I think when they get new artists that don't quite have the "feel" for how the pets look yet, they put them to work creating shopkeepers. Some shopkeepers look fine - they are proportioned correctly and the pictures are drawn using proper perspective. Others... well, see for yourself:
Some examples:
Here you see a well-drawn action-Acara, along side the original :
More recent acara with arm coming out of its stomach (yes, that's how it would look if *I* drew it but these people are paid to draw, I would expect they are better able to convey perspective)... "original"/normal pose of this color is shown on right side for comparison.
Decent posed blumaroo:
Freaky adult baby blumaroo:
Now, I dont have anything against pets looking slightly different from picture to picture. Pets drawn in a slightly different style, more cartoonish or more realistic looking - I agree, it gives a bit of personality. I don't have a problem with that. But when the proportions are so wrong that the result doesn't look like it could possibly be your pet in a different pose, or if it was trying to walk or reach for something, it would collapse because the legs are attached wrong or completely straight instead of organic looking or ... you get idea. (I think the sniggering blue yurble has been bitten on the leg by a spider, that's why it's puffed up all the way past the hip and no recognizable knee area.
If you look at the lupe shopkeepers, you see that there is a consistent look that TNT strives for. No, they're not all exactly the same, but you can tell they're all made from the same model.
The gelerts, though... they are awful.
http://www.neopets.com/select_shopkeeper.phtml?category=1&sub_cat_id=14&search=Gelert The baby has no back to its head. Achyfii guy has no bottom jaw and he has mutant cheeks and crossed eyes. Faerie running is blocky and looks like scooby doo. I think the red playful and the shadow gelerts are the most well-done in terms of changing the look and pose but retaining the essence of a gelert: even though the asparagus one's ear thingies don't really have much "whip" thing on the end, he is still recognizable as a GELERT shape dog.
I don't mind the goofy look on the lutari gelert's face here. It's the shape of his snout, his body, and his ears, and the fact that it really just looks more like a dog thing with eartennas.... not specifically a gelert. And that's what they're supposed to be going for!
Anyhow, just my two cents, but I hope that they fix those images before releasing them. Of course, they released the microcephalic baby gelert, so I guess I'm out of luck...
Quote:
Let me 'splain... no, there is too much. Let me sum up.
(11/4)