Real men will immediately appreciate the Watercolor of Ys Poster (2600x1572 .jpg) ▼ for both its character design—note the curiously elongated limbs, for example—as well as its unabashed use of watercolor in portraying the slender waifs who populate the land of Ys. Wait, waifs?!
TECHNIQUE: Is it gouache? Or watercolor? Perhaps suibokuga (ink wash painting)? A gorgeous poster, by any standard. Look, for example, at Adol's bold, crimson-velvet pajamas… How gauche! How gouache!
HIROSHI: Who is Hiroshi? Just above the upper-left hand corner of the illustration it reads, "Guest Illustrated by Hiroshi" (or possibly "Hiroshi Thujone"). Who is Hiroshi? What other work has he/she done?
This beautiful watercolor painting is a lie. The sprite designs in Ys are anything but waif-like. In the actual game, Adol is a short, stocky hero who scuttles about countrysides and dungeons like a nimble, stout little Sherman tank. Perhaps Adol's bulky armor is to blame for the heft in his sprite design? Regardless, Adol is anything but svelte in the the game proper. Not even the cinemas in Ys IV portray Adol as the curiously elongated hero seen above.
Continued below…
WORK IN PROGRESS…▲
…
Detail: …
…
▲
Return to top of page…