Retro hand illustrations are "in"... but why?

One design trend I've been seeing a lot of lately is the retro look of hand drawn illustrations that appear as though they were drawn with markers and tempra paints, like some sort of 70's inspired art from 1982. A recent cover of Computer Arts magazine (issue #158) is a "perfect illustration" of poor execution.


This cover made my eyes bleed.


Do I like it? Eh, not really. What's wrong with it? It seems simplistic yet messy, and appears to lack any artistic skills. There is no symmetry, no balance, no depth, and no control over the contours, form, or lines. It's simply a two dimensional barf of colors and shapes.


Prince Charles as a high school art student.


This particular Computer Arts cover is particularly atrocious because of the fey douchebag on the cover. He's right out of your high school art class and the symbol of pastey, anemic folk art, complete with Zoolander's Blue Steel sunken cheeks. Note the hand-silkscreened T-shirt with stretched out neck and 70s jogging jacket. Also, the placement of the "Get your dream job" right in his crotch, well, maybe there was a typo when typing "Get your cream job".


The money shot.


Although I appreciate this new wave of neo-psychedelia, there is just too many examples of poor execution. But what of a good example? Here's one:



Delicious with a cherry on top.


The reason I liked this execution is because it puts a very contemporary spin on classic psychedelia. It's from the "new retro" tutorial on the Computer Arts website. Note the galaxy background with purples and blues, reminiscent of OS X. The rainbow also has a nice glassy effect with some fairly complex gradients, not an easy skill to master for an amateur.