Quite a hefty batch of key visuals featuring the characters of Sakurasou No Pet na Kanojo are now available – exhibiting the admittedly lovely artwork, and relatively unique character design of this romance comedy.
Sakuraou’s artwork is certainly not incredibly elaborate – yet it serves an exemplary testament to what simple considerations could do to make artwork far more spectacular. Clear to anyone is it that these visuals are highly unique – and of the most prevalent of reasons, the first would be obviously be color palette and selection. It takes neither a rocket scientist, nor a Picasso, to think simply “how about we use colors other than those available to us by default?” – and in the case of whatever artist was responsible for these works, they were successful.
It’s not that the choice of hue seen within this series is phenomenal, it’s hardly even impressive in fact – there’s no active scheming, aside from perhaps, the complementary of vivid orange eyes and solid blue seifuku jacket. Regardless of that however, the colors still manage to contrast without anything explicitly disruptive or unappealing – and the color application in itself is notably delicate and decisive, hence the pastel appearance, which ultimately makes color quite splendid in the case of this artwork, further enhanced with exquisite shadow.
Similarly, there’s nothing astounding about the lines – rather, it’s their lack of usage which makes them quite expert class in these illustrations. The lines fade heavily at certain points in order to emphasize the shadow – allowing the light to take over in defining the form of the character in question, rather than line. Likewise, the line becomes distinctively thick in specific areas to match the prevalent darkness and lack of light.
Now turning attention towards the shapes, it’s yet again the same exact case – the image above isn’t some abstract painting where one needs to tilt their head and squint to see the subject matter, yet the shapes are stylish in that the artist gave them, what is basically, original flavor. They don’t conform to any textbook guidelines – the shapes accent curves quite prominently, even in more flat areas such as the elbows, and they fluctuate substantially amongst the different characters of this single series, giving each cast member a sense of individuality.
And still not done yet, the posing and expression is as basic as could be within the art piece above – however it succeeds in stealing attention as it is indeed fresh, even if simply for the reason that it is so rare to see such indifference in anime females as most other moe characters are often busy with generic moe poses. Meanwhile, perhaps the single rival here is Kantoku and his Warawanai Neko girl.
The appearance of this series’ heroine never looks forced – and that’s a major aspect to note as attempting to shove sentiments onto the canvas simply results in some sloppy and unappealing excuse for aesthetics, which is unfortunately far more common than it should be in this modern day.
Yet as one can see with Sakurasou, all hope is not quite lost just yet.
Aug 11, 2012 @ 1:08 CDT
Indeed, Shiina is the only bishoujo of interest to me.
I really like how you pointed out the blue/orange complement. If you take note of the group shot, all of the ladies display some sort of orange in their eyes: burnt orange,tangerine, and very light brown, all of which pop out due to that blue uniform.
IT’S ALMOST LIKE THEY DID IT ON PURPOSE.
The other characters, although in the background, have darker colours, purple and dark brown, which make them seem very bland and unimportant.
Aug 11, 2012 @ 1:35 CDT
cost they wanted her to be the selling point of this anime….so they highlighted her
Aug 11, 2012 @ 7:34 CDT
wow, wanna watch this. seems interesting.
Aug 11, 2012 @ 10:10 CDT
I really like the colors and the transparent eyebrows. It’s the first time I see this in an anime.