Is it just me or does the official character artwork of gens 4-6 make the characters look older?

[Ettenmoor]

This is Ethan. Say hi, Ethan.

Ethan looks pretty much like an 11, maybe 12 year old. Sounds about right, doesn't it?

This is also Ethan.
Say hi again, please.

(image is gone for me idk if it is for you guys too)
Hmm. Ethan does not look like an 11 year old. Ethan looks a bit older than he should be.

This isn't just limited to Ethan, though. Hilbert, Hilda, Nate, Rosa, Calem, and Serena all strike me as more "older" designs. Brendan and May, too, a little bit, in their redesigns. Anyone notice this too?

 

[Orion☆]

I do concede the point here. Stylistically, all of them do look like older kids. However, according to the artists, at the very least the BW, BW2 and XY player characters are supposed to be older - the Unova protags are more or less 14-15 years old, and the Kalos protags are around 16. And as for Brendan/May, they did already look older than their canonical 12 in their RSE artwork, so I'd boil it down to tradition.

Still, that leaves us with Ethan and Lyra, and there's no explanation for those two. I would like to assume they're 11-12, but the artwork does make them look the age of the Unova protags. It is especially strange on account of two player characters you didn't mention - Lucas and Dawn, who do look around 11. I don't dislike it, but Sugimori's old art style did nail the protags' ages better.