FFIV DS artwork released.

[Crazyswordsman]

A. They're not hideous.

B. I like the new artwork just as much. -CSM

[Sim Kid]

The old watercolours were ugly. Until VI, they looked like they were angry or gazing into your soul. Faris's face can sink a ship.

[Wyborn]

Okay...

How do you like this artwork compared to the old hideous watercolours?

You have sarcasm down to an art form. Good show.

[Wyborn]

The old watercolours were ugly. Until VI, they looked like they were angry or gazing into your soul. Faris's face can sink a ship.

Oh, you weren't kidding.



This is one of Amano's most famous FF illustrations, showing how he imagined the Behemoth to look. This is also from the very first FF. I don't think you could call this "ugly".

[Sim Kid]

Not that...But THIS is certainly ugly.



And this.

http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/5-bartzfaris-a.jpg

And our emperor (Whose pose makes him look like a string puppet)

http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/2-paramekia-a.jpg


I'm not saying he's a bad artist. The people characters he drew looked like vampires (Until VI), but the monsters Amano drew were much better.

http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/1-chaos_throne-a.jpg

Would Nomura ever be able to do that?

But IMO, Amano did make the characters less ugly by IX. (Save for Eiko, who looks like a doll and Brahne, who would have been hideous no matter what):

http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/9-beatrix-a.jpg

http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/9-steiner-a.jpg

http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/9-amarant-a.jpg <-- He actually looks a lot better than he does in the game, I'd imagine Amarant's neck would get sore the way he holds it in the game.

[Auron]

I do have to admit, I'm not a big fan of Amano's art.

[Wyborn]

Concerning the twins: he was drawing two goofy mage kids who mainly served as comedic relief. What were you expecting, exactly?

And Amano's art didn't "progress away" from looking like "vampires", he simply dabbled in something dancing on the edge of very traditional Japanese paintings for a period. I mean, the FFIV artwork was his most popular in Japan for years.

http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/1-princess_sara-a.jpg
http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/2-frionel-a3.jpg
http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/2-frionel-a5.jpg
http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/4-rosa-a.jpg
http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/4-cecil ... adin-a.jpg
http://www.ffcompendium.com/art/5-galuf-a.jpg

All of that is pre-VI.

[Sim Kid]

What was I expecting with Palam and Porom? Well, I was expecting them to at least not look like gnomes while Rydia looks even semi-realistic but I guess that's too much to ask.

Maybe I don't see the appreciation for Amano's artwork you do because whenever I think of "Traditional Japanese panting", I generally think of something like this



or the graphics in Okami. Yes, there's the white skin and the lipstick, on Izanami, but notice how Izanagi's skin is tanner, and he isn't wearing lipstick.

[Crazyswordsman]

Well at least Amano's art isn't cartoony and Anime like. -CSM

[Deepfake]

I'm getting dead links for all of the images that were supposed to be "hideous old watercolors". Perhaps one of you can help me - do they in any way resemble the character art from Final Fantasy 6? Because that art was extremely beautiful and elegant.

[Wyborn]

I'm getting dead links for all of the images that were supposed to be "hideous old watercolors". Perhaps one of you can help me - do they in any way resemble the character art from Final Fantasy 6? Because that art was extremely beautiful and elegant.

FFCompendium is down at the moment, they should show up sooner or later.

The FF4 art resembles the FF6 art, as does the FF5 art, though the previous two games have a certain wispy quality to them more pronounced than in the FF6 art; it's kind of like you're looking into a dream where the human form has been modified by the tossings and turnings of the dreamer, made slimmer, more ethereal.

The older stuff is more concrete - the further back you go the more concrete it gets - and has a greater resemblance to a too-real nightmare of golds and reds and greens. It still has his take on the human form, but everything looks more solid.

[Crazyswordsman]

FFCompendium is down, well, let me give some more shameless self-promotion. =CSM

[Sim Kid]

I'm getting dead links for all of the images that were supposed to be "hideous old watercolors". Perhaps one of you can help me - do they in any way resemble the character art from Final Fantasy 6? Because that art was extremely beautiful and elegant.

They were done by the same artist, but I liked 6's artwork. I felt it was more realistic, especially Cyan and Sabin's artwork.

[Wyborn]

Back up.

The art of Princess Sara alone.