rato 🐁

[OC] colored & edited it a little

Great Question!

First, having a somewhat decent grasp on anatomy (which is something I still need to practice lol) or “the basics” of character art is always a must imo. Having a good understanding of forms is our starting grounds for further stylization. Think of it as the “skeleton” of any style. Moreover, the Danganronpa style comes in various forms, all with different characteristics/visual characteristics.

However, and I think this is a very important distinction, I try to study Rui Komatsuzaki’s overall style as opposed to just Danganronpa. In other words, Rui Komatsuzaki, like any other creative, has his own personal stylization and artistic evolution throughout his career as an illustrator.

In DR1, Komatsuzaki’s style included much thinner lineart, bigger heads, and more gradients with the softer shading. The vibe is very much more “grounded” compared to later titles. (Example: Toko!)

In contrast, DR2 has slightly modified proportions (like bigger hands), simplified shading, and much more vibrant color palettes. The line art during this time was also streamlined with less lines and thicker pen pressure. It makes the sprites pop out a bunch! (Example: Mahiru!)

Of course, with UDG, we see these two styles somewhat overlap, resembling his later stylization. Here we see the modified proportions and color preferences from DR2 with the thinner linework and detail of DR1. (See Toko Again!)

Finally, we see this similar style philosophy continued in V3, only with even more contrasting colors, reflecting the hyper bright/attention grabbing palettes of serialized work. The shading is much darker than previous titles, and somewhat colder too. (See Miu this time.)

Of course, with all of this in mind, taking notes is imperative! Especially if you want to replicated a specific entry’s stylization. You can draw over some of the dr sprites just to get a general feel of the proportions. I can probably post more latter down the line, but this was the most recent thing I’ve done. See below! (I was trying to get a sense of how “high” the hair sits on top of dr)

Now, for his splash art work, Komatsuzaki’s began his process by blocking out his pieces in bluish hues before the polishing phase. he most likely applied a mix of “color”, “multiply”, or “color dodge” once we finishes rendering for finalizing colors. (As depicted below.)

You can also see how Komatsuzaki simplifies clothing and the like. He very much uses thicker brush work for these types of illustrations as opposed to the lines of his 2D work during this point in his career. Future points show how he plans his stuff with more thin line work. From here he most likely did the same thing. Focusing on the forms before getting to the hues and values

Copying and tracing DR sprites in the start is very helpful too, it makes you learn how to start working in that style and eventually you'll stop being so dependant on using a reference or a guide.

(Drive links)

Timeline Sprite Comparision

A guide to Komatsuzaki