Bishoujo is one thing that never really gets old, does it?
I admit I'm very, very out of the loop when it comes to... anime-style games? Liek, you know, that whole range of Japanese products that starts with Idolm@ster, crosses a million gacha games, and ends up in nu-JRPG land... the most recent JRPG I played was one of the mid 2000s Ys, I don't play gacha by principle, and the whole bishoujo idol-adjacent thing... not for me.
Which is why, very often, I'll pick up a dōjinshi by an artist I've never heard of before, and then find out they're super famous character designers for some game that's absolutely huge both in Japan and abroad, and that I didn't even know existed. This is the case with LAL!ROLE, whose illustration collection だっておんなのこだもん ("Because she's a girl") I picked up on a whim... and apparently they're super famous for creating character designs for games like Arknights (heard mentioned, don't even know what it is) and one of the more recent Fire Emblems (I only knew the old ones).
Not that I'm surprised: LAL!ROLE has that sleek, modern, palatable style that seems to be tailor made for contemporary character design work, and this one work I have from a few years back is no exception. Dating 2019, ておんなのこだもん is a full color, A4 collection of bishoujo illustrations, ostensibly detailing girls' struggles in daily life... yeah, it's an excuse to draw pretty girls. And pretty girls we have aplenty here: the artist's digital hand is superb, the compositions and layouts (even with very limited background work) is A-tier, and the rendering of surfaces and skin is absolutely perfect. I really appreciate the choice of putting the pinups and a circular 'slice' of background against a mostly white page backdrop, it adds flair and dynamism to the compositions.
Like often happens with this sort of art that sits between paintery and commercial work, one could perhaps object that the style is a tad generic - but, then again, it's a genre, it has its standards, love it or leave it. Not everyone can afford to be Yoshitaka Amano. I tend to gravitate toward more oddball styles, but sometimes you just need a cute anime-styled girl to brighten your day.
Excellent collection from an artist that you should have no difficulty finding work by - the usual places are their PIXIV and their wildly successful Twitter.
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