An Introduction to Character Studies

In an effort to help people draw their fan art better, Final Fantasy Illumina presents a series of intricate features, analyzing the designs of several characters from recent Final Fantasy games.

These studies of character designs are not technically tutorials, but rather a series of possibly-too-in-depth references for artists to use when drawing fan art. They could prove very useful for producing accurate details, understanding the underlying structure of clothing, or for capturing the essence of a character. If nothing more, I just hope they are a good read.

For this installment, I examine the character design of the loyal Dalmascan knight in Final Fantasy XII, Basch. Somewhat neglected when it comes to FFXII fan art, he also, ironically, has the best character design in the game. The look of Basch works so well with Ivalice, it's almost a shame that he isn't the main character like the game developers had originally planned.

I will be meticulously analyzing different parts of his design, in the order of: Overall Figure, Face and Hair, Upper Body, Arms and Legs, Expressions. It's the least I could do for the guy.

June 5th, 2008 PAGE 00