Fellow Capcom-Unity member Shadawho suggested that I reprint my Bengus blog from 1UP here. I'll do one better and post all three Bengus blogs here for all you Capcom art fans...
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Of all the artists, cartoonists, illustrators and animators that have ever lived, there is one artist whom I would rank in the top 3 each time, every time. His name is Bengus. While you may not know the name, if you have picked up a comic book in the past 10 years or played a videogame then chances are his work has influenced what you see.
The presence of the Capcom art and design staff cannot be understated. Shoei, Bengus (aka CRMK), Sensei, Ikeno, Akiman, Edayan and Nishimura Kinu are among the most revolutionary artists in the game industry. In particular Sensei, Akiman and Bengus' work in polishing the Street Fighter II characters (in 1991) set a standard by which all character designs were to be measured against. These designs became international symbols for fighters and although characters like E. Honda and Guile were added to give Western audiences someone to play or laugh at, in the end all of them were embraced by the global gaming culture.
The Street Fighter character has evolved in style and presentation through the series. One thing is certain; the person who has made the largest contribution to the character design is Bengus aka CRMK. He has given the SF characters a certain style that has rarely been duplicated. Bengus' design work has gone on to influence manga, videogame and anime character design in Japan as well as internationally. The Vampire (Darkstalkers) game was the first fighting game in which the characters closely mirrored his original designs. These fresh-looking sprites caught the attention of the game community.
Although Bengus has been designing characters and art for Capcom since the first Street Fighter in 1987, it was not until SF Zero in 1995 (following his work with Vampire) that a SF game series had been rendered with the characters looking almost identical to his original designs.
Above the many styles of Bengus 1987 to 2000. From left to right: Mike from the original Street Fighter, Ryu from Street Fighter II, Ryu (colored by Shoei), Gouken pencil sketch, Dee Jay, Gouki and Karin. The media Bengus has used has evolved with his style, including pen, marker, paintbrush, pencil and computer. His characters have gone from comic-book, manga, classic, exaggerated to anime in the span of almost 20 years. No other videogame artist has reinvented his style yet been as consistently good.
For the original SF II, Capcom greats Akiman and Sensei had designed stylized, almost proportionally realistic characters, Bengus was at the opposite end of the spectrum. The fighters personality spoke through the character designs. Muscles were exaggerated, hands and feet were disproportionate to the body, the good and bad guy archetypes were easy to identify and the animation perfectly complimented the design. The art and design was unlike Japanese manga art and at the same time unlike Western comic book art, it was a perfect hybrid of the two. Bengus has never been hung up on creating Japanese pop inspired characters but rather fresh and unique ones.
The Zero series went on to influence a number of contemporary designs in other fighting games, however none could equal the work of Bengus. The sprites used in SF Zero were so well done that they were used in almost 10 games altogether. Many who played the SF series grew to learn and love the characters and the art. Many players ended up becoming artists in their own right (myself included). Today many Western artists have borrowed or learned from the many styles Bengus has demonstrated over the years. Without a doubt the artists at both Udon in Canada have learned a great deal as the Street Fighter comic book art is patterned mostly after Bengus.
Other popular comic book artists such as Humberto Ramos, Joe Maduera and Jeff Matsuda have also borrowed from his style. Even professional illustrators Jason and Heather Martin have stated that Akiman and Bengus are some of their biggest influences.
Studying the evolution of Bengus' work is like tapping into the mind of an art god. In his latter designs Bengus wanted to incorporate more Western design to try and capture that audience's imagination. Jim Lee was the most regarded artist in comic books at the time so in the release of Street Fighter Zero (Alpha) 3 and all of the following Street Fighter vs Marvel and Capcom vs Marvel games Bengus created character art and advertising art with a decidedly Jim Lee pencil style. At the same time he turned around and created very cartoony designs for the Power Stone characters.
Nobody knows what happened to Bengus following the last 2D releases at Capcom. Was he absorbed into the fold once he had mentored Capcom artists like Edayan and Shiido?
Their styles so closely mirror Bengus that maybe there wasn't a need for his services anymore. Maybe Bengus just walked away from the scene once Capcom went strictly 3D. After all, Bengus is just another creative genius that doesn't fit the mold of managment, either you are with the vision that every game has to be 3D or you are put out to pasture.
Wherever you are Bengus I bow to you. You are the reason that I became a life-long fan of Street Fighter. You are the reason that my characters look the way they do. You are the person that designed the baddest videogame character ever.
It's been a while since I last talked about THE MAN. I bet most of you are wondering what ever happened to Bengus. Well I managed to track him down and interview with him over some coffee and donuts... okay not really. I have no idea what ever happened to him but I can at least talk about the evolution of his style. Take for example a sampling of his Ryu illustrations, in chronological order from earliest to most recent.
It is interesting to see how he adjusted his proportions for the character, how the pen or brush strokes varied on each character and even his coloring techniques. Of all the Capcom artists I think Bengus' style has evolved the most over the years. Some of the changes in his art weren't obvious. You have to be able to look at the breadth of his work to get a firm appreciation for how he evolved as an artist and how he influenced a generation of artists working in videogames and comic books. For example, the earliest illustrations of his that were recognizable were the character designs from the original Street Fighter. Gen for example was one such character that he started and ended his career with. Even though he was a principal artist in SF II, he shared the spotlight with other greats like Sensei, Akiman and Shoei. Bengus would not return to the front until SF Zero, which was his stylistic peak. He had just finished creating the characters for Vampire / Darkstalkers with his style when he was put on character designs for SF Zero.
On the original SF Zero, Bengus had created the SF archetypes in a unique fashion. To me these were the characters at their most memorable. Their proportions were exaggerated, done so that the main characters could look younger. Ryu and company were barely entering adulthood, as such they still had the lanky features of teenagers with the muscle definition of a grown-up. The large hands and feet made them look gangly and awkward but also fun. The style was definitely not anime but also not comic book. The look was all his and it worked great for a fighting game. The rest of the Capcom staff created illustrations for SF Zero and Zero 2 following his template very closely. I contend that his proportions were copied by contemporaries for games like Guilty Gear, Rumble Fish and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. However something happened when he created the principal art for SF Zero 3. His illustrations were completely different from the style he had been using in the series. Compare if you will the original versions of Sakura and Rolento, on the left with the ZF Zero 3 versions.
The change in his style was even more noticeable when he created the art for the third Vampire game.
His proportions had changed dramatically. The heads, hands and feet of his characters were less exaggerated. The strokes and angles he used were more rigid. The way he presented detail and shapes in the clothing had changed. Even his dramatic poses, another Bengus trademark, had become obtuse in SF Zero 3.
So what could have happened between the first two SF Zero and Vampire games to the third in each to have caused such a radical departure in his style? My belief was and is that his work on the Marvel games and Power Stone were a large reason why his style changed. The first two installments of SF Zero and Vampire came very close. This is why the art featured in both games and their advertising looks consistent. Shortly after Capcom was working on their epic Marvel vs Capcom crossover and they needed a lot of art to go with that series. Rather than go to Marvel for some art they created their own. The staff carefully studied the art of Marvel comics and their most influential artist was Jim Lee. Bengus created a great amount of art for the game in a similar style, with similar proportions and even inking styles as Lee. Running parallel to that was the development of one of Capcom's rare 3D brawlers, Power Stone. As the principal artist for that game Bengus had to create archetypes in a very classic Japanese anime style. He had to use soft curves, large eyes and bold colors, the polar opposite of the art in the Marvel game. I contend that having to draw the art for these two games, concurrently, changed his style.
No sooner was Bengus finished on the art for MvC and Power Stone than he had to create the art for Vampire 3 and SF Zero 3. His style did not "rebound" from those games and instead ended up with a unique hybrid for his next illustrations. Study the evolution of his Zangief to see what I'm getting at. On the top row from left to right, top to bottom, are the chronological presentations of the character. The one on the left is from SF II, the one in the middle (my favorite period) was from SF Zero and the one on the right is from MvC (very Power Stone, wouldn't you say?). The bottom figure is how Zangief was presented in SF Zero 3. Knowing what you know now, wouldn't you agree that his style has become a hybrid of his previous games with a dash of anime and Marvel thrown in? The head and face of Zangief for SF 3 were consistent with SF II. While 'geif wasn't as rounded as he was for MvC, Bengus preserved the simplified fingers, muscles and outline.
My brothers and I weren't fond of his dramatic change. We were much bigger fans of his art to every game prior. But we have to appreciate his evolution as an artist. Art is subjective, what I like you may loathe. Bengus, like Pablo Picasso, had a clearly defined style early on into his career. Both artists "peaked" into maturity and both continued to evolve in a similar fashion. They both sought to streamline their style and get the most across with the least amount of detail. You may not agree but that is what I see in his evolution.
What ever happened to Bengus? I really don't know. The last art that I know he did was for SF Zero 3, 10 years ago. I hope that he's waiting in the wings, toiling away in some corner of the world, creating a cast of characters for a true SF IV. If he's retired from videogames then I wish him the best. The world is a better place because of his contributions. Very few game illustrators can claim that rep.
Friends, I shouldn't have to say one more word about Bengus, but I will. Only because I got my hands on concentrated awesomeness last weekend. If you like the Vampire / Darkstalkers series and you like Bengus, honestly, who doesn't? Then you have to get your hands on a copy of the Vampire Graphic File, ISBN978-4-86233-124-3.
For those that aren't familiar with the game, it is to the classic monster genre what Street Fighter was to legendary fighters. Capcom decided to include as many classic archetypes in the game as they could. There was a succubus, a vampire, a wolfman, Frankenstein, mummy and even gill-man. However the ones featured in the game looked nothing like the classic Universal movie monsters. The Capcom dopplegangers were kung-fu werewolves, wrestling bigfoots and undead samurai. Crazy by anyones standards.
Bengus wrapped those archetypes around his head and came up with designs that were just as unique and memorable. They also included slight nods to their original inspirations. I'm only going to show a small sampling of the illustrations. Below are his pen illustrations of the original Vampire character art compared to his final portraits years later in Vampire Savior.
Notice how bold he was with his shadows in the original Dimitry and Morrigan art. Now look at how far he had refined his style by the time he was finishing his stint producing art.
The style was clearly Bengus and yet there was the sublime genius of DaVinci behind his technique. With nothing but one color Bengus simply shines. Look at the shadows and highlights of his figures. Look carefully at the subtleties of his crosshatching technique.
Even on the more fantastic characters like Felicia and Anakaris he managed to remain playful and iconic at the same time. Look carefully at the expressions on the characters for his original art and then his latter art.
Is Felicia meowing? She has depth and weight, shape and substance. The Anakaris piece is as epic as any classic movie poster. It is part Boris Karloff and part Alex Ross and yet something else entirely. Look at the way he created the illusion of multiple sources of lighting on the head of Anakaris!
MY GOD!
There isn't an artist working in videogames that has ever filled me with such awe. Not any of the greats at Sony Santa Monica or Incog Inc. Not anybody at Nintendo or even Sega. And just when you think that Falcoon, Hyung-tae Kim or the artists at Udon are getting close you go back and reference this art. That is when you realize that the other artists aren't even in his league. Bengus set a standard. Scratch that. Bengus is the standard. He breathed life into the characters featured in Street Fighter and Vampire. He put his stamp on history. If you ever doubt that he was anything more than a cartoonist just look at this illustration of Lei-Lei and then get back to me.
I hope you enjoy this perspective on my favorite game artist of all-time!
Hi Bigmex,
ShotokanTuningNice blog.
It wouldn't have hurt to add a few names like Joe Mad tot his piece, but I really enjoyed reading this. Great job.
Greetz,
ST
08:17 AM CST