mark_asphodel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mark_asphodel) wrote2012-07-19 12:46 pm
mark_asphodel) wrote2012-07-19 12:46 pm
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FE4 Fanart: The Brady Bunch Effect
No, this isn't about stepsiblings making out.
One thing I've found a LOT of in FE4's subfandom in particular is what I call "Brady Bunch" art-- all the playable cast, plus select enemies and NPC, tucked into little boxes. At first it struck me as some weird and vaguely boring exercise, until I realized it had to be a "thing." There's a pattern to it, as some blank templates attest. The order of the characters is always the same, and then at the end there's like, places to put the artist's favorite skill and favorite pairing, or something like that.
After I got that, I started to enjoy it. Some are indeed dull, but others are infused with a great deal of personality. Some are line-drawing cartoons or downright sketchtastic, while others are a tad more elaborate. Some are subdued in presentation, while others stray "outside the box" in a literal sense, as characters interact with one another. There's usually a degree of favoritism or apparent anti-favoritism displayed, or elements of WTF. Consequently, they end up being an insight into the artist and their biases, and become entertaining even when the artist has clear limitations at, say, doing character mouths.
Mind you, I think I like some formats for ensemble pieces better in concept (I think this sort is called "Trust Me"?), but these Brady Bunch things do have some charm. I seem to have lost the link to one of the cutest versions, a black-and-white line art one that had a pleasing cartoon style for most characters, but full-blown manga detail for Julia and the artist's other pets. It also had the Most Pathetic Tinny Ever, which is saying a lot!
And some of them are super fricking weird. This artist did both Gen1 and Gen2, and it's just... bizarre. I never thought of Scrabblebits as a Robert Smith-from-The-Cure kind of rock star before. Hannibal looks like Da Vinci's self portrait. Altenna looks like she's modeling perfume. I don't even know what to make of Aideen.
[Gen 2 artists get props for including the sub kiddies. Some do, some don't.]
Got more?
One thing I've found a LOT of in FE4's subfandom in particular is what I call "Brady Bunch" art-- all the playable cast, plus select enemies and NPC, tucked into little boxes. At first it struck me as some weird and vaguely boring exercise, until I realized it had to be a "thing." There's a pattern to it, as some blank templates attest. The order of the characters is always the same, and then at the end there's like, places to put the artist's favorite skill and favorite pairing, or something like that.
After I got that, I started to enjoy it. Some are indeed dull, but others are infused with a great deal of personality. Some are line-drawing cartoons or downright sketchtastic, while others are a tad more elaborate. Some are subdued in presentation, while others stray "outside the box" in a literal sense, as characters interact with one another. There's usually a degree of favoritism or apparent anti-favoritism displayed, or elements of WTF. Consequently, they end up being an insight into the artist and their biases, and become entertaining even when the artist has clear limitations at, say, doing character mouths.
Mind you, I think I like some formats for ensemble pieces better in concept (I think this sort is called "Trust Me"?), but these Brady Bunch things do have some charm. I seem to have lost the link to one of the cutest versions, a black-and-white line art one that had a pleasing cartoon style for most characters, but full-blown manga detail for Julia and the artist's other pets. It also had the Most Pathetic Tinny Ever, which is saying a lot!
And some of them are super fricking weird. This artist did both Gen1 and Gen2, and it's just... bizarre. I never thought of Scrabblebits as a Robert Smith-from-The-Cure kind of rock star before. Hannibal looks like Da Vinci's self portrait. Altenna looks like she's modeling perfume. I don't even know what to make of Aideen.
[Gen 2 artists get props for including the sub kiddies. Some do, some don't.]
Got more?