5th Gen Advent of New Art Style In BW?

Advent of New Sugimori Art Style In BW?

Um...I don't know where this question would be best posed...it primarily relates to BW, I think, but Pokemon General might be an alternative if this isn't suitable for the BW subforum.

Anyway...I was looking at Iris's artwork by the artist Ken Sugimori , and the style looked a bit different from what I'm used to. I checked the Bulbagarden Archives for any other images, but most of those seemed to be anime-influenced images. For comparison, here is Iris and Touko/White (another BW character from the same game as Iris) alongside Dawn, the female player character from Generation IV (who, IMO, is similar in stature to Iris):

Iris:

Touko/White:


Dawn (spoilered due to size):

Personally, what I typically use to identify Sugimori artwork are the eyes. Dawn and Touko's eyes look very similar with an oval/elliptical, evoking the art style used since FireRed/LeafGreen, IIRC. From what I have read, Sugimori's two art styles to date have been the Akira Toriyama-ish artwork from RBY to GSC (and Ruby/Sapphire to an extent) and the newer developed artwork from FRLG to HGSS.

With BW, however, the artwork seems to be a developing into a new style. Iris's eyes look different than Dawn and Touko's and has a more circular shape, from my perspective, with the image seeming to have a different feel overall. Other Gym Leaders and non-playable characters seem to display this attribute as well, but I am avoiding spoilers for the most part, and Iris was the first one I encountered the change.

Anyway, I was surprised and intrigued because I thought the rest of the artwork would be consistent with Touya and Touko's style, but apparently they partially seem like oddballs when compared to other BW characters.

So, discuss if you think Sugimori's artwork is changing with BW. Is it evolving into a new style that we could be seeing more of in the years to come?

I can't really tell the difference between the old and new Sugimori artwork styles, to be honest, other than the eyes.

Forever said:

Something about Iris' art feels "off", but I can't quite put my finger on it, though.

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There is difference...but I don't think it's massive. Just something off....

actually do you think Iris looks almost disney like? More so than the other two girls anyway.

The colours used on Iris seem much brighter and less subdued than on the other two girls too.

I love the new change. The characters look way better, they're gorgous =3

PlatinumDude said:

I can't really tell the difference between the old and new Sugimori artwork styles, to be honest, other than the eyes.

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Well if you're talking about the RBY to GSC styled art, it's a lot more "blocky" and squared off compared to todays artwork of the characters.

But the newer stuff compared to the supposed BW style seems the same to me. I honestly can't see it... maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

One thing's for sure, I think Sugimori's depiction of Iris is disgraceful >__> She looks 10 and... just look at her!

Yes, I think we all know Sugimori's art is changing and he doesn't deserve to draw my favorite characters.

JP said:

Well if you're talking about the RBY to GSC styled art, it's a lot more "blocky" and squared off compared to todays artwork of the characters.

But the newer stuff compared to the supposed BW style seems the same to me. I honestly can't see it... maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

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No, I wasn't comparing the R/B/Y/G/S/C to the newer gens; I was comparing the Gen IV art and the Gen V art. They look similar to me.

I can see where you're coming from with the character design changes, and I think that for what it's worth, it does look pretty decent. Definitely different - lighter colors overall, not so vibrant. A little thicker lines, I think. And then the eyes.

For what it's worth, my personal favorite Sugimori styles remain I and III, though.

There feels like a difference but I just can't tell what it is...

There's something different about that Iris art. I can't really point at it, but I know there's something different about it when compared to other Gen III-V art, especially when, you know, compared to Touko. Must be the edges and muffled edges that's doing it.

Iris' lines are rounder, her colors are more pastel, and she does have a different coloring style. Perhaps they just drew the characters Black and White early and made everyone else later on...

I can feel like there is something different but every time I look I can't see it.

Yeah, to me it seems off also. It seems more roundish and vibrant.

I've noticed a change for the worse in some of the Pokemon art. One example is Hitomoshi.

To me, it just looks poorly done and I don't really like it. It looks really flat and I think more effort could've been put into it. It just doesn't compare to other Pokemon drawn by Sugi.

I thought that Iris was 10 years old ;-;

I don't really mind the differences, I mean he's probably just experimenting. His style really did change a lot from the RBY days to now...