Sony Santa Monica art director Raf Grassetti is known now not only for work on the newest God of War game that released last year but also for recreating beloved characters in different art styles. Grassetti’s artistic interpretations of different characters have notably redesigned the looks of different Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters in the past, and the art director’s latest efforts have been focused on Studio MDHR’s Cuphead and its cast of already unique characters.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The art director first shared two tweets a week ago that showed different villains from Cuphead removed from the game’s art style and transformed in a more realistic manner. Removing the 1930s cartoon style that’s found all throughout the game, the artist gave the two characters a more modern look that retained some of their exaggerated features like their toothy grins and expressive eyes. The results of these redesigns can be seen below.
๐ฑ Donโt deal with the Devil ๐ฑ pic.twitter.com/Hwz6nax9gq
โ Raf Grassetti ๐พ โ๐ป (@rafagrassetti) July 15, 2019
In case you missed King Dice yesterday..https://t.co/AvGoPVES26 pic.twitter.com/2aRpc8VDkw
โ Raf Grassetti ๐พ โ๐ป (@rafagrassetti) July 15, 2019
Following up those recreations, the artist gave the game’s two main characters a similar treatment. Cuphead and Mugman, the two playable characters players will spend the most time with, were transformed to have what’s almost a claymation-style appearance. Both characters were included in the same image just as you’d normally find them in the game.
๐ฅโA KNOCKOUT!โ pic.twitter.com/1u1QnljaBY
โ Raf Grassetti ๐พ โ๐ป (@rafagrassetti) July 21, 2019
As mentioned previously, these Cuphead recreations are far from the first time that the artist has taken on this type of project. Marvel’s Nova and Super Skrull were two different characters that got a similar treatment in the past when the artist offered an interpretation of what they could look like.
Outside of God of War, the game that introduced many people to the artist was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In an art series that encompassed different characters from Ultimate’s expansive roster, the artist transformed everything from Fox to Bowser to Kirby in many, many posts on Instagram and Twitter. The art series continued for some time after the images first started rolling out.
There’s an animated Cuphead series in the works that’s on its way to Netflix, so perhaps we’ll see some more unique interpretations of these characters when that show releases.