Plus some cool insights through the whole rough draft process for her designs
Reina has certainly been the standout addition of Tekken 8’s few newcomers thus far, and at least a decent part of that is tied to her overall aesthetics.
Bayonetta’s famous character designer Mari Shimazaki was the one tasked with designing Reina for Tekken 8 as well, and she recently posted some very interesting looks at her process, iterations and unused early concepts for the fiery fighter.
Shimazaki recently posted had received an official Reina blouson from the Tekken team, so she uploaded some photos of her wearing it on Reina’s birthday, October 13.
Moreover she promised to share the rough drafts for the character’s design from start to completion as part of the celebration too, and she certainly delivered.
Perhaps the most interesting pieces come on the first page where Shimazaki reveals six of Reina’s first draft concept art that wasn’t used in the full game.
『#鉄拳8』Tより麗奈ブルゾン頂きました。せっかくなのでアップいいですか？と伺った所 「30周年イラコンあるし麗奈誕生日も近いのでデザインラフ出していいですよ」と頂きまして、次投稿で生誕祭としてデザイン完成までの工程も公開します。… pic.twitter.com/lS3G0PgOk7
— 島崎麻里 (@MariShimazaki) October 13, 2024
She’s still recognizable at a glance, however, this initial version of Reina apparently featured floral tattoos that ran from her heck all the way down her leg.
We also get to see her in a black and red school dress with a slightly different hair style as well as multiple different jacket ideas along with some unique pants and tops too.
The second draft starts looking much more like the Reina we’d all come to know with the added focus of purple, but even then she tried out a bunch of different fashionable outfits into the third and the fourth takes on honing in on the design.
It’s a cool part of the game development process we typically don’t get to see though it is a bit of a shame still to see how much had to be scrapped to get where they ended up.
On top of all that, Shimazaki also shared more detailed breakdowns for all four draft phases in both English and Japanese to provide fans even more insight.
“By the way, the first draft I drew is usually scrapped,” wrote Shimazaki. The things I drew while I was testing my brain often had the essence I was aiming for, but they didn’t fit the plan. So in my case, they were almost all scrapped. But the ‘impression’ I wanted often didn’t change from what I had in mind at first.
“Well, I was asked to create a cool and mysterious atmosphere and to have a dual personality, so I used two colors, purple and black. I made it asymmetrical to create that atmosphere.
“In my case, I start with the colors as part of the design, so the key colors are usually decided at the very beginning.
“The oversized silhouette was well received, so this time I’ll draw some variations of it. At the time of the design, I hadn’t decided whether to express Reina’s dual personality with one outfit or by changing the way she dressed, so I drew some variations as well. In the main game, this is ultimately covered by one outfit.
“I got bored midway through and tried drawing a mini length that wasn’t in the order.
“When trying to get to the heart of one image, I often don’t make much progress if I keep drawing the same thing, so I try drawing whatever comes to mind each time.”
Click images for larger versions
And that’s just what she had to say about the first draft process, so there’s a lot more she goes into as the design progresses towards the final product.
As she noted, Shimazaki was also tasked with designing Jun’s new costume for her big return to the series in Tekken 8 as well as Asuka, which seems to have gone over well with fans too.
The Bayonetta designer previously showed off concept art for Reina, Jun and Asuka that are different than the ones here.
Let us know which version of Reina from the drafting process was your favorite in the comments below.