Do you appreciate visual simplicity?
I do. I feel that people tend to unfairly equate it with a lack of skill. It takes skill to pull it off properly, it isn't a crutch.
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Comments
The first is a far cry from bog-standard sci fi concept art, where people quickly assemble designs by copypasting image search results into their canvasses and then painting over/around them to assemble something sophisticated-looking which is in reality simply far too busy. Calum's work results in visually distinct, easy-to-look-at pieces of sci fi tech, as opposed to incoherent messes that can only really be appreciated as silhouettes, or as rendering feats.
The second is a standardized cartooning style designed to minimize workload for animation teams that results in characters that can only be distinguished by coloration, outfit, and hair styles. It also relies heavily on shortcuts that completely break the drawing when objects are viewed at most angles - look how fucked up those eyes look on everyone but the blonde. That is a distinctive marking of "bad simplicity" - that is, bad art that has been dolled up via good coloration, post-processing, and public opinion.
Anime standard faces are lazy and are bad character design, but the resulting effect still looks tolerably pleasant to me.
John K is objectively better at character design. It's certainly more interesting, but it's not pleasant to look at.