The Tetsuya Nomura Over design

[Lulcielid]

I've followed Verendus' posts for so long and thoroughly, now, that at this point I'm 100% sure he's pretty high-up at Sony to know this much. After this E3 there is no doubt that, though he trolls a lot and speaks cryptically, he however never makes up stuff and of course he emphasized that some projects are subject to last-minute change and maybe won't get announced exactly when he said so (he usually updates his information in the case there's going to be bigger changes to Sony's release schedule).

This is the list you should be watching for the next years - two of the bolded he can't yet say for certain, but he won't say which one:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=169350163&postcount=13930

This is his post with the list before E3 with a few extra info regarding the "JRPG #"s and others:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=166482193

After E3 some of them turned out to be the following:
New SE console RPG IP = Project Setsuna
Square Enix crossover game = Nier 2 (SE & Platinum crossover)
New Naval RPG = Sea of Thieves

Thanks for the links, still even if he has a good track record of getting things right, word of god takes more priority to me.

 

[buddhafied]

People complaining about Nomura's over design ? Then god help them if they see Amano's work

See, the thing is, I don't see Amano's design as overdesign. This artwork of his (above) as an example, there is a lot going on for sure, but a lot of interesting things is happening. It's busy, but you feel that everything placed there for a reason. Plus the detail of each of the monsters (summons?) is exceptional. And even that, you can still find the vocal point immediately. Your eyes gets drawn into the humanoid.

Nomura's design is less busy arguably but often I felt his art is a "trail and error" piece instead of deliberately making a certain thing that way. That not to say it is the case actually for him, but I think that's why people criticize over his work (at least earlier work).

I respect both of them though and frankly, when I was younger, I dislike Amano's art style.

 

[Lulcielid]

See, the thing is, I don't see Amano's design as overdesign. This artwork of his (above) as an example, there is a lot going on for sure, but a lot of interesting things is happening. It's busy, but you feel that everything placed there for a reason. Plus the detail of each of the monsters (summons?) is exceptional. And even that, you can still find the vocal point immediately. Your eyes gets drawn into the humanoid.

Nomura's design is less busy arguably but often I felt his art is a "trail and error" piece instead of deliberately making a certain thing that way. That not to say it is the case actually for him, but I think that's why people criticize over his work (at least earlier work).

I respect both of them though and frankly, when I was younger, I dislike Amano's art style.

What i like about his "trail and error" is that it gives variety to his artstyle despite sharing some traits.

 

[buddhafied]

What i like about his "trail and error" is that it gives variety to his artstyle despite sharing some traits.

So true. And by now, some of his "trial and error" elements also become his signature (ie: zippers and belts). His style definitely evolved more and have better range over time.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

People complaining about Nomura's over design ? Then god help them if they see Amano's work

When I look at each creature in the heptaptych piece, I don't see any over design. I see dynamic poses and simplistic designs. They're not really heavily decorative or anything like that either.

By over design, you must be talking about how busy the overall piece looks because there is a lot going on. If we're only talking about creature/character designs, then you have to separate each design in that piece and look at them individually. It's only fair.

So perhaps use an Amano piece where it's just the character/creature by itself or use a Nomura piece with multiple characters/creatures on it.

And personally, the one with all the fruit is something I don't really consider to be concept art. It's doing something else. It's more fine artsy.

 

[Infest]

It's often a little weird when people compare some of Nomura's works to those from Amano because they often forget ( or they don't know?!) that Nomura is most of his time "just" the character designer. He usually doesn't draw landscapes or fancy logos like Amano. You can't compare those drawings with single character designs.

And by any means, Amano is definitely not an innocent when it comes to "over designing" .


But I don't see a problem here. I also like those designs and I don't know why so many people are bashing those "over designed" outfits. It's often just supposed to look more stylish and it doesn't want to be 1000% realistic in the first place. It's pretty common in a lot of japanese designs.

 

[Jenova]

Am I the only one who genuinely likes Amano's designs?

 

[buddhafied]

Am I the only one who genuinely likes Amano's designs?

I do as well. His design fits very well with medieval and steampunk fantasy themes.

 

[Lulcielid]

Am I the only one who genuinely likes Amano's designs?

I like Amano´s style (though Nomura is more of my taste) but i dislike a lot when i see people comments prizing him like if he were DaVinci and trash Nomura as if he were a generic mangaka, in the same sentence.

 

[FootloosePhoenix]

I like Nomura's work. His character designs are part of the charm of Final Fantasy for me. There's some legitimate criticism to be had, of course, but every once in awhile, it's fun to just suspend your disbelief and get enveloped in something that's unique and out of this world. Belts and all.

 

[gsedgemanx]

Am I the only one who genuinely likes Amano's designs?

Nope! He was my first favorite Artist.

 

[gsedgemanx]

I like Nomura's work. His character designs are part of the charm of Final Fantasy for me. There's some legitimate criticism to be had, of course, but every once in awhile, it's fun to just suspend your disbelief and get enveloped in something that's unique and out of this world. Belts and all.

This.

 

[Fin]

I don't find Nomura's Final Fantasy (not counting any KH or other games/mediums) characters to be over designed. The original designs of FFVII and VIII are even simplistic compared to most things you see these days.

I think the outlier here is FFX that was full of bright colors and ornate designs. It probably looks over designed from western sensibilities but if you keep in mind that the main visual inspirations were places like Okinawa, Bali, Thailand etc. it makes a little more sense. They also wanted to test the graphics limitations I guess.

That's not to say that some of the design choices aren't nonsensical or stupid. I guess if you really wanted to reach for some kind of rationalization, Tidus' pants look dumb as hell but maybe it was trending in Zanarkand, like sagging pants. Lulu looks really out of place but... eh idk she's the goth one who cares. Maybe covering yourself in belts is a sign of mourning in Yevon. But then there's Nooj who just looks disgusting lol. X-2 had a lot of stupid designs but I guess it fit into the campy tone.

Say what you will about XIII, but I liked the character designs for the most part.

I don't know what to say about XV because I'm not sure what's been designed by Nomura and what's related to the other designers/that fashion brand etc. anymore. I liked the VXIII designs I saw, if that counts.

Also while Nomura and Amano are both illustrators they have very different styles and roles in the development of FF games. Amano does concept/image illustrations and Nomura focuses more on making the commercial, defined illustrations that become a blueprint for what is seen in the game itself. Even in the NES-SNES era where Amano was more prominent as a designer, someone else adapted the characters into more "usable" designs which is why we have green hair Terra.

 

[buddhafied]

The original designs of FFVII and VIII are even simplistic compared to most things you see these days.

Nomura did openly say, in an interview, that his design in FFVII was not completely his style because he has to compensate the limitation of PS1 and the graphic technology at that point. I think he even said he had to really tone down his style, which meant he had to edit down.

 

[gsedgemanx]

Nomura did openly say, in an interview, that his design in FFVII was not completely his style because he has to compensate the limitation of PS1 and the graphic technology at that point. I think he even said he had to really tone down his style, which meant he had to edit down.

"The PS1 can only render so many belts and zippers . . ." Nomura said, disappointed.

 

[Fin]

Aside from Lulu and maybe Paine (I don't remember what she looks like except for gray hair) which characters are decked out in belts and zippers? Maybe it's a side effect of growing up loving Edward Scissorhands and Digimon, but I feel like Nomura's designs aren't there yet.

I am more bothered by the clown shoes and hundreds of teeth in KH but I get they were going for a certain look and wanted to mesh with Disney characters at the same time.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Am I the only one who genuinely likes Amano's designs?

Nope. Both Nomura and Amano are great in their own right. When it comes to Final Fantasy though, I personally prefer Amano. His graceful line work and simplistic forms that he will sometimes exaggerate creates a nice dreamy fantasy style that I just like.