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lucathiaContinuing from where I stopped last time, these are translations of Mello, Near, and Matt's character designs!
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a few of my thoughts:
-no wonder Near turned out so 'cool'!!
-Obata likes Mello with scars!
-poor forgotten Matt, but it's good that he didn't end up with bobbed-hair...
I need help with translating 恋人っぽさと死んだ目を残して作ったのですが (I'm not sure I translated it right so I took it out entirely) and zanbara (in katakana). Zanbara is a type of hairstyle, right? Is there an English equivalent for it? (thanks to perfectdays and rubbersoul1967 for clarifying! thanks to kuwamatsu_aki for help with the first line!)
How to Draw
Takeshi Obata Production Note Character Design Secret
Design Concept of Mello&Near
Because they're L's successors, my impression of Ohba-sensei's order was to "leave traces of L's image/traits." I designed them with remnants of L's eccentricity and dead eyes, but for me L's existence was overly empowering, so they resembled L a bit too much...in any case, it was very hard. And then, when I started imagining on my own how the two of them might work together, I drew them with the impression of twins in my mind.
Mello
Visual
Mello, in contrast to Near, I imagined him as bright/cheerful. In the beginning, I made his hair straight, but in the later half, I absolutely felt that disheveled hair gave more of a fearless feeling. And then, I felt that I could draw him much cooler if he had a scar on his face, so I thanked Ohba-sensei, "Ohba-sensei, I'm glad that you gave him a facial scar on the way." But then, it was sad that he died soon after that.
-This is what I drew of Mello before he appeared in the manga. At this stage, I wonder if it's because of his clothes, but he gives off a more cheerful impression than in the manga.
Clothes
Mello's clothes are from my own interests. I really like drawing the highlights on leather. It's not that I like wearing these western-style clothes myself. I just really like drawing this type of clothing.
(left pic is when Mello first appears. Right pic is when he appears again.)
Near
Visual
In the beginning, I thought I'd give Near a high mental age and a cool image. Conveniently, I had my visual image from the time when I thought I'd draw L very cool. I took that image and drew a younger version of it. But then, I had another draft of L's original draft, an innocent, super cheerful character. I thought it'd be nice to draw Near like this too. But in the end, I discarded the draft of that cheerful character from my mind.
-Before entering Page.60, the Near I drew was a bit adult-looking. His hair, in the beginning, was a remnant from L...?
Clothes
Around the time when Near made his first appearance, even I thought that Near's clothes hadn't changed at all (laughs). I kept thinking "how do these clothes go together?" so it made drawing very hard. But somewhere along the way when I decided that those clothes were "pajamas," it suddenly became very easy to draw.
(left picture is when Near is opposing Light. Right pic is when Near first appears.)
Death Column
The two who were reversed in the stages of design
Actually in the beginning, in my designs for the two, Near and Mello's visual images were the the exact opposite. In reality, the Near of the present was Mello and Mello was Near. I always thought of it that way, but when I gave it to the person in charge the names were written in reverse...(laughs). In that time, Ohba-san replied with an OK, but afterwards I didn't hesitate to say "actually, they're reversed..." Because of that though, in my mind, in the initial phases, Near had more of a bad guy image while Mello had more of an adult-like and more feminine image. But in the end, I now think that this reversal was a good thing.
Takeshi Obata Production Note Character Design Secret
Design Concept of Mello&Near
Because they're L's successors, my impression of Ohba-sensei's order was to "leave traces of L's image/traits." I designed them with remnants of L's eccentricity and dead eyes, but for me L's existence was overly empowering, so they resembled L a bit too much...in any case, it was very hard. And then, when I started imagining on my own how the two of them might work together, I drew them with the impression of twins in my mind.
Mello
Visual
Mello, in contrast to Near, I imagined him as bright/cheerful. In the beginning, I made his hair straight, but in the later half, I absolutely felt that disheveled hair gave more of a fearless feeling. And then, I felt that I could draw him much cooler if he had a scar on his face, so I thanked Ohba-sensei, "Ohba-sensei, I'm glad that you gave him a facial scar on the way." But then, it was sad that he died soon after that.
-This is what I drew of Mello before he appeared in the manga. At this stage, I wonder if it's because of his clothes, but he gives off a more cheerful impression than in the manga.
Clothes
Mello's clothes are from my own interests. I really like drawing the highlights on leather. It's not that I like wearing these western-style clothes myself. I just really like drawing this type of clothing.
(left pic is when Mello first appears. Right pic is when he appears again.)
Near
Visual
In the beginning, I thought I'd give Near a high mental age and a cool image. Conveniently, I had my visual image from the time when I thought I'd draw L very cool. I took that image and drew a younger version of it. But then, I had another draft of L's original draft, an innocent, super cheerful character. I thought it'd be nice to draw Near like this too. But in the end, I discarded the draft of that cheerful character from my mind.
-Before entering Page.60, the Near I drew was a bit adult-looking. His hair, in the beginning, was a remnant from L...?
Clothes
Around the time when Near made his first appearance, even I thought that Near's clothes hadn't changed at all (laughs). I kept thinking "how do these clothes go together?" so it made drawing very hard. But somewhere along the way when I decided that those clothes were "pajamas," it suddenly became very easy to draw.
(left picture is when Near is opposing Light. Right pic is when Near first appears.)
Death Column
The two who were reversed in the stages of design
Actually in the beginning, in my designs for the two, Near and Mello's visual images were the the exact opposite. In reality, the Near of the present was Mello and Mello was Near. I always thought of it that way, but when I gave it to the person in charge the names were written in reverse...(laughs). In that time, Ohba-san replied with an OK, but afterwards I didn't hesitate to say "actually, they're reversed..." Because of that though, in my mind, in the initial phases, Near had more of a bad guy image while Mello had more of an adult-like and more feminine image. But in the end, I now think that this reversal was a good thing.
Matt
Design Concept
His image was that of a young person who doesn't really care about all that goes on in the world and only likes current games. When Matt was supposed to appear, I didn't hear anything about it. I just saw his name and thought "Who's this, this character?" and asked the person in charge and then remembered (laughs). Just from the name, I get the image of bobbed-hair and round glasses, but in the end I just drew the image that I wanted to draw. In companion to Mello and Near, I gradually read him as "this guy is probably not that lively," and then I was able to draw him naturally.
Design Concept
His image was that of a young person who doesn't really care about all that goes on in the world and only likes current games. When Matt was supposed to appear, I didn't hear anything about it. I just saw his name and thought "Who's this, this character?" and asked the person in charge and then remembered (laughs). Just from the name, I get the image of bobbed-hair and round glasses, but in the end I just drew the image that I wanted to draw. In companion to Mello and Near, I gradually read him as "this guy is probably not that lively," and then I was able to draw him naturally.
-----
a few of my thoughts:
-no wonder Near turned out so 'cool'!!
-Obata likes Mello with scars!
-poor forgotten Matt, but it's good that he didn't end up with bobbed-hair...
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 03:35 am (UTC)Thanks for translating this! It was really interesting to read :3.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 04:12 am (UTC)Yup, disheveled hair is much love. ♥ And Mello's scar makes him look fierce, a far cry from his very first designs.
Thanks for clarifying about 'zanbara'!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 04:56 am (UTC)No, I didn't buy the book. XD;; (I want to though! Just haven't had time...) I've been translating these off scans from the people in
Hehe yup! They were reversed...strange to think of it that way!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 05:04 am (UTC)I accidentally hitted send, lol. Anyway, I just wanted to add that I'm thankful about Near and Mello's reversedness, it turned out really good *3*
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 05:09 am (UTC)I was very amused to know that Near (I guess that means Mello..?) was based on the first drafts of L. No wonder Near almost seemed like an L clone in the beginning! And I was surprised that he ever considered drawing them as extremely 'cheerful and innocent.' =x
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 08:07 am (UTC)I'm glad they did!!
Cool Mello is definitely cuter than "cheerful and innocent" Mello ;;;;
And innocent, childish, cute Near is better than "cool and adult" Near!
The first time I read poor Matt was going to be okappa, I almost died from a heart attack, hahaha ;;;; I'm soooooo happy he didn't go that way.
Thank you very much for translating this! (^^)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 09:02 am (UTC)I've grown attached to the characters the way the are. :D
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 09:51 am (UTC)thanks so much, lucathia_rykatu ^__^!!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 09:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 01:41 am (UTC)If they hadn't been switched...heh, so weird imagining that! I wonder if it would've been merely their appearances that were different...