Peyton

I do think things are changing gradually, the trending on artstation look is radically different than it was even 5 years ago. But I don't know if I have confidence any of it will meaningfully translate into actual games so long as the preexisting structures exist.

I truly believe there is a staggering amount of great artists in the west. But the look of AAA concept art combined with its exclusivity is as you say, self reinforcing. It's a hard industry to thrive in, which means being a good culture fit goes a long way.

The reason that space samurai looks so boring in a western game might be because its concept artist's frame of ref may have legit consisted of Kurosawa fancams and the first video to come up when you search "coolest samurai fights" on youtube.

There are concept art vets, guys who worked on your favorite 360 game, that might have never watched a film with subtitles until 2022.

The AAA concept art club is kinda incestuous culturally. Media and experiences that don't fall into the zeitgeist of a certain strain of politically agnostic SoCal dude bro (or continental european you don't dare ask about gender politics) will get ignored for years, creating noticeable culture lag.

The obvious/short answer is that the structure of AAA game dev is extremely risk averse. It's why everything has the trending on artstation look. But we all already know that. My hot take is that some of it is unfortunately cultural too.

I have more thoughts on this than the format of this site allows but it's something that's kept me up at night as a concept artist whose worked in western AAA while also being very immersed in japanese media. It sometimes makes me wonder if western games will ever look good again.

Double whammy because I think her career story is one of my favorites. Trying to turn your passion into a viable career while supporting aging working class parents? christ might as well hold up a mirror.

haha yeah, trying to look at it rationally I know statistics are just gonna eff with you sometimes. Just kills me that it always seems to happen to my favs. Fuji Kiseki and Bryan were also incredibly cursed trainees. Meanwhile I sleepwalk through Maruzensky careers without even trying.

Training Tamamo Cross is hell on earth, I don't think I've ever seen a trainee so determined to die at every juncture. Failing multiple 90% trainings in a row, constant sleep deprived and mood downs, a consistent inability to win unity cup. She is a maddening cosmic anomaly of probabilities.

Wandering Sword is Wuxia 101 Sometimes it's pretty damn fun to blend every single genre cliché at once.

I played a wuxia RPG and was reminded that sometimes it's pretty cool to level up until you can kung fu kick the evil warlord in the face

obsidianmoonshine.com/public/1-blo...

Surely I'm not the only person who sits in the venn diagram of mecha anime and fighting games but maybe I'm the only one with a pirated copy of adobe premier.

Go! Alex!

Art of a Signalis OC - a replika (android) in tactical gear with a submachine gun and knife.

Group of Lancer pilots.

SSC Metalmark 'Harpyie', a Lancer RPG custom mech.

A catgirl Lancer pilot.

✨ COMMISSIONS OPEN ✨

Trying to clear some overdraft, and I also recently recieved a code for VGen, so I'm trying that out! 10% off regular price until the 31st!
vgen.co/szkinart #VGen #Art

Hit me up if you're looking for mechs, Lancer pilots, or any other character design/illustration work.

What a journey it's been. Eureka Seven remains one of my favorite mecha anime and after this rewatch, I think I appreciate it even more.

Blue Mondays Episode 25: Over the Hills & Far Away We continue to ride the trapar waves as Zigg & Aqua watch the classic 2005 mecha anime Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven, and discuss their thoughts and feelings on it as it celebrates its 20th birthday. Keep an eye out for this podcast between main installments of The GLORIO Chat – every two weeks or so – as we work our way through the show. This installment, it's the grand finale as we cover Episode 49 "Shout to the Top!" and Episode 50 "Wish Upon a Star"

Blue Mondays Episode 25: Over the Hills & Far Away

We continue to ride the trapar waves as Zigg & Aqua watch the classic 2005 mecha anime Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven, and discuss their thoughts and feelings on it as it celebrates its 20th birthday. Keep an eye out for this podcast between main…

sweet, I been meaning to check it out. Heard some really cool things about it.

screenshot from Kamen Rider Tycoon meets Kamen Rider Shinobi where the grizzled old original actor for Kamen Rider ZX makes a cameo. he tells the evil wizard villain, "Your dark arts won't work on my cyborg body!"

fate strange fake episode 3

★★★★★

I mean to be clear, I don't think Clan Calatin in f/sf are meant to be viewed sympathetically; they're colluding with wizards in the US federal government to perform a profane arcane ritual with *extremely* bad vibes. But they happen to look very cool while doing it.

Anyway fate/strange fake is probably my standout anime of 2026 so far. It feels like an insane fate fanfic in all the best ways. Fate's vibes pre-fgo are just so much better.

Yeah, fate/strange fake.

Unfortunately being self righteous aura farming frauds (complimentary) would honestly be a dramatic improvement on the state of American policing.

Copaganda: 🤮
[Tragic] Copaganda, Japan:

At times, Unbeatable feels like it's going to break into a million pieces.

And despite that, Unbeatable is one of the most heartfelt celebrations of art and humanity I've ever experienced. The inimitable spark of the human soul reverberates through every fiber of its being. Wonderful game.

The Figure in Concrete stands on a rocky outcrop. Russian Sage grows out of the rock and out of the Figure's body. The rock and the figure's belly are pierced by great rusted chains. The figure is breaking of the of the chains, sparks flying. Behind them stands a mech carrying an upright glaive. Their shield is massive. It's shadows are purple. In the pastel sky is shattering glass, The Witch in glass smiles on the left side of the glaive, the Devil's Two Front Teeth on the right. Chimera's Lantern is lit.

Three little reptilian guys careen through the air with urban detritus. A car, a bin, a power line to which one clings desperately. Behind them in the clouds a colossal serpent whips through the sky, it's fleshy triangular mouth opens, eyelessly, towards them.

A kneeling armoured figure cups their hands together to catch blood poured from the wrist of a witch standing above them. Blood is spattered over their face and armour. The witch wears a massive headgear from which an umbilical of bloody tubes attach her to an abstract blob of blood, fraying into hexagonal strands and baby faces.

A robed figure wearing a tassled face mask. Each hand raises 3 fingers. She is surounded by a circular rune which features 15 circles and in each circle is an item. A clay figure, a skull, a staff, a tome, a kris, an orb etc.

Hey folks, I am looking for more illustration and character design work this year. I have over a decade of experience freelancing for tabletop, card and video games.

You can check out more work and client testimonials on my website: www.sifsweetman.com

Contact: si.f.swe@gmail.com

Dark Souls 2 is the funniest one I finally properly played Dark Souls 2 and learned it's basically a Looney Tunes slapstick cartoon at your expense

I finally played Dark Souls 2 after avoiding it for years. Institutional knowledge from playing later Souls games was the key to allowing me to enjoy it.

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Thanks, I'll try not to take too long.

Appreciate it, here's to hoping.

Thanks for the kind words, I take em to heart. I'll just say the Heavy Gear stuff has a much higher chance of eventually seeing the light of day, so do keep an eye out.