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Let's revisit the Capcom artists of the eighties and nineties. (beyond here be images)

Player Select

  • Akiman

    Votes: 40 32.0%

  • Bengus

    Votes: 63 50.4%

  • Harumaru

    Votes: 9 7.2%

  • Kinu Nishimura

    Votes: 47 37.6%

  • Makoto Tsuchibayashi

    Votes: 11 8.8%

  • Sensei

    Votes: 12 9.6%

  • Tatsuya Yoshikawa

    Votes: 23 18.4%
  • Total voters
    125
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
I feel like this was a particularly special period, where Capcom was churning out iconic designs and it seemed like nothing could stop them. The artists who came in during this era came out with a great sense of prestige on them that continued on even afterward. What's more, it seems like they inspired each other, giving a strong collective sense of identity as well.

The definition I'm going with of what defines a Capcom artist of this period is a little nebulous, but ah well. Essentially, I'm looking at official Capcom artwork which isn't necessary from this period, but from people who worked at Capcom during this period. So Makoto Tsuchibayashi is included although most of his art is from later when he became a freelance, but George Kamitani is excluded because I can't find official Capcom art from him on Capcom Database, and Shinkiro is excluded because he was working at SNK until 2000.



Akiman


d9k6a.png


96k0z.png


dbkkp.png


4xjlg.png


gujcv.png


zdksw.png


q6kz2.png


g9kvz.jpg


88jqj.jpg




Bengus


owk72.png


1wj2x.png


g5jsq.png


lnj48.png


zxjsg.png


7ajgo.png


b5jo2.jpg


nqkki.png


w0jqj.jpg


fckk6.png


fjkb1.png




Daichan


l5jlh.png


jzkxz.png


mvksp.png


5skl3.png


s9jz9.png




Daigo Ikeno


2vkdh.png


38kru.png


guk7y.png


orjsg.jpg


peja0.png


puj0b.png




Edayan


7hk1v.png


y0jfk.png


nkjlc.jpg


sqjqm.png


9yjd3.jpg


v6jxx.png


k4j1w.jpg


azkh5.jpg




Sensei


4pkgs.png


b6kri.png


9qkcj.png


tjjg6.png


mljd7.jpg




Harumaru


xbkpl.jpg


f0j2u.png


bajxu.jpg


iujs0.jpg




Hideki Ishikawa


8ajlp.jpg


y9k6h.jpg


cmktp.png


cfj04.jpg





Inafking


qmjqa.jpg




Kinu Nishimura


c4j4k.png


t9j4h.png


k3j8t.png


p3k8i.png


v0j7u.png


ahjzg.png


tcjq6.png


6jjxd.jpg




Makoto Tsuchibayashi


xjjwf.png


4nkq2.png


iak99.png


bwkr3.png


h1jjr.png


59ka0.png


48jzu.png


z3jgk.png




Shinsuke Komaki


8xk95.jpg


8bkvt.jpg


xzkpd.jpg




Shoei Okano


fhjo8.png


j4kjl.png


zzkw1.png




Tatsuya Yoshikawa


r2kbp.png


d2jr5.jpg


zuklr.png


vjkvf.png


r6kcp.png


vcjag.jpg
 
Strangelove_77

Strangelove_77

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,392
It's Bengus, then Tatsuya Yoshikawa, and then Edayan. I guess it depends on what you grew up with. My favorites are the SF Alpha games, Darkstalkers, BoF and the VS series.
 
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OP
OP
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
Kinu Nishumura's my personal favourite. She's able to do cute art even while doing the type of detailed art inspired by Akiman. I'd like to see her proposed dating sim too:

kinu08yvk7n.jpg


Image from Shmuplations.
shmuplations.com

Kinu Nishimura – 2001 Designer Interview - shmuplations.com

Kinu Nishimura was a character designer and illustrator at Capcom from 1991 to 2008. She worked on many of Capcom’s well-known arcade titles, including Street Fighter and Shadow over Mystara.
shmuplations.com shmuplations.com
 
tohlew

tohlew

Member
Oct 25, 2017
390
I can't and refuse to choose. I saw 2-3 favourite pieces with each artist and it would kill me to pick just one.
 
Gen X

Gen X

Member
Oct 31, 2017
987
New Zealand
They were magical times. I don't see too many images from the 80s though, apart from Forgotten World's (loved that game), Capt Commando, Strider and Final Fight. Anyway Forgotten World's was the first game that popped to my head out of all of Capcoms titles so Akiman gets my vote.
 
John Omaha

John Omaha

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,874
Bengus is the most talented and varied of the bunch. Kinu Nishimura is not too far behind and Tatsuya Yoshikawa has a unique style as well.
 
SuiQuan

SuiQuan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
885
Kazakhstan - soon
L Thammy said:
Kinu Nishumura's my personal favourite. She's able to do cute art even while doing the type of detailed art inspired by Akiman. I'd like to see her proposed dating sim too:

kinu08yvk7n.jpg


Image from Shmuplations.
shmuplations.com

Kinu Nishimura – 2001 Designer Interview - shmuplations.com

Kinu Nishimura was a character designer and illustrator at Capcom from 1991 to 2008. She worked on many of Capcom’s well-known arcade titles, including Street Fighter and Shadow over Mystara.
shmuplations.com shmuplations.com
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A relative simply idea, but I'd play that.
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
42,946
This was the golden age of Capcom, even though people seem to think it's now. I missed all their sprite based, cartoony games, that really visually showed off their awesome artist's art
 
OP
OP
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
SuiQuan said:
A relative simply idea, but I'd play that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's actually a fantastically Capcom styled take on a dating sim, I think. Besides that there seems to be some combat in there, the boys that you can romance include Kamen Rider, an angel, an ninja, an athlete, a psychic, a ghost hunter, and a male Rei Ayanami (I think - they call him Aya__mi-kun). It's unabashedly nerdy but also manages to look pretty cool, like you're dating a volume of Shonen Jump.

I think a lot of what Capcom does is that. They just take something they like and do it with style. Like Star Gladiator up there is blatantly Star Wars, and the Armored Warrior poster with the soldier bearing down against this mech as it stomps another is Gundam as it exists in the mind's eye.

They've also got a lot of un-action images, like the Capcom Friendly Club where everyone is getting smooshed in - especially Dan - and Ken is giving Zangief a purple nurple, or the one where the Rival Schools cast are all walking to class, or the ones with all the Capcom girls where Poison is playing mahjong with Rainbow Mike and Devilotte. It makes it feel like they've conceived of these characters existing beyond the arcade.
 
OP
OP
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
Just realized that the description on Kinu Nishimura's dating sim idea mentions the other character concepts: a wild guy, a hair metal musician, and Devilman.

Now, putting aside that this is seriously a proposal for a game where you can date Devilman, which is probably not the best decision that the player could make, I'm wondering who the unassuming normal looking guy on the top left picture is. Is it the bad boy or is the one that's going to huddle in his bedroom and scream about how he wants the fight bell to ring?
 
Gevurztraminer

Gevurztraminer

Member
Dec 14, 2017
1,351
Nishimura is my favorite. The group one with all the Capcom ladies is great, and I just realized Cammy is putting a grenade in that snowball.

Also, her dating/otome game looks fantastically fun.
 
MikeProtagonist

MikeProtagonist

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,418
Bengus is the defining Capcom artist for me. His style with the blue shadowing is still evident in modern Street Fighter. But personally I like Kinu Nishimura even more.
 
FusionNY

FusionNY

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,711
Kinu Nishimura is the greatest game artist period. Yusuke Murata the goat manga artist agrees.
 
Dangle

Dangle

Member
Oct 25, 2017
152
I absolutely adore Kinu Nishimura's line work and facial expressions. Kinda like Bengus, who's also a favorite, she gradually settled into a style over time that I think is her at her best. As much as I appreciate Bengus's willingness to be adventurous with body types and exaggerated proportions, I keep coming back to Nishimura's work the most. Her more recent art's got a real breezy vibe, as if she can lightly polish up a quick draft and it somehow looks professionally made. Love the sketchy body lines and eyes, the bright and pleasant colors, etc. Also gotta shout out Tatsuya Yoshikawa's designs and illustrations. They remind me of Akiman's Turn A Gundam work but taken in a more fantastical direction. I think by BoF: Dragon Quarter and on, he's really found a compelling look unlike any of these Capcom artists both as a character designer and illustrator.

And above all, I appreciate this round up because it highlights that there have been a ton of really talented artists that are great at big group compositions with personality for days.
 
Valkerion

Valkerion

Member
Oct 29, 2017
7,287
I love Bengus' Vs series art. The inserted drama in the artwork is just lovely as well as the new renditions of classic western super heroes. It's great. I've always wanted official arcade posters of the vs titles but I can never find them here in Japan.

Guess I just need to find the highest quality image possible and print my own at this point, they are over 20 years old -shrug-

Real question tho: How the hell did Alexia Ashford make it into that group females of Capcom picture but freaking Regina didn't.
 
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SenseiX

SenseiX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,786
Kinu Nishimura >>>>> Everyone else

edit: Seeing that Legends 3 poster hurts so much...
 
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KastuśKalinoŭski

KastuśKalinoŭski

Member
Nov 23, 2019
7,591
RRT4 ▶︎▶︎▶︎
Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider

Member
Oct 27, 2017
864
I thought for sure coming into this thread I already knew who my fav was but man, I was wrong. I can't pick out of all of those. Great job OP, amazing pics
 
Opa-Opa

Opa-Opa

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 16, 2018
1,766
Great selection.

Akiman and Bengus were absolutely big parts of my gaming life.
Remember seeing when and where I saw a lot of those drawings for the fist time.
 
Philippo

Philippo

Developer
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
7,950
Tatsuya Yoshimura's work on BoF is just outstanding.
I would pay any amount of money to have a cel-shaded AAA BoF with that style in the coming gen.

Hideki Ishikawa is also glorious as well, and for the same reasons I really want a new MML.

All of them are just jaw dropping though.
 
just_myles

just_myles

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,518
I like how each artist has at least more than one iconic piece. No choice in this thread is bad.
 
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