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From concept art to polygons: The evolution of a game character

Cammy doesn't wear a mask, so Decapre is not an exact duplicate of her. Suck it, haters.

Image Credit: Samir Torres/GamesBeat

Before your favorite game heroes (and villains) looked all sexy and bad-ass as 3D models, they started out as fugly drawings on a napkin or raw sketches on a tablet.

Some characters, like Ultra Street Fighter IV’s Decapre [pictured above] all come from existing designs — in this case, Cammy — but artists still have to make multiple illustrations until they get every detail right and ready for rendering.

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See how much 10 popular characters changed from concept art to in-game polygonal models in the following side-by-side images.

Click here for more cool comparisons.


Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse (Wolfenstein: The New Order)


Garret (Thief)


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Ellie (The Last of Us)


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Dracula (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2)


Delsin Rowe (Infamous: Second Son)

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Nilin (Remember Me)


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Samuel Rodrigues (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)


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Superman (Injustice: Gods Among Us)


Trip (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West)


Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3)