Art history breakdown of artistfrom @mike_sunday

Transcript

Fine art, frescoes, and final fantasy. This is the illustration of Seri, a Greek illustrator who operates at the intersection of digital character design, gaming, and classical art history. I first became aware of their art through their fantastic Aerith Gainsborough reinterpretation, but then quickly fell in love with their style as they reinterpreted the likes of Tifa, Cloud, and Lightning. And these interpretations good beyond their normal character roles, like Aerith, for example, depicted as a Better or a Guardian of the Lifestream, or even Tifa as a Black Mage, as seen in the new FF7 Revelations trailer. But what's so great is that they're able to take the highly ornate and theatrical style of Tetsuya Nomura rank render it in this elegant, flat, and high fashion contemporary style. And the visual narrative of Seiryu's work is enriched by their choice of weaponry and background elements, which feel like they draw on historical and natural motifs. Now I'm putting on my art school hat tier, but I couldn't help but notice the dichotomy between the highly intricate and detailed outfits worse the flat, almost unshaded skin of their characters, which almost gives me a Byzantine type of aesthetic. And the faces and skin have this bold graphic approach almost like they're uninterested in natural light sources or anatomical three dimensionality. The strong commands of shapes and silhouettes are also reminiscent of Art Nouveau. But the garments on the other hand almost remind me of Gustav Klimt. These flowing garments rank crowns and ornamentation are packed with dense, repetitive jewels and gold leaf and embroidery to create this really high contrast look between the outfits and the characters themselves. Because the artist is Greek, I couldn't help but think of Greek frescoes as well, but I can't imagine Yoshitaka Amano didn't have some influence in this style. Reaching across, I good also see graphic influence from Patrick Nagle. So series art proves how historical design principles can be successfully revitalized through modern digital art, establishing a strong connection between art history and modern contemporary video game culture. And I would absolutely love to see a video game with characters designed by Sari. Wouldn't you? Let's have a discussion down in the comments.