Takayoshi Sato's concept character sketches for Silent Hill 2 are so beautiful.

[CaptainToad]

 

[DunkeyKong]

The angle and storyboard for most of these looks so good, thanks for sharing

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

That's a pretty interesting crosshatching style. Never seen it done quite like that.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

Those are awesome, it's cool how close to the final designs they are, but the first thing that came to mind was Take on Maria. That'd be a weird remix of Take on Me.

 

[Zachery2112]

One thing that I always loved about the character designs of Silent Hill 2 is that they are very boring. That sounds insulting but I mean it in the nicest way possible. The characters never look like they are exceptional people, their designs are rather muted. Clothes are generic and not noteworthy.

Not only that, but they have frays in the fabric of their clothes, crow's feet, moles, smile lines, bags under their eyes. These are not super models, they are humans.

Maria is probably the best example of this.

Spoiler

She is meant to be the sexy succubus version of Mary. Everything Mary was but with everything James wanted. However, she still has some belly fat and the same wrinkles of her predecessor. She also has brown roots. This implies her natural hair color is Burnett, like Mary's.

Angela is also a great example of this as her modest clothes and sullen face make her look middle aged.

Spoiler

She is 19. The intention was that she would look notably older than her actual age due to the abuse she sustained from her father and brother. It is one of the most depressing details that I've ever found in a video game. I remember feeling guilty when I figured it out when I was playing the game for the first time. It was almost like assuming she was older was taking away her victimhood.

I'm glad to see all of these details were in the early concept art. Silent Hill 2's characters tell their stories in their character designs even if they are very subtle. I wish there were more games with this style of immersion in their characters.

 

[kuroninneko]

Thanks for sharing! This is one of my favorite games

 

[Viviana Santos]

These sketches are incredibly beautiful.

 

[starseeker300]

Like others have said, they are beautifully mundane sketches of normal people in a normal world, at least befre they end up in braz- I mean silent hill

 

[Sumea]

I, like many, am fan of this title. These sketches are absolutely beautiful.

 

[MrFabulous]

That Mary/Maria sketch gets the point across so much better than any amount of overblown analysis content could ever do. There's a real feeling of 'maturity' to these designs which is really cool to see, there's no exaggeration but a pretty strong vision from the beginning.