#design breakdowns

This guy's mouth was too big,

so I had to figure out the proportions.

And compare that shit to the goofs I usually draw

Of course I had to reference different animals, cause I noticed there's a difference between prey/herbivore mouth length and predator/carnivore mouths.

Of course I couldn't stop there. My brain went "Hey let's go over the physical markers between a regular old deer and Staghart the gargoyle." Of. Fucking. COURSE.

thank you! this one is a little simpler than the others but thats ok

If we must keep getting Femui alts in FEH, could we at least get an on-model one? Her original art has a sharpness to her eyes and brows that all post-Fates art seems to ignore. Even her face got more rounded for Engage.

Which...it's not like she isn't already traditionally pretty! Let her have slightly sharp eyes! Of Femui's default face options, there are actually a number of less generic choices--three very narrow-eyed looks, a sleepy one, and if we were gonna fight about it I'd argue that face 2 (essentially the default with less 🥺) more closely resembles the art than face 1.

I'm 90% sure that Urshifu's Single Strike form is referencing bajiquan/Li Shuwen.

The pose is a standard baji stance.

"Single Strike Form"--Li Shuwen is famous for killing men with one blow and quoted as saying, "I do not know what it's like to hit a man twice."

Anyway, you guys know the reason this show is so ugly, right? 

The original character designs (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Dooku, Asajj, Yoda, etc) are based off the heavily stylized, angular designs of the Tartakovsky series. I think they intended that to be a visual link to smooth over “continuity” between the two, audience-wise. Except it just doesn’t quite...work. You’ll get slightly stylized characters who look good in the TCW engine like Ahsoka and then you’ll have Dooku, the human conehead.

I love the Tartakovsky series, but trying to ape its aesthetic didn’t pay off here. I don’t know that it plays to the strengths of the engine (which is clearly machinery) and it creates this odd visual discontinuity where some characters look very stylized and then some look fairly realistic. Or sometimes even both looks in the same character; no screenshot, but I'm looking at Dooku and the queen talking here and there’s a shot of Dooku holding a glass where Dooku’s head is a tube but he’s got normal-ass human hands and the total effect is just...off. Doesn’t help that the Tartakovsky designs often had cloaks or capes as a major design element and TCW’s engine just can’t fucking handle that so now the shapes and silhouettes read all wrong; Asajj and Dooku are some of the worst victims of this.

Do you see how it just doesn't look quite right? Going from all of his body being sharp lines and exaggerated shapes to just his head being a cylinder doesn't work.

On this note, I’ve seen people mention how skinny the clones are in this show and it’s partly for the same reason; this engine excels at blocky machinery (ships, robots, armor, etc). The clones are designed as armor, not as people wearing armor. Do you know the real reason Barbie is so skinny? It's because she's not made to be a person, she's made to display clothes.

Cloth has a certain thickness to it; you have to budget for its density. The clones, being designed around being walking suits of armor first, are not visually budgeted to have bodies underneath. If they were it would make them look...I don't want to say 'fat', because that's a bit loaded, but too thick. Disproportionate. Stocky. You ever see some comic book girl art edited to be side-by-side with normal human women? The proportions are totally different. Even the most in-shape human woman will look 'fat', and that's all down to proportions at that point.

I think it’s the waist area? There’s just a lot happening there--armor hem, pleated skirt, chaps, belt, boots. And there’s something that bothers me about the skirt and belt being the same width (not morally, visually; repetition without an apparent purpose). I kinda feel like they need to just commit to either skirt or shorts. It’s too busy as it--

Wait. Is that...is that not a skirt? Is that a notched tunic? That would make...so much more sense, the skirt looks like a weird afterthought because it isn’t a skirt at all, the whole thing is one piece--

Okay, her other art is actually unclear on whether it’s pleated or there are triangular notches, but both make it clear that the tunic is one single piece of fabric.

Which I genuinely like a lot better. I wish it were more clearly portrayed in images other than the ones the tunic is flying up in--if the shorts were slightly longer, maybe? If the belt/armor hem were higher?

I'm a sucker for re-interpreted designs. I love seeing how the same elements can be put together different and produce a whole new feeling.

On that note, I'm always pleased to see the new Zodiac designs and how they incorporated the classic miko sleeves.

Damn, man, I'd wear that fluffy jacket the previous Divine Boar had. Kumbhira's looks fashionable, but the other one looks so comfy.

I think Anila is actually wearing an entire open kimono resting over her shoulders beneath the shawl? If not, then her cloak is styled like a kimono silhouette anyway--check out the fabric layers and how there's distinctly multiple ones. She's not wearing sleeves at all, but she suggests them by having the empty sleeves of her cloak blow out.

Vikala is my favorite zodiac design because the Disney joke is just...excellent. Both unsubtle and bitingly meta. The standard sailor girl outfit even works as a roundabout Steamboat Willy reference. She takes the miko look in a much more modern direction of a stole looped over her arms.

Did you notice how I said Nabatean design and not Church design? The Church itself doesn't actually have the most consistent aesthetic. Oh, they all have the Seiros symbol and gold trim and stuff. But I mean that Catherine, Alois, Gilbert, and generic monks/bishops don't actually have a lot of shared design elements. Generic reclassing colors for church units are red and white, but Catherine is the only church rep wearing red. None of the Nabateans do. You can't even say they all wear white, because Gilbert doesn't. If they didn't have the Seiros symbol, you'd be hard-pressed to say that they all came from the same place.

Let's start at the beginning.

Sothis (True) is a relatively plain design, but there's a few elements that stick out: her long tabard, her crown of lilies, the tassels dangling, and that diamond-shaped centerpiece that vaguely recalls a heart.

Sothis to Sothis: we once again have the central tabard (here combined with a tassel) and heart shapes. The hair ribbons and dangling bows recall tassels, as well. Also prominent are golden curlicues and stars.

Seiros herself echoes the central tabard and Sothis's chest binding with that belt arrangement. Her boots have the same loop twist on the knee as Sothis's anklets. There are lilies in her hair that match the original Sothis's. Notice how her bangs work with her headband to make a distinct heart-like shape. Gold loop patterning on her cape hem, similar to that of Sothis and Rhea, as well as stars on whatever that chest harness is.

Rhea, where it's all coming together. We've got everything here; hearts, tassels, and stars, plenty and prominent. Again, the central dress tabard. Even the same dangling star as loli Sothis's crown. Notice how Rhea's cape bears golden flowerlike loops that exactly match the ones on Sothis's asscape.

Generic female Bishop is actually the one exception when it comes to these design elements carrying over to the church in general; it echoes Rhea's silhouette (fitted dress with shawl and long tabard). Given the consistency here, I'd bet that Bishop was designed after Rhea and company rather than the other way around.

Seteth's design is plainer, but looking closely we can see the pieces reappearing. His circlet is set with a star, his cassock has golden curlicues that match Sothis and Rhea's, and his cape and belt bear tassels.

Flayn's hair clips are an exact match for the diamond-shaped centerpiece of Sothis's original crown. She has a central tassel instead of a central tabard, much like Sothis herself--she even has floppy bows on her shoulders just like Sothis. Once more, the golden loopy pattern is prominent.

There's also an interesting color progression here. There's no blue on the original Sothis, did you notice that? She's got pink instead. Sothis (True) is pink and white; Seiros is pink and white (her pink hairtie definitely sticks out in her martial gear); loli Sothis is pink, white, and blue; Rhea of the present is blue and white. (Seteth and Flayn are primarily blue--except, Flayn's reclass character color is pink.)

This is even the exact progression you see them with in the game itself. Sothis (True) is on the cover, Seiros is in the opening cutscene, loli Sothis is in the first chapter, and then Rhea is encountered. I couldn't tell you precisely what it's supposed to represent symbolically; maybe just how things change over time?