I’ve always been a bit curious on the process behind modeling characters like Shulk from Xenoblade chronicles, Characters from the Final Fantasy series, and Kingdom Hearts. It seems like many of these characters have a balance of realism and a slight cartoony look. (More below)
(Above: Cloud/FF7R, Kairi/Kingdom Hearts 2, Yuna/Final Fantasy X)
Are these characters modeled with a reference and then tweaked to look more anime-like? What sort of references do they use? And how do they get the balance between realism and slight anime right? It seems quite difficult to model or create something in this style, so I’m very curious how developers go about it. Any feedback is welcome!
What it really comes down to is stylization, stylization is a process of both simplification and exaggeration, but everything is based off of reality. Anime characters have exaggerated features, big eyes, pointed nose and chins, or sometimes very round chins if they’re chibi, etc.
Final fantasy goes for realism, in lighting, details such as clothing and skin pores and hair strands. But mostly it is design and anatomy that is simplified/exaggerated. Characters in final fantasy have more attractive, and usually more feminine qualities, including for the male characters. Smaller noses, bigger eyes, lack of creases in the face, etc.
How they do it is another story, it’s about how you as an artist make design choices really.
Hmm, I suppose that’s true. So I guess there are different ways to go about it, as long as you aim for that specific style?
