Drawn for the GA-HQ Re-Style Draing Challenge
There comes a moment where you make a bold claim to draw a subject you love in a style you are not accustomed to.
As a result of this undertaking; the more involved you become with it and the more you struggle with it....the longer it takes.
Even with time off...this drawing took me an entire week to visualize, conceptualize and finally render.
The challenge I issued myself was to take Castlevania Symphony of the Night and re-style it to fit the distinctive animation style of the Don Bluth laserdisc game Dragon's Lair. (With perhaps a touch of Space Ace.)
The entirety of this design was based off the promotional movie-esque poster for the game.
And I can safely say I took on a challenge that proved really hard from the get-go. If I had done the original Castlevania it would've been easier. Remodelling simon Belmont into a beefier version of Dirk the Daring would've so much more simple to do.
But of course; being the Symphony of the Night fan I am; I chose this game. And in the Don Bluth style, creating feminine features on the male protagonists is difficult to do. Don Bluth tends to have his male heroes look average in terms of male features.
The more masculine they are (like Dirk the Daring); the more exaggerated the features.
But Alucard is not a masculine looking male lead. So trying to get a effete male character design in the style of Don Bluth was very challenging. I went through so many faces that either game out too sharp or too anime-looking. I finally boiled down to the face selected.
Another thing about Don Bluth's style is how simple the designs are. In that there is not a whole lot of detail on the outfits. (You need to animate these guys.)
Alucard of course has an extremely elaborate outfit from the game. Even the animators of the Netflix series changed it up to make it less complicated.
So for my first fully drawn game poster in the Don Bluth style, it seems regrettable I chose Alucard. I am happy how he ultimately came out (looking stoic and all that detail on his sword I put into it.) But yeah; a bit too elaborate or effete for the Don Bluth style.
Now Maria Renard was easy. It really just was a cross of Princess Daphne from Dragon's Lair and Kimberly from Space Ace. It's like I merged the two female leads together to get the Don Bluth effect on Maria. The face was very important along with how her long golden hair hung off her head. I added that signature blush in her cheeks either cute or very beautiful Don Bluth characters have. Like Alucard she had an elaborate outfit too. But her long blonde hair helps distract from that as does her shoes and socks combo.
The entire scene itself is comprised of bosses from the game. To the left is the Werewolf and the Minotaur also drawn Don Bluth style. There were enough canine references to get the Werewolf down. The Minotaur took a bit more creativity.
Sitting above them is Richter Belmont; who Alucard is eyeing suspiciously. Even though Maria looks up at him with such amorous eyes; Alucard is more focused on why a Belmont is Lord of Castlevania.
Richter was easier to design than Alucard simply because he's more masculine. Though from a distance it might be harder to see some of his features.
Likewise when we look to the right for the Succubus. The Succubus is a bit out of focus too it seems. Mike Maria she has a very feminine Don Bluth female face. Only with red hair and farther apart eyes and sharper eyebrows. I say I wanted the Succubus to look more like Daphne than Maria because of how much more seductive the Succubus is.
Below her are the bosses Slogra and Gaibon. Slogra wasn't too hard to draw in the style. Jeremy the Crow was a good enough reference for his beak. Gaibon again took some imagination.
There were going to be bats flying in this piece; but I came to a point where I said "Just stop!! Don't complicate this piece anymore."
Although the Castle background itself is not based off any specific room in the game; the roman numerals Alucard and Maria are standing on do represent a room crucial to the game: the Giant Clock room. It is the room where Alucard and Maria first meet. It's also where you meet her to obtain the Holy Glasses so you can access the rest of the game.
The text was all done by me. I studied the Dragon's Lair text and figured it needed to be fancier than just typing it out. Maticulously drawing each letter wasn't easy. I'm still trying to refine my typography skills.
The entire piece again was based of the Dragon's Lair poster and almost looks like a novel cover.
I can see where I succeeded in emulating the style and other areas where I need improvement.
All those stones to render for the castle and characters to soft shade to get that distinct look.
I'm sure you can tell this was a picture that took a long time to make. Right now I'm not fully sure I succeeded in emulating the Don Bluth style.
But as far as the completed product is concerned I'm sure I created something quite interesting at least. Let me know what you all think. :3
Alucard, Maria Renard, Richter Belmont and Castlevania are all trademarks to Konami
