If I can learn to do it, YOU can learn to do it

[leradny]

Dear Fanartists:

I enjoy the fact that you like Leon enough to draw him. I enjoy the fact that you decided to make an homage to FF8 with Leon. However, despite our common interests I do NOT like the fact that you used Squall as a reference for Leon. Leon is RLY OLD ICK twenty-five; Squall is jail-bait seventeen. Teenagers and adults DO NOT

Comments

[leradny]

Leon's age can be found on Wikipedia, google, the Kingdom Hearts wiki... Everywhere, actually. Just have to keep sharp.

On puberty: In general, guys reach puberty at a somewhat later age than women, and can stay it in for several years longer. The limbs grow first, the torso second. As Leon's torso is definitely longer than Squall's in proportion to his legs and Squall was probably still in the middle of puberty, I'm pretty sure he grew. Or, Nomura is just messing with us by fiddling around with proportions.

As for the back-to-back shot... there are BILLIONS of factors that contribute to their similar height. Cloud is pretty darn short. I mean 5'3" short (also found on Wikipedia or Google or similar). The ground could have been inclined so Cloud was higher up, the shot could be angled, Cloud's hair added to his height, Leon was bending his knees in preparation for the charge, all of the above... But the only way we grow is up, so again: Unless Nomura is playing mind-games with us, they aren't the same height.

[arson_attrition]

Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source. Cloud is 5"7', as the booklet and envyofthestage both say.

Really, Nomura has never been very consecutive in his character designs; especially not when he can easily twist them from storyline to storyline. I thought Cloud looked taller in Advent Children than he was supposed to (seeing as Sephiroth's 6"). But it had to look cool.

[xnatalax]

About Leon's age, they list in in KH1 in Jiminy's Journal I believe. If not there, it's listed on the official KH website, as well as a couple of other Traverse Town characters. It's kind of odd who they choose to list and who they don't.

[bialleyhoos]

Teenagers and adults DO NOT LOOK ALIKE.

I was about to say something about Ven and Roxas, for a minute, until remembered we know practicly nothing about Ven yet.. :/

womanfigure!leon = fail. Although Cup_Ramen_chaos made me LOL.

It was so weird reading this because you talked about it as if they were different people. Then again, they sort of are... ..er I got a little confused half way through xD;

[midnight12181]

And this, kids, is a textbook example of someone with way too much time on his/her hands. And no sense of artistic license.

Appearantly, the fandom has run out of valid things to rant about. Damn shame.

[demishock]

I don't even understand what the use is of trying to compare Squall and Leon anyway. So far as we've been told by the games, they're not the same person. They're from two different games. Regardless of the fact that they're obviously based on the same character design, FF8!Squall =/= KH!Leon. Which means that "Squall" didn't "grow into" Leon. Because Squall isn't Leon.

Case in point - Seifer probably didn't age backwards. So why should we assume that Squall grew up to become Leon?

This being said, I'm all for people making it believable, but I hate the notion that Leon is 100% totally older!Squall.

[powercorrupts]

I don't know, as an artist, I'd have to disagree with some of these points. A lot of artists are still learning, and have difficulty with anatomy some times. People can point out an anatomy mistake I always make to me a million times and I still can't fix it, sometimes. It doesn't mean the artist isn't trying to get that right.

Some artists may not be intentionally drawing him too skinny and young looking - it might be their style overall (not to make the style vs mistakes argument), or they might just have a problem drawing muscles or age properly. Despite what some people in the comments seem to think, anatomy books won't instantly make you able to draw the human figure flawlessly.

That said, Leon looking like Squall baffles me. Same thing with any of the KH/FF characters, really. I think I'm more baffled when people make the reverse mistake, though, and draw their FF counterpart based on the KH version.

[mistaken_silver]

Agreed!

Anatomy books do not instantly make you able to draw the human figure (I can't do it with a model and a book in front of me....) Though I wish they did... It would make everything so much easier?