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What are your favourite art styles when it comes to VNs? Obviously the majority of games are done in an anime/manga style but what formats also work for you? Sketches? Photos? Paintings? 3D? What others?

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Digital painting... no, make it digital cell-shading. It's my favorite, and to be frank, the only I can do...

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I like pretty much any art style as long as it is well done, looks good, and fits the tone of the VN.

I tend to dislike bishounen style anime though, and don't care much for "generic" anime styles. I like unique anime styles - by that I mean I can look at a drawing and know that is was drawn by a certain artist, instead of just the same generic template everyone else seems to use. Like I can pick out Satoshi Kon's work, rest his soul.

I like to see digital paintings very much. 3D can either look very good, or awful. I find there is no middle ground with it.

I agree with LateWhiteRabbit about 3D - it is entirely hit or miss, and most people miss, so I'm happiest when things stick to the 2D realm for something like a VN. I mean, you aren't likely going to have a free roaming world to explore at all angles, right? So why go 3D? Now for a FPS, 3D makes a lot of sense.

I like things that look water coloured or slightly desaturated, but I can't pull that style off myself. I'm fine with most animes except for when if you cropped off the hair and turned everyone to grayscale you can't tell the difference between the characters. I think the term for that is cookie cutter.

I really like pseudo-anime styles. Ones that have an anime influence, but then branch off into something unique. I can't think of any good examples right now, but then, I have a headache and am just waiting for the painkillers to work so that I can sleep.

Noses. I like a style that lends destinction or emphasis on noses. The tiny little dots or check-mark noses I see a lot of may look cute, and I tolerate it, but I really love a style that shows a variety of noses!

Same here ^_^ That's why I really love Valkyria Chronicle art style. It's 3D yet it's similar to water-colored paint. Beautiful.

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I would also like to add that I love the water colored/desaturated look.
It is really refreshing to look at since manga-style art has a tendency to be really saturated and colorful.

I guess my favorite sort of artwork for VNs would be what you'd call "doujin" - think Touhou sprites, or even Higurashi. Even though they're by no means technically correct in terms of proportion, they are fun to look at. Don't get me wrong, I like nicely polished professional quality art, but there's something about more "doujin" art that I really like. It seems to convey a lot more personality, IMO. (Hirano Kouta is an example of a professional manga artist who still manages to capture this essence.)

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I definitely prefer the cell-shaded look in the pictures. But I am not a fan of the BRIGHT colors on the drawing. Somewhere in between the water colored look and hard coloring ?

I really liked the Yo-Jin-Bo's art style, as well as Tooaya's style.

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I hope the person who was working on "The Metro" in the WIP thread is still working on his project because gosh darnit if I don't love his CG style and the fact there's animal characters.

Anyways, I'm fine with almost any style as long as you can tell it's been executed correctly. Bright saturated colors... Eh, I know it occurs in a lot of VNs but it can be distracting after a while. I really like VNs such as STEINS;GATE that has a wonderfully desaturated gritty palette with a beautiful, but unique manga style.

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Finished:
- Zayay [Otome?][BxPlayer][NaNo 2013]
- Tortichki [Drag&Drop mini game]

Heh, now I feel like a tool for favoring an ultra-slick cookie-cutter shoujo manga style bright enough to make Lisa Frank's eyes bleed.
...Though on the other hand, I do have a bit of a soft spot for believable lighting, especially on the eyes. (I'm very sensitive to stylistic changes and execution errors in the eye area for some reason.) I'm not sure if I developed the lighting quirk before or after deciding to populate one of my worlds with a species that, next to their "realistic" human brethren, resembles fully organic Super Dollfies from the deepest, darkest pit of Uncanny Valley. (This is occasionally a plot point.)

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Salt -- the heartwarming story of brain-eating space worms
Tangent -- an epic poem and/or novel about a borderline-autistic Martian imp and her relationship with God
Kittens of the Darned -- a grimdark soap opera about sexy catgirls (Indefinitely postponed until I learn to draw and color realistically)
The Other Mary -- the most perfect fic about the most perfect Mary Sue EVER
Rockheart -- a short story about a monster who kills everyone
Corrupted -- a completely different short story about a monster who kills everyone (late Worst Visual Novel Ever)
Checkpoint 36a -- the transcription of a short multi-ending dream about time travel and undead schoolgirls
In Which the Princess is Kidnapped -- an entry in the "ordinary girl ends up in an alien universe and tries to save it" genre
Pictogram Scramble: Magical Friendship Bunny Ivy -- a Flash game about a magical girl making friends (Indefinitely postponed until I learn how friendship works)

I'm not an artist, but I vaguely remember FALLING OUT OF MY CHAIR when I saw the art for "The Metro".

If your coloring is bright enough to make Lisa Frank's eyes bleed, you are doing it wrong! A rainbow that ate another rainbow and threw it up on another rainbow still wouldn't be as bright and colorful as Lisa Frank's work. For those not buying trapper-keepers during the awesome eighties, here is an example of Lisa Frank's art.

MY EYES! THEY BLEED! D:

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I'm fan of bright colors, however, I don't like rainbows...
I like when colors are used wisely used and actually tell you something about the character or make his/her presence stronger.
Many of my favorite artists paint with digital tools but I'm a traditional artist. I feel closer to my art when I'm painting it on paper . Sadly, it's also a bit of a pain because I can't undo or do a lot of nifty things with just one or two clicks from the mouse .
Furthermore, painting on the PC doesn't work very well with me because I get distracted a lot by web browsing.

My favorite style is the anime style. I also like any kind of cute style .

My favourite style is probably a realistic manga hybrid. There are variations of this, but basically something that still has a cartoon feel but acknowledges real life more then the super big eyes and tiny noses of generic anime. My favourite colouring style would have to be painterly. I love seeing brush and line strokes, especially when they breathe life into a character.

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