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Designer Naughty Dog faced backlash for Stellar Blade hero Eve's art style.
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The Gamergate campaign criticized the performance art for not being traditionally beautiful.
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The Stellar Blade team defended the artist's performance and emphasized the importance of diverse art styles.
Earlier this week, Stellar Blade fan and Naughty Dog character concept designer Hyoung Taek Nam shared his artistic interpretation of Stellar Blade's protagonist Eve. They were quickly criticized for “deliberately making Eve look ugly”.
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The artwork was later shared on Stellar Blade's official social media channels, with the game team condemning fans who attacked Hyung-taek for his piece.
The Stellar Blade team defends Naughty Dog artist Eve
Stellar Blade's Eve is at the heart of Gamergate 2's campaign. Those behind the hate movement have cited the character's “traditional beauty” as something every game should showcase. So, when Hyung Tak posted his first piece of art that didn't meet their standards, he was immediately attacked.
Dozens of comments on the art criticized Hyung-tak's style, saying he made Eve look “masculine and ugly” and that working at Naughty Dog only made things worse. The Last of Us studio, which was also criticized by Gamergaters for including a diverse cast of characters, was criticized, with commentators saying that Naughty Dog's “instructions” were responsible for the art style.
A little later, the artist shared a second version of Eve that was more appealing to those who were irrationally angry about the first piece.
The Stellar Blade team also shared this artwork. But, while the second piece was less polarizing, he made sure to call out those who were unhappy with the first piece:
We always welcome old style fan art. It's not unusual for fan art to be more than the artist's original style, and we think this is very important and enjoyable.
With Stellar Blade already doing enough to please its audience, everyone should just appreciate the art for what it is.
Stellar Blade is an action game from Shift Up that was originally introduced as Project Eve. The story follows the aforementioned Eve as she battles the alien invaders of Naytiba to reclaim Earth for humanity.
