Wow! Talk about one from the vault! This goes a good 14 or so years back! Anyways, I remember looking at some of those Capcom games, like Street Fighter and man, I couldn’t understand why in the heck the guys had such big bodies, BIG hands, and tiny tiny weeeee little heads! I know I know, it’s a stylistic thing, but I see this style in a lot of games/comics/and other genres and it’s just really frustrating! It seem like they make up muscles!
But the real kicker is the hand to head ratios… If you have hands big enough to crush your own head, then you’re doing something wrong! (and it’s not like your hands magically grow as your muscle mass grows… just look at some of those tiny hands body builders have!) So I always thought this is what would happen to those characters. >)
Some stylized bodies do look weird, but I don’t really think it really matters if it’s just an art style – well, some styles look more appealing than others, but it’s a highly subjective matter.
What I do think one should be careful with is the art style used for minors, there seems to be a link between eating disorders and highly anorectic characters. I do admit that I haven’t fully followed the research on the subject, but from what I’ve heard many minors are affected by ultra slim and ultra beef ideals. There are apparently quite many whom feel that their normally sized bodies are too big and therefore feel anxiety over not fitting into the ideal. This weird body ideal is not only in art form, but also a problem on the catwalk; some of the magazines (here in Sweden) for minors and young adults have actually started to photoshop anorectic looking models so they look more naturally shaped.
All in all, if one wants to draw weird bodies on their characters, then I say let them (it is art after all). But maybe those characters aimed for kids should be representing the natural looks rather than an unreachable ideal, at least until the persons in the target audience are old enough to be satisfied with their own bodies.
true I suppose… it’s kind of difficult to classify what is and is not art appropriate for kids. hell, the definition of appropriateness has changed a lot over the years. for instance, Dot from Reboot had to have a “monoboob” because they felt she was a little too sexy… and there are things like the Sistine Chapel that have all kinds of naked and it’s in, well, a place where all ages walk through.
however you are right, the “ideals” are more important than anything, cause you don’t need a bunch of anorexic kids with eating disorders because of some cartoon. humans, in general, don’t seem to ever like how they look, but trying to change yourself to match something that’s not physically or safely attainable isn’t something we should want to be pushing at kids.
There is style and there is ”I have no talent on making a decent model ! ”
The Stylized games go full commitment throught the game like The Walking Dead from Telltale…that game has Style.
But mostly, the Style angle is played when the technology is grown enough to let the companies make ”realistic” designs. And as you might know…too much realism in a game will make it BORING… I mean we escape realism to find a safe harbor in games….Soo thats where ”Stylized” games come in and say ” yea we know technology can do it but we also now this style will make the game look better with gameplay and story and setting etc etc… ”
So if they have a basic design in-mind and can actually explain …then thats cool but if they have no explaination and just did it because they can’t design a proper model…well than that is their incompetence.
I am not really bothered that much on Big Jacked up dudes in games with misportions ( better their hands than their…..you know ) but in real life…it kinda makes me cringe :D
I guess it all depends on the game. some can do it really well, though some fall a bit short. though I can say you can pick a Capcom game out of a line out 10 miles away, so overstylized or not, they did something right.
In my group of friends, the line for characters like that was always (in the Arnold weightlifter voice) “OMG! My arms are too big! I cannot even wipe my own ass!”
GEET TO DA CHAPA!!!!
I agree! any buff person MUST speak in a thick Austrian accent!