who made the shenmue 2 xbox cover art?

red

red

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Jul 28, 2018
something ive been wondering for a few years now, who (what artist) made the shenmue 2 xbox cover art?

thanks

127391-shenmue-ii-xbox-front-cover.jpg
 
I would actually love to know this as well. I'll see if my Google-fu is good enough to try and find this out...
 
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Who is the guy on ren's chest? The you guy dressed in white
 
Mojito said:
Who is the guy on ren's chest? The you guy dressed in white
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thats meant to be ryo.

my theory is that the artist couldn't find all the correct reference material from shenmue 1/2 to make the cover..that why it doesn't look 100% like the game.. so he "made it up" or used himself / friends as reference.. quite common for illustrators to do.
 
It is stepping into unnecessary westernization territory and Shenhua looks strange but Ryo, Ren and Lan Di are absolutely spot on. So this attempt at giving the cover that Kung-Fu vibe turned out rather well to be honest.

I really don't know if the promotional version can be taken seriously. The face for Ryo is so ridiculously overdone, and even the clothes look more like from a generic stand in, that it almost seems like a joke. I would never release something like this to the public other than for a joke.
 
I have said it before, but I saw that exact poster in my local Gamestop just before Shenmue 2 released. It was a real piece of promotional material. I have no idea how or why anyone okayed that.
 
mjqjazzbar said:
I have said it before, but I saw that exact poster in my local Gamestop just before Shenmue 2 released. It was a real piece of promotional material. I have no idea how or why anyone okayed that.
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are you honestly saying that image you posted was a real shenmue poster?
 
Yes, I am. I saw it with my own eyes. I was aware of it because of the internet, so it was extra funny when I saw it hanging in the shop.
 
mjqjazzbar said:
Yes, I am. I saw it with my own eyes. I was aware of it because of the internet, so it was extra funny when I saw it hanging in the shop.
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Holy cow. I seriously thought you posted that as a joke. ?

Funny thing is that the final version wasn't bad at all, as a slightly more realistic depiction of Ryo goes.

BlueMue said:
It is stepping into unnecessary westernization territory and Shenhua looks strange but Ryo, Ren and Lan Di are absolutely spot on.
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Is it just me or does Shenhua here look a lot more like Shenhua in Shenmue III than Shenhua from Shenmue I/II?

Strangely enough, I kind of think that all of the Shenmue III character models look a little bit like the Shenmue IIx cover art.

Like seriously, I know this could have been done better, but compare the characters in these two images directly:

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I feel like all of the character models in Shenmue III look like a cross between their Shenmue I/II counterparts and the Shenmue IIx cover art. In the case of Shenhua, I really just think that she looks a lot more like the Shenmue IIx cover art than she did in Shenmue I or II.
 
I always wondered why the pal euro version of that art had a black border, but the Australian pal version didn't, it was the same as the ntsc version.

P1020804.JPG
 
I was always disturbed by the placement of Don Nius head and chest in relation to Ryo. Once you notice you can’t unsee it. :(
 
Welp, my search efforts were fruitless. Unless someone has some insight into the artist, not sure we can find the info online. If it is online, it's probably buried fairly deep.
 
I really love the Shen2x cover art. Really cool and was so glad back in the day when they revised Ryo's face. Definitely was real, although I don't specifically recall seeing the old one in promo at Gamestop, but knew it was for sure real.
 
Inkerlink said:
Welp, my search efforts were fruitless. Unless someone has some insight into the artist, not sure we can find the info online. If it is online, it's probably buried fairly deep.
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I would be very surprised if you found that info; it was probably done by a marketing house by some unknown artist. I can't tell you the hundreds of T-Shirt designs I've made at work over the years that are floating out there in the world--obviously that's not as serious or portfolio-worthy as this, but it's a similar idea.

I think the poster is alright; it reminds me of a kung fu movie poster. It's really amusing to me that we were still getting westernized covers that late though.
 
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