How to identify an anime art style character

glennmagusharvey

1. hair color and hairstyle

2. eye color

3. decorative features

4. picture's description

I mean, without looking at the tags, can you tell me who this is?

What if I give you the hint that it's from

a Fire Emblem game

?

 

I first ran into this problem when I found what I thought was a cool piece of Samus fanart.  It's a blond-haired, ponytailed, green-eyed woman wearing a brown sweater, holding a cup of (what may be) coffee, and with Samus insignia earrings, smiling toward the hypothetical camera.  Someone remarked that that could be anyone.

Nyktos

Well, this is just a function of anime-style art being relatively simplistic (at least as far as depictions of people go).

Naas_Human

Also, drawing style varies by artist, some people might draw more uh, generically. And some characters have generic looks anyway, if not for their costumes or dress sense.

Zennistrad

Blond hair? Her hair is green! How do you mistake that for blond!

Naas_Human

The last paragraph was referring to something else.

Zennistrad

Oh. My mistake, I didn't read closely enough.

Formaldehyde

This is something I always wondered, what with all the generic anime characters out there. Sometimes, all the characters in a series can only be differentiated by hair, or how short their skirts are. But then again, I kinda dislike anime anyway, so psh.



And gosh, that linked picture creeps me right out.

MadassAlex

Often I'm surprised at how well some anime-style characters are differentiated from one-another within some franchises. A good example is Fire Emblem, where each character has a unique, recognisable design when compared to the others. This is particularly noteworthy given that most of the character designs in that series are really simple, and revolve around a fairly limited palette per a character. 

On the other hand, yeah. Plenty of anime-style characters can be mistaken for others. That does speak highly of the skill some artists have, though, wherein they can apply simple design principles and elements and make characters visually distinct. I suppose some artists get caught up in their craft, though, and might forget the simple things; perhaps a good analogy is the virtuoso musician who plays exceedingly well, but gets so caught up in their technicality that they forget to produce something appropriate to be listened to rather than technically appreciated. 

glennmagusharvey

^^ In case you're wondering, proper portrayal of the character in question: http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=507041

That first pic doesn't even have her hair color right.