Japanese BW art vs US
Doom
Why does 90 percent of the box art for our US BW figures just...suck?
The Japanese box art on the figures I have is awesome...very similar to the
CGI of the show, and very dynamic. The US stuff looks like it was scribbled
with colored pencils instead of looking like high-tech Transformers.
Although G1 had some box-art stinkers also, most of them looked really good
(very slick and "techno" looking). How did we lose quality from G1?
ViceGripX
I've asked myself the same thing. The only thing I can come up with is
that even bad artists need work and so the work is licensed out to various
individuals (as I seem to notice that they can't be drawn by the same
person, because they should have improved by now and the first series from
the first year of BW toys had decent art) who can get the basics of the toy
down (hence the TM2 Cybershark art looking like a traced image of the toy).
But, that's my opinion. Not like I can do better. Now, if it were up
to me, I'd have Dan Khanna do all the box art. Of course, then he wouldn't
be able to do fan art for us. So, whatcha gonna do? :)
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Wonko the Sane
> Why does 90 percent of the box art for our US BW figures just...suck?
90%? I think that's a bit high. Most box art is fairly
impressive, especially during the "Fuzors & Transmetals" phase and the
first year of Beast Wars toy.
> The Japanese box art on the figures I have is awesome...very similar to the
> CGI of the show, and very dynamic. The US stuff looks like it was scribbled
It looks like CGI because it *is* CGI. The Japanese were taken
with the idea of a CGI show (until season two) and decided to emulate that
on the toy packaging, creating a greater "mental association" between the
toys and the shows with kids and fans.
> with colored pencils instead of looking like high-tech Transformers.
You're right, but remember that the US goes much more for the
techno-organic look. Look at the original Dinobot illustration for
instance, the head is clearly a robot head, but the rest of the
illustration is mostly organic, and if you look at the toy, it itself is
mostly organic as well.
The exceptions to this are toys such as Optimal Optimus and
Transmetal Megatron who do appear more robotic. However for the most
part, the illustrators try to focus on the more organic looking aspects,
after all, the "cybernetic fusion of cybertronic technology and organics"
is one of the selling points of Beast Wars.
> Although G1 had some box-art stinkers also, most of them looked really good
> (very slick and "techno" looking). How did we lose quality from G1?
Tough to say that considering that the artist who worked on the
original Transformers illustrations is *still* on the line to this day.
That's right, the guy that drew the classic Inferno probably drew the new
Beast Wars one too! :)
Benson Yee
bg...@is2.nyu.edu
JHooksX
>original Transformers illustrations is *still* on the line to this day.
>That's right, the guy that drew the classic Inferno probably drew the new
>Beast Wars one too! :)
Really? I thought that the original Transformers artist was working on a lot of
the concept art and designs for Hasbro, but not the box art for the toys. The
styles are *very* different; the Beast Wars artist has less of a scope for
dimensions and boldness as the original G1 artist.
But if he *is* doing more than design work for the toys, then his style has
changed a lot... for the worst. :/
(X)
Jordan S Derber
Wonko the Sane <bg...@is2.nyu.edu> wrote:
>Doom (paty...@pilot.msu.edu) wrote:
>> Why does 90 percent of the box art for our US BW figures just...suck?
>
> 90%? I think that's a bit high. Most box art is fairly
>impressive, especially during the "Fuzors & Transmetals" phase and the
>first year of Beast Wars toy.
>
do prefer the Japanese artwork. The US artwork just seems too sloppy.
>> The Japanese box art on the figures I have is awesome...very similar to the
>> CGI of the show, and very dynamic. The US stuff looks like it was scribbled
>
> It looks like CGI because it *is* CGI. The Japanese were taken
>with the idea of a CGI show (until season two) and decided to emulate that
>on the toy packaging, creating a greater "mental association" between the
>toys and the shows with kids and fans.
>
And of course this would be out of the question for the US, where creating
any link between a toy and it's so-called half hour commercials is taboo.
</sarcasm>
But seriously though, I don't see why Hasbro keeps letting this 2nd-rate
artwork grace their BW packaging. One of the advantages Takara has over
Hasbro (aside from having more talented artists at their disposal,
seemingly) is being able to view the designs for the CGI show in advance
before they design the box art. What I would do if I was Hasbro is just
go straight to Mainframe for the box art.
>> with colored pencils instead of looking like high-tech Transformers.
>
> You're right, but remember that the US goes much more for the
>techno-organic look. Look at the original Dinobot illustration for
>instance, the head is clearly a robot head, but the rest of the
>illustration is mostly organic, and if you look at the toy, it itself is
>mostly organic as well.
>
Well, that style of artwork may be fine for 19th century impressionist
paintings or something, but I'm too spoiled by the Japanese and G1
box art. The artwork done for Dinobot in Japan (before they started using
CGI) is much better IMHO, and still looks organic.
>> Although G1 had some box-art stinkers also, most of them looked really good
>> (very slick and "techno" looking). How did we lose quality from G1?
>
> Tough to say that considering that the artist who worked on the
>original Transformers illustrations is *still* on the line to this day.
>That's right, the guy that drew the classic Inferno probably drew the new
>Beast Wars one too! :)
>
Well, I don't think the person who drew G1 Inferno is still at Hasbro,
considering the artwork for that Inferno was drawn for the Diaclone line
by someone working for Takara. But it is some consolidation that a G1
artist is still at Hasbro. But if he did the character box art for G1 and
he's doing the same thing for BW, he's not doing as good a job IMHO.
Must not be getting paid as much or something. Do you know who exactly it
is, and which artwork he did?
Jordan Derber (H-K)
jsd...@pitt.edu
ViceGripX
:
: Tough to say that considering that the artist who worked on the
: original Transformers illustrations is *still* on the line to this day.
: That's right, the guy that drew the classic Inferno probably drew the new
: Beast Wars one too! :)
Not to try and sound like I know anything, but are your sure about that?
My impression is that most of the G1 box art came from the Diaclone line
(for the Takara imports). I just kind of find it a stretch that the same
guy who did the Diaclone/G1 packaging art is doing the Beast Wars art as
well. Usually, you can see a pattern in style when the same artist does
various work. There seems to be no similarity at all between the style of
G1 Starscream's picture and TM2 Cybershark's pic. Sure, many years have
passed since the Daiclone/G1 days. I would expect his/her skill would
increase over the years but if it is the same person, s/he really let
his/her talent go downhill for the most part.
That's just my opinion though and I certainly am not an expert at art as I
can't even draw a straight line with a ruler! :)
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Pyre[Rock]
>
> Just thought I'd ask this (I'm sure the debate has raged before...)
>
> CGI of the show, and very dynamic. The US stuff looks like it was scribbled
> (very slick and "techno" looking). How did we lose quality from G1?
I agree somewhat. I very much prefer the Takara boxart than the Hasbro
boxart. That's one thing that really stands out on the Takara packaging
and I wish that Hasbro would do the same. I think it would improve the
packaging alot. But I do believe that some of the BW art was good.
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Wonko the Sane
> Not to try and sound like I know anything, but are your sure about that?
I was being silly, but seriously, the G1 artist who worked on
older pieces such as Pretenders and Headmasters is indeed on the BW line.
Much of the original art did come from the Diaclone line.
This is what I've been told by the folks at Hasbro, so I trust'em.
Maybe they themselves are wrong, but until I hear otherwise, I'll stick by
this.
Benson Yee
bg...@is2.nyu.edu
ViceGripX
: ViceGripX ...
: > Not to try and sound like I know anything, but are your sure about
that?
:
: I was being silly, but seriously, the G1 artist who worked on
: older pieces such as Pretenders and Headmasters is indeed on the BW line.
: Much of the original art did come from the Diaclone line.
oic, Well now don't I feel all silly. Thanks for straightening me out Ben
:)
: This is what I've been told by the folks at Hasbro, so I trust'em.
: Maybe they themselves are wrong, but until I hear otherwise, I'll stick
by
: this.
Good enough for me. :) And, thanks again for clearing the matter for me :)
Túrin
>
> ViceGripX (v...@wildrun.com) wrote:
> > Not to try and sound like I know anything, but are your sure about that?
>
> I was being silly, but seriously, the G1 artist who worked on
> older pieces such as Pretenders and Headmasters is indeed on the BW line.
> Much of the original art did come from the Diaclone line.
Ah, but those are late G1, probably people are comparing BW art to '84,
'85, '86 art.
Túrin
Robert Powers
> I was being silly, but seriously, the G1 artist who worked on
>older pieces such as Pretenders and Headmasters is indeed on the BW line.
Really?? That's... wierd. The box art for the Pretenders was simply
the best in all of G1, no matter what you might think of the toys
themselves. Box art on BW, by contrast, has been consistently
disapointing. I can't really put my finger on what it is, but the art
seems cheap, flat, and/or crude to me. I have never liked it... hardly
any of the box pictures make me say "COOL!" the way the G1 illistrations
did.
Ah well, I guess it's worth it. I'd rather have the toy inside be
cooler than the package art -- which is the case with BW -- than the other
way around, which was generally how G1 worked...
--
Robert Powers of the Ever-Changing .sig
repo...@shell.faradic.net
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/6754 [Architecture & misc.]
http://members.tripod.com/repowers/ [Transformers]_____
| Who is not nearly as posable as his package art |
|_would lead you to believe ___________________________|
arkn...@my-dejanews.com
"ViceGripX" <v...@wildrun.com> wrote:
> Wonko the Sane wrote...
> :
> : Tough to say that considering that the artist who worked on the
> : original Transformers illustrations is *still* on the line to this day.
> : That's right, the guy that drew the classic Inferno probably drew the new
> : Beast Wars one too! :)
>
> (for the Takara imports). I just kind of find it a stretch that the same
> guy who did the Diaclone/G1 packaging art is doing the Beast Wars art as
> well. Usually, you can see a pattern in style when the same artist does
> various work. There seems to be no similarity at all between the style of
> G1 Starscream's picture and TM2 Cybershark's pic. Sure, many years have
> passed since the Daiclone/G1 days. I would expect his/her skill would
> increase over the years but if it is the same person, s/he really let
> his/her talent go downhill for the most part.
>
> That's just my opinion though and I certainly am not an expert at art as I
> can't even draw a straight line with a ruler! :)
Okay, let's let the old Art Director in here!
First, from what I've seen, VG is correct. All the old Diaclone stuff I've
seen has the original G1 artwork on it - or visa-versa.
Second, Hasbro wouldn't have done the artwork in shop. This is what
freelancers are for. This also explains why the artwork differs from series
to series. The freelancer would be working from models provided by Hasbro or
Takara for these characters (THESE would have been probably in-house
creations).
One thing I noticed from some of the BW packages, whoever did some of the
early artwork must have drawn these figures small. Cheetor, with his three
variations to his package artwork is a good example. The same drawing of
Cheets is used on all three versions. On one of the cards, Cheetor is shown
rather large, and the artwork got gritty and rough. As they shrunk the
picture, the roughness cleaned up (an artist's well known trick). So, for
those who may draw stuff like this in the future, draw large, reduce for
clarity!
Early BW stuff does look like a Prismacolor rendering, rather than the
airbrushed gauche and watercolor work used on the G1 series. G2 started
seeing the use of CGI work, especially in the Go-Bots series, where the
characters changed colors between card simply by the click of a mouse!
Ain't artwork grand?
ArkNorth
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Rory B. Bellows
Wonko the Sane wrote in message <7du3q6$f93$1...@news.nyu.edu>...
>ViceGripX (v...@wildrun.com) wrote:
>> Not to try and sound like I know anything, but are your sure about that?
>
>older pieces such as Pretenders and Headmasters is indeed on the BW line.
How about the figures from Microman.
John "Gatorade" Wilcox aka Rory B. Bellows