is working on one) highly recommended!
I could start a Substack devoted entirely to that big King Terry book—there’s so much in it! Thank you for mentioning Mizumaru Anzai. I have a couple copies of early Garo and my favorite drawings were from Anzai, though I couldn’t figure out his name! I would buy a book of his in a heartbeat.
ay! discovered some new artists - thanks, Erik - enjoyed the tunes in the video as well :)
Nice!
Excellent!