Do you expect VN to be in a certain art style?

[wyverngem]

At the moment I've got a lot of jobs to handle with my current project from coding to the artwork. I'm not sure I'm happy with the current style that I'm going for in the art. I'm an artist so drawing and making art is fine, but I'm not sure the style is what I want. I wanted something in the anime style, but right now it's not hitting the margin. It's not bad art, it's just not anime.

My question is though when you first see read a post describing a Visual Novel, do you expect that when you scroll to see screenshots that the art is in a specific art style? Would it deter you from giving it a chance and playing through?

[Deji]

Personally, no.
As long as the art is polished, I don't mind if it's anime or not, really.

So I say, go for your non-anime style! (:

[kkffoo]

Go for it!
Your own style is always better because you will love it more, and enjoy doing it.
I think you do a better job when you enjoy something?

[DeeKay]

Like the others, I think that as long as the art looks like it's a product of love, it's fine. So no, I'm not prejudiced upon seeing whether the art of a VN is anime inspired or not.

VNs come in different flavors anyway, even if a lot stick to the anime look. It's more that lots of people are used to it because that's mainly what they see.
Heck, these people could be a bit tired of it and try something new so it shouldn't throw you off really

[Blane Doyle]

I'm actually more drawn to a VN in some sort of unique style. For example, while I love the art in most Japanese VNs, if more with artwork by Junji Ito were translated I would love it because I find her coloring style unique and pleasing.

For EVNs, I prefer to look for something away from the "anime-style" mold actually, either cartoony or anime inspired with their own touch or something completely different. But don't have an overall preference except "it looks nice". I don't really prefer one style over another anymore, not really, though something different definitely catches my eye faster.

(And by looks nice? Keep in mind I like the artwork in the Umineko games. Not the PS3 patch, the original games.)

[FatUnicornGames]

The game I'm working on definitely doesn't have an anime style. People seem to still be responding to it though. As long as it is polished art I don't think you can go wrong.

[Minnfae]

I really prefer VNs with unique styles over realism and some branches of anime.
As long as the combination of the style and the story merge appropiately (if you make Alice In Wonderland in an overly manly style, I'll be expecting it to be some kind of parody).

The game I'm working on definitely doesn't have an anime style. People seem to still be responding to it though. As long as it is polished art I don't think you can go wrong.

That style is definitively anime, specially the colored one. Not one of those uber common and popular moe styles, but you can't say that it's not anime.
It's a really nice style though.

[Sharm]

That style is definitively anime, specially the colored one. Not one of those uber common and popular moe styles, but you can't say that it's not anime.

I would love to know how you came to this conclusion.

[Victoria Jennings]

Not one of those uber common and popular moe styles, but you can't say that it's not anime.

Er... no disrespect meant, but the art style of Club Shuffle is pretty... well, Western. It really doesn't have much in common with any anime I've ever watched (or any manga I've read), beyond the obvious cartoony aspects they both share.

[MaiMai]

I like polished art with a good consistent style that's interesting and doesn't make me feel uncomfortable for VNs. So it doesn't have to be anime basically, but I just like art in general so show me something nice! I keep mentioning this, but I really freaking loved the anthropomorphic animal VN that one LSF member had a WIP thread for. The illustrations were so beautiful and I believe some of it was traditional art mixed with digital and custom backgrounds and everything! I am so sad it wasn't continued it was beautiful.

Not one of those uber common and popular moe styles, but you can't say that it's not anime.

It's not anime.

To be less contrary and say why I know for sure Club Shuffle is not very anime, I would argue that the line quality of the art you've seen so far for the game is what you would see more commonly in Western cartoons and the facial features of the characters are a lot more exaggerated compared to a lot of anime styles.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Nope. We did a non-anime VN a little while back and everyone was fine with it. http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 11&t=15163

Aesthetically pleasing art can be many things, it usually comes down to the actual quality of the line work, colour and sense of form.

[gekiganwing]

I don't have a specific favorite style or aesthetic. Some of the art that I like is similar to what I enjoyed in 1990s/2000s translated visual novels: full color, not especially realistic, limited or no animation, and a mix of cute and sexy. But I usually like other types of visuals. Pixel art? Yeah. Sketchy or minimalistic art? Sometimes. Anthropomorphic styles? Every now and then. Photorealism? Occasionally. The list goes on.

If you're not intimately familiar with genres and categories, then it's not easy to tell the difference between specific examples. For example, after reading Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics, I started noticing more differences in comics written in English. If you're trying to learn more about anime-manga art, then one good resource would be Jason Thompson's book Manga: The Complete Guide and its companion internet column House of 1000 Manga. For instance, he wrote the following in the first entry in his column:

Manga is a medium, not a genre. To say "I like manga" is as meaningful, and meaningless, as saying "I like movies." ...the term "manga" encompasses stories of vastly different genres: yaoi porn and shonen action, shojo romances and seinen stories about salarymen and sommeliers. A fan of Joss Whedon's comics might or might not like an Alan Moore comic, but how many manga fans read Tetsuya Kariya, Hirohiko Araki and Rie Takada? Manga is much more broken into subcategories, into different audiences and genres.

...Club Shuffle... I would argue that the line quality of the art you've seen so far for the game is what you would see more commonly in Western cartoons and the facial features of the characters are a lot more exaggerated compared to a lot of anime styles.

As I said in its thread, the art in Club Shuffle reminds me of some indie comics, but I can't say that it looks like any specific title. To be more specific, I'm a fan of the comics series Bone, Elfquest, and Thieves & Kings. What I saw in Club Shuffle vaguely reminded me of those series, but looked distinctly different from all three.

[FatUnicornGames]

To be more clear, there may be Japanese influence on the work, but in my opinion Les is much more influenced by European comics. Really though, it is VERY Western when put up against the obviously Anime Influenced VNs that rule the roost in the genre right now.

[Hijiri]

To be more clear, there may be Japanese influence on the work, but in my opinion Les is much more influenced by European comics. Really though, it is VERY Western when put up against the obviously Anime Influenced VNs that rule the roost in the genre right now.

Though, it's still a bit funny how the anime 'style' was influenced by western work. So one can say that the Western style is just the 'pure' version of the styles that we see in anime and manga.

[Victoria Jennings]

Though, it's still a bit funny how the anime 'style' was influenced by western work. So one can say that the Western style is just the 'pure' version of the styles that we see in anime and manga.

And in the end, does it really matter where it came from? I think we should appreciate all art styles, regardless of country of origin. Good art is good. C: