Reference 1: 'The Art of Game Characters' by Leo Hartas.
Inspiration in game design. The books chapter on character creation inspiration in games other and art forms gives the reader insight into how the BIG names in Charater Design create their show stopping characters. Where do they start? And how do they do it? Here are just a few examples from the book!:
Gilles Benois (creator of Starshot by Infogrames):
'From people I know, from people I cross in the street, from characters I like in animated films, actors I like, books and comics I've read.... The video games are too young to propose as many interesting characters as other media do.'
Farzad Varahramyan (Sammy Studios):
'Influences can come from anywhere. Again, listing influences may not be as useful as explaining methodology. We strive to use as much relevant photographic reference as possible that may be appropriate to the character we are designing. I don't care how realistic or alien a design is, you need to visually anchor it. Visual cues are critical to make the audience read into the design and begin to form their own opinions and connections to the character. If you've done your job right, your character design will resonate with most of your audience on some primary and universal levels.'
Siku (Visual Director at Elixir Studios, London):
'Never any game, not ever, a strong no, no! I would rather use games to direct me in what not to do. The idea is too unique, isn't it? My influences comes from the great tradition of phenominal artists before me largely in science fiction and fantasy art, not to mention the great Dutch and Renaissance masters and a couple of some of America's greatest illustrators, notably Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell. There is also a contemporary street sci-fi style out there, born out of the Graffiti-Grunge-Indie music generation. It tends to bend the rules a little. I like looking at stuff like that; they generally tend to be comic-book artists like myself. I find comic-book art more interesting than most contemporary stuff. Of course all media is useful for inspiration.'
Reference 2: Tetsuya Nomura Interview for Final Fantasy XIII.
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http://finalfantasy.cc/News/Final%20Fantasy%2013/The%20Final%20Fantasy%2013%20Tetsuya%20Nomura%20Interview!?task=view)
Tetsuya Nomura (Square-Enix)
The interview focuses on the character design for Lightning, Tetsuya explains in depth about her character!:
Lightning Final Fantasy XIII
Lightning’s muscles and such make an impression, don’t they? She is muscular, but attractive.
Nomura: In drawing Lightning, the most essential thing was that she is a “cool character.” You can’t have a cool character without sex appeal.
What kind of “cool” is she?
Nomura: Serious, and unforgiving, yeah, she is a relentless character, isn’t she? Maybe she is harsh on herself too, but she is not the type to coddle people. When she meets other people, she’s not the kind who changes according to them, but instead you can see that she is a kind of individualistic person who gives off the image of someone who unswervingly follows the guidelines within herself.
Was that harshness more than was intended in the design?
Nomura: I was asked to make her strong and beautiful, but when I read the scenario, I thought “Is that all?” They were saying that she is a soldier, and her personality was certainly of one. She is not a “whiner.” Actually, before we decided on the type we have for her now, there were a variety of different Lightnings. There were some by other staff members, too, and in the beginning, she didn’t have the same image as she does now.
Like what, for example?
Nomura: She was Asian. The final Lightning is considerably more chiseled. Her eyes are more deeply set in than a typical heroine. Also, her cheekbones are more prominent than other female characters. In these ways, Lightning’s design changed considerably. Other things are hidden, so you can’t tell, but her legs are lean and her abdominal muscles are defined. Toriyama was particular about her having an athlete’s body. However, if the heroine was too “macho,” it would be difficult for players to associate emotionally with her, and so, while serving the director’s intentions for her, I tried to make her a bit sweet. That intent appears in things like her hairstyle and hair color.
Then, about the yet unnamed protagonist of Versus XIII, his outfit is temporary, isn’t it?
Nomura: We intend to completely redo his design. The concept for him is that his hairstyle will give a different impression when viewed from the front than from the back. From the front, his hair is calm and tame, but from the back, it is quite intense and violent-looking. Because his design is temporary, we’re having him face the back as much as possible, like on the cover. (Haha)
I see. There are a lot of things that are unclear, aren’t there?
Nomura: The Versus protagonist is not a character with a Squall-like or Cloud-like personality like everyone is thinking now. He is a type that has not been seen in the generations of the series yet. For a long time now, I have wanted to try making a character like him, but I hesitated because he is a type of character that might fall close to “out of bounds.”
Are you really that critical of him!?
Nomura: Yes. (Haha) There are probably people who dislike his type. Usually, protagonists do not have strong personalities to avoid having the personality interfere with the player’s empathy, and so very distinctive characters are relegated to side-roles, but not this time. He has a bit of an overabundance of p idiosyncrasy. I think that when he speaks, the impression of him will change considerably.
Will his voice be so high that we’re surprised? (haha)
Nomura: (Haha) The concept for his voice has not yet been finalized. People who thought “That’s great!” to his current impression will probably think “What did they do!?” upon seeing him. So, as much as possible, please try not to hold any preconceptions about him! He is not the least bit a silent, gloomy little boy.
He can show an apathetic face to the world, but is he the type that can adjust and let his guard down?
Nomura: There is that type in reality, too, and there it depends on whether or not their friends accept them, doesn’t it?
Will this be a story of male camaraderie, similar to Crisis Core?
Nomura: No, for instance, someone [important] dies, and you must take revenge, well it won’t be a soppy story like that. It will adopt a more general “road movie” sense. As to why I chose a story about men, well, for example, among school friends, when they go traveling, it’s normal to see any combination of fellows in groups of all one gender. That’s all. We can look back on when we were students, and remember enjoying horsing around with our peers with no particular aim in mind.
And a member of a royal family just happens to be one of their number?
Nomura: That’s right. They have not banded together for any purpose or destiny. This lot, who are always horsing around find themselves at the heart of the story by chance. I wonder if one was a student, would one feel the story even more familiar? Of course, if one was an adult, they might feel nostalgic and enjoy remembering how they horsed around like that, I think. Talking about girls, for instance. In thinking about how to make it more familiar, it turned out this way. Next time we give information, we will reveal his name. It doesn’t have much to do with anything else, though.
We’re looking forward to it. Will it be a name associated with the weather or the skies, following Cloud, Squall, Tidus, etc.?
Nomura: I thought “should we stop with the weather names, already?” but the FFXIII team named heirs Lightning, and so Versus XIII will follow suit.
Lightning’s name was quite a surprise, wasn’t it?
Nomura: Lightning’s name also surprised me, even though I was already familiar with her. If they started to use another name at this late date, I wouldn’t be able to get used to it, though.
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Tetsuya's character designs give a strong impression of personality before you know the character well enough to make judgments. For example, he mentions the appearance of Lightning as 'muscular', 'serious' and 'unforgiving', expression dress etc. add to the obvious personality of his characters. Another example of this is the Final Fantasy 7 characters, Cloud Strife and Sephiroth (in his first project as character designer!):
Cloud is the typical classification of 'good' as and entity, he has light features (blond hair, light clothing, blue eyes etc.), his expression determined. This is the typical image of a hero. Sephiroth is the typical classification of 'evil' as an entity, he wears dark clothing and has a vicious stare, he appears confident and dark, he has green eyes (a typically jealous colour). The only appearance of purity is his silver hair, this could be due to his belief that he is a God, or a faint glimmer of his previous nature as a 'good' character and hero.
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