Behind the Sins #02

Everything Starts with a Single Sketch.

This Behind the Sins is focusing on the character designs. We asked the illustrators what feelings went into the designs this time, and what went on behind the scenes while they were being created.

--- Q1 Please introduce yourselves.

This is the illustration team for Obey Me! We deal with the character art and CG.

Q2 What was the focal point when you were designing the characters? Please tell us what sort of goal you had in mind while making the designs. To help everyone fit into the setting, we've drawn everything with a more mature vibe this time. For the outfits, we kept each character's image in mind and aimed for making an overall upgrade that built on those images. For Lucifer especially, we really wanted his outfit to express the question of "Is he an angel or a demon?" that's at the game's core. What makes something angelic, or what would have changed once the angelic Lucifer fell—we went over every point really thoroughly with the director, and chose every little detail one by one like that.

Q3 How did the designs for this new game come about? Could you tell us what points you changed from other entries in the series, or what ideas you worried about or scrapped? When we drew the first rough drafts, we wanted to add more fine details and make everything look more extravagant while making sure we didn't lose the connection to everyone's original designs. Right from the start with the rough drafts, we were working closely with the director, adding in her input as we went along, so there weren't too many big changes to the overall designs as we created them. We've worked with the director, Ms. Nakashima, for a long time, so we've already got a good idea of each other's preferences and strengths. Thanks to that, it feels like we didn't really need to backtrack on most of the designs.

Q4 Are there any points you really focused on while designing? Things like the poses, or the emotion in their gazes. We did all the posing with the intention of having everyone's personalities come out in each pose. My favorite poses would have to be Lucifer pushing back his hair, and Barbatos from behind.

For Lucifer especially, I think it really captures his role as the Avatar of Pride, and it's something we can take pride in ourselves. I actually turned in a rough draft once, and the director asked if we could express his prideful nature with his entire body. So we did have to go back and draw that one again. But thanks to that, I think we were able to bring out his personality.

For Barbatos's pose, we couldn't rely on his usual facial expressions as it's him posing from behind, so it challenged us to work on a different form of expression which we don't normally get to do. It felt really fresh and exciting for us.

There are a lot of other poses and expressions we thought we could try out for the game, so we hope you're looking forward to them!

Q5 Is there any special reason or care you put into the choices in outfits, accessories, or color palettes?

There's always a chance that accessories or other small items that the characters have will be shown in a close-up, right? So we really focused on making sure everything looked like something a demon would have, but also still had some charm to it.

Q6 Is there anything you want people to focus on? Can we get a message for the players?

The overall vibe this time is different from other games in the Obey Me! series, so we hope you'll enjoy it!

---

Next time, we'll be talking with the proofreader! "Words bring the characters to life."

If you've got any more questions you'd like to ask, let us know in the comments!