Just a random art very (and I mean very) loosely inspired by Mario's underwater adventures. This was done yesterday (all ink!) when I can't power-sleep during my lunch break. It's a slightly different style from the usual stuff I did before.



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I'm kind of worried for the Final Fantasy franchise, and probably for all the wrong reasons, but you've got to hear me out:

I'm getting sick of Tetsuya Nomura's art -- there, I said it.

The FF franchise could do some freshening up where art style is concerned. But this guy's clout over Square Enix is too enormous that his style has become some sort of pseudo-mascot for the company's contemporary games. Hell, even Yoshitaka Amano and Akihiko Yoshida's character designs (for FF9 and 12, respectively) both were forced to emulate Nomura's, not to mention a lot of unknowns inside the company. So much for individuality, I guess.

I think Nomura's character designs are becoming a bit bland, similar to Akira Toriyama's increasingly boring output. Or maybe their works have been overexposed and we're just getting tired of seeing familiar styles over and over again.

Wouldn't it be great if they get a new artist every installment? Since official FF titles are not directly related and are basically standalone titles with common (although faint) themes, they can at least risk changing the character designer, too. That'll give each title a flavor of its own, and it will generate more hype (and much forum trolling) with each official announcement.

Hey, Tetsuya! Give yourself a break! (or at least get your own series)