This.

Transcript:

Well hello again ! It's me Tanooki back again with miraculous opinions! This time... promo art.

Promotional art is a very important thing with media. This art will help sell what you're offering to other people, giving you some money to further fund the project.

Now before I criticise a piece of promo art, I will look at one piece of promo art that me and a friend agree looks pretty good.

This actually looks extremely interesting. I can definitely see this as a way to hype up fans of the show. There's the main set piece (that being paris) and the two main characters in the frame. It's simple and straight to the point without revealing too much about the show and without looking lazy or terrible.

Now for the other side of the spectrum and pretty much the main focus of this entire thing...

This.

First of all, the colours could do with a lot of work. I feel as if some aspects (e.g. Ladybug's outfit) blend in way too much with the background.

Second, a lot of the characters feel...out of place. They don't mesh well together. I feel as if they're slapped on to the poster and they called it a day.

Third...why so generic? I've seen this exact type of poster before and let me tell you it really depends on how they do it. Ladybug is not one of those good types. They give us too much whilst giving us too little. Like yes it's a hero show...but your designs aren't selling me due to what they are since going back to my Ladybug character design rant, the characters and their designs aren't exactly the best.

Sorry if I didn't explain much but you get the idea. This poster is just...bleh. Unlike the first poster, this one doesn't sell me on their show.

Now then as always, let's look at how we can improve these by looking at posters and promo art of other pieces of media and seeing how they do it. I'll be looking at the games: Persona 3 (and technically Persona 3 Portable), Kingdom Hearts, and Klonoa 2 Lunetea's Veil.

1. Persona 3 and Persona 3 Portable

Persona 3. Probably one of my favourite games of all time and it's all thanks to the art and writing. We'll be focusing on these 2 pieces of art.

Let's start with the first one on the left. Imagine if you saw this somewhere for the first time. The set piece is a school and there's 3 students (Those being Makoto/MC, Yukari and Junpei). Seems normal as High school is the average setting for Japanese media...but wait a minute what the actual hell is that behind them?

Most people know now it's Thanatos but back when this was made, people probably didn't know so they had to as what is that creature looming over them? He seems out of place...yet somehow doesn't. Doesn't that intrigue you a bit more? You wanna find out more about this creature and learn what it is alongside those 3 students you see.

Now let's look at the one on the right. One made specifically for Persona 3 Portable, which is a cut-down port of Persona 3 made for PSP. Of course they wanted to sell the game to newcomers as the PSP was a very popular system at the time but they also wanted to sell to players who already played Persona 3...so let's look from both sides and see how they sell to both.

For newcomers, there are tons of different characters alongside Thanatos from the first piece of promo material. However all are shrouded in this sort of mystery about them. You have to look close to see everything and in return, it makes you more curious to figure out everything there is to offer.

Now let's look from a returning player's perspective. You see this really cool artwork of the characters you know quite well. It's an amazing sight to see...but then there's someone you don't know (Femc/Kotone). Who is she and why is she next to Makoto? What importance does she have to be front and center like this? Even if you've probably played Persona 3 (and by addition The Answer/Episode Aigis) to the point where you know everything about the story, this character still intrigues you and makes you want to go and buy this other version of a game you've played thousands of times.

Overall, Persona 3 does subtly very well and doesn't reveal much yet doesn't hid too much from people.

2. Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts...while nowadays the game franchise is pretty much well known and has probably sold a lot of games, back then it was a different story. Both Squaresoft (now Square Enix) and Disney didn't know if this game was gonna sell. In the end, it very much did wonders for them.

Now let's look at this artwork from the perspective of a Square fan and a Disney fan.

Let's start with Square fan. Picture the year being 2001 and you see this. It looks quite similar to other games that Square have made during this time and hey that's pretty cool to you...but wait isn't that Donald Duck and Goofy? Aren't those guys Disney? And who are those characters too? Does the backgrounds and props signify something important? What's with the moon being a heart shape?

Let's move on to a Disney fan. Let's picture 2001 again and you see this for the very first time. Oh hey look! Donald Duck and Goofy! You like those guys! After all they're some of the most popular characters Disney have...but what's with the change in clothes? And who are those guys? Again a lot of this stuff overlaps with the Square fan's perspective but still you want to know what's up.

3. Klonoa 2 Lunetea's Veil

Let's go with my favourite game now, Klonoa 2 Lunetea's Veil. Probably Namco's best hidden gem and for good reason. The cel-shaded artstyle makes it one of the best looking games of all time. Even outside the game, it looks amazing.

Now then like before, let's take this from the perspective of a newcomer and a Klonoa fan.

Let's look at the Klonoa fan. Picture it being 2001 once again. It's Klonoa on the poster! However...he feels different. He seems older than the last game you played. And who are those characters? Is this a new world he's exploring after the events of Door To Phantomile? (side note: please play that game blind before you search it up it's an amazing game with a great ending )

Now let's look at a newcomer. Again the character designs seem kinda interesting and while it may seem a bit simple, you do want to know more about where these characters are and what their story truly is.

Overall, I think the promo art from Ladybug could learn a bit. Perhaps being more subtle about characters or having some more interesting set pieces such as the ones displayed here.