The Official Art.

[Foxy-Woxy The Sandwich Scout]

I won't lie, one of the things which has kept me hooked to Fire Emblem is the official art. Since Blazing Sword, I've been something of an addict. I have all the art from Blazing Sword through Radiant Dawn saved on my computer, and believe me, I have that folder open whenever my computer is on.

Which is why I am unhappy.

I decided I'd look up some of the official art for Shadow Dragon, since I hadn't seen any, and figured there had to be at least one or two token works of Marth and Sheeda lurking around somewhere. When I found the art, I was at first impressed by the staggering level of detail in the clothing, but after looking at the other aspects of the picture... I quickly went screaming into the night. Just what the fuck happened? Having seen the steady increase in quality over past titles, I had only assumed the next step would likely be competing with fucking renaissance art. Hyperboles aside, this is undoubtedly a step back for the Fire Emblem series, especially considering how the art bears almost no resemblance to the characters it's based off of. Compare Camus' official art to his in-game portrait. You wouldn't be able to tell they were the same person were it not for their clothes!

Since Rekka no Ken, and arguably Fuuin, I have held Fire Emblem's art in the highest regard. I have no respect for this campy cartoon drivel.

[Neofox]

We've already been over this.

It's not a downgrade of any kind, or an insult to the series (as some put it), it's just different. Fire Emblem has been a series of tradition, but if they don't start doing things differently people are going to find it boring and repetative. Besides, Masamune Shirow is the one doing the art, which is why it looks so awesome to those weeaboo enough to know who he is (and let's face it, FE needs to bring in more new fans...Shirow helps that cause).

EDIT: Also, Camus looks roughly the same. His official art just has a different pose and expression. They're not going to be a carbon copy of one another.

EDIT2: Also (again), I find it amusing you refer to it as "campy cartoon drivel" when this art is a lot more realistic than previous FE art (which looks more cartoony by comparison).

[VincentASM is too important to have a messed up name]

I'm not a huge fan of this game's official art, but I think it's decent enough and there's worse out there.

I had to admit I was kind of WTF at first, but only because I've been too used to the FE5~10 art style. Since then, I suppose the new art has grown on me.

[hyde]

I wasn't much into this art at first, but that's just because it's a different style. I've actually grown used to it and really love it now (sure beats the original art, IMO).

Besides, Fire Emblem has had completely different artstyles for different games since the beginning of the series. Why would it suddenly be an "insult" to the game? Just because you don't like it doesn't make it bad artwork >_>

[GenG]

I have this theory of mine in which they contacted Shirow after the game was nearly complete and thus the discrepance between in-game and official art. They couldn't afford to redo the portraits and possibly the whole style of the game.

But you can't argue that Shirow's Camus is super sexy. Look the detail of the clothes, the golden embroideries, the awesome combination of suit and pieces of armor, the superb digital colouring, the expression of "I'm the FE baddie you'll dream with"... you know. There are, of course, some iffy things with Shirow's art, like Marth having a wider arm than Ike and looking as a Dinasty Warrior character with those chinese pants. But I'm pretty content with this change of style, it's a shame that it isn't actually in the game.

[VincentASM is too important to have a messed up name]

Wasn't FE8 like the only game to use the OA in the actual game (in the opening)? I know Senri Kita did some of the FE10 face sprites though.

[hyde]

I just noticed the Ike!arms. Yeah, those are sort of overdone, but other than that I'm really amazed by the detail. I never noticed at first, because I didn't enlarge the pictures.

Also, it's fun seeing a different artist's take on the characters. I mean, there's no canon look for them. After all, Marth went from no pants to thick Chinese pants!

[Charliecane]

I wasn't too thrilled with the art at first, but I had a slight change of heart after seeing the high-res images. The detail of the clothing and weapons is amazing, but I'm not too thrilled with how the faces are drawn. There's something about Oguma's face in particular that irks me.

[Popo]

Yikes...! This is the first time I'm seeing such high-quality versions of the official art. Maybe it's my eye as an artist, but am I the only one here who thinks that the art looks terribly disjointed in places? For instance, if you give that picture of Camus a good once-over, you can see where they very obviously switched between what looks like 3D modeling and digital painting. His face looks soft--like it was done with an airbrush style--whereas the rest of his form is really stiff and three-dimensional, as though everything from the lines to the texture effects were completely fabricated by the computer. Look at all the gilding on his shoulders and chest, and the use of textures overlays on his clothing--it looks completely different from the style used to draw his hair/face.

Short Version: It looks like they made a body in 3ds Max, drew a head in Photoshop, and stuck the two together. 

Thankfully, it's harder to notice from far away.

[Charliecane]

It looks like they made a body in 3ds Max, drew a head in Photoshop, and stuck the two together.

I noticed that as well. Maybe that's why the faces look so awkward to me.

[Foxy-Woxy The Sandwich Scout]

Wasn't FE8 like the only game to use the OA in the actual game (in the opening)?

I'm pretty sure they did something similar in the opening of Radiant Dawn. Somehow I recall a 2-D Pelleas flying all over the screen...

[Shirona]

I'm pretty sure they did something similar in the opening of Radiant Dawn. Somehow I recall a 2-D Pelleas flying all over the screen...

The FE10 opening had 2D art of everyone flying around.

[FE3_Player]

Shirow's art is used in the intros and cutscenes of FEDS.

[GenG]

Shirow's art is used in the intros and cutscenes of FEDS.

I didn't know that, but I still think it's a total waste of amazing artwork. I wonder if they'll release an artbook.

[FE3_Player]

Yeah.  Just look at Marth and Maric's designs in the intro.  Those are both Shirow, his way of drawing Marth's pants and the fact that his Maric design is actually closer to the original than the in-game portrait.

[Saaji]

The art takes a little getting used to...especially since I just fell in love in the art from 5-10 but this style isnt as foreign feeling as some act. It just alot darker and alot more detailed compared to the artists we've gotten use to.

Shirow is the artist's name right? Well I must say the detail of the weaponry and clothing is just amazing when you look at it in the full res picture.... I wonder if we'll be lucky enough to see artwork for all the characters this time around.

[Rewjeo]

Actually, it's less detailed (or at least their faces) and it's pretty cartoony. They're faces not only don't match their bodies, but horribly lacking in detail and totally lack any realism beyond the fact that there are eyes, noses, and mouths. Well, to put it simply, they look like adapted anime meets overly-detailed artwork.

[Saaji]

Actually, it's less detailed (or at least their faces) and it's pretty cartoony. They're faces not only don't match their bodies, but horribly lacking in detail and totally lack any realism beyond the fact that there are eyes, noses, and mouths. Well, to put it simply, they look like adapted anime meets overly-detailed artwork.

I disagree quite a bit.  Unless you wanted a bunch of unneeded line work and details on the faces. If you're looking only at Marth's artwork and using that to decide how the entire style looks I think thats horribly wrong. Cause I'll agree with you on Marth's face being a bit plan compared to the very elaborate details his clothing and sword has, however Minerva ,Nina, Garnef and well pretty much the rest of the artwork doesnt suffer from this issue... in my opinion at least.

Going on about Marth's Official artwork I feel like  Shirow might over over did it with him but the other artwork doesnt seem to be so over the top on details on clothing/armor....