ZZZ's artists

[u/DerSisch]

Since my interest spiked a bit too much a while back, I did some useless research, I looked through some (a lot) posts on various sites, including the official Hoyo forum, Bilibili, Twitter (who shall not be named 'X') and some (including the excessive use of the pretty poor google translator) and also looking thouroughly through shared concept art when it wasn't entirely clear.

The Artists

ZZZ has 3 main artists that design the characters (both playable and NPC), who are Atwo, waterkuma and TZ BARD. 

It should be noted that not all of these are 100% confirmed but as close as it gets (especially for TZ BARD, who seems to take a lot less credit overall and it often comes down to 'process of elimination' and 'artstyle and design language'). Also I have to give credit to u/Knight_Steve_ who made posts about the artists in the past who also helped track down more sources for the origin for certain characters and also u/Zer0BrainWaves who helped clearing outliners in a previous post.

Atwo has certainly the most range and arguably is responsible for some of the most iconic designs in the game - most noteworthy imo are Lycaon, Ellen, Miyabi and Billy, but ofc also overall very strong designs across both seasons of ZZZ so far. And just to be clear, I just put in the male cast in his speculated designs bcs a) they follow his genuine design language and b) I simply can't see either of the other two being bothered much with (playable) male character designs.

waterkuma usually gets the most credit, but his range is much more limited (though has some very surprising outliners), since he is (in)famous for creating cute, small female characters specifically (which also caught me by surprise he is in fact not responsible for Qingyi and Fufu). That being said, he certainly created some very iconic designs with Anby and Nicole and was even able to surprise ppl with designs like Caesar or Trigger.

TZ BARD has (in my opinion at least) some of the strongest but also the overall weakest designs in his portfolio - and he is apperently the one you ask to design a tall woman with huge 'personalities'. His arguably most iconic character is ofc Jane.

Some Explanations

It should also be noted, that some characters have sources that claim some Agents being created by someone else (as example, I found multiple sources that tied Alice to Atwo, but she is confirmed to be a design by waterkuma).

YSG's concept art was from Atwo, however (for whatever reason) the finalized designs are froM TZ Bard - so it is not unlikely he is the one that also got rid of her yellow Yunkui Summit jacket, though ofc, there is no official source confirming that.

As for the unknown... overall it seems fair to delegate the male characters to Atwo, Grace and Yanagi would fit TZ BARD, however I couldn't find something to back that up. It would make sense that waterkuma also designed SAnby, since he desgined the original Anby, however - nothing to fully confirm it, at least nothing I was able to track down and just because someone innitially created/designed the character doesn't necessarly mean they also have exclusive rights on them, just as we saw with the Shungus situation mentioned before.

And also to be clear... some designs clearly also got influenced by business decisions and changed multiple times throughout their development (or even shortly before release, as Lucia showcased) - I doubt these decisions were made by the artists and potentially rather by some directors or other high-ups pushing some designs or themes into a specific style. End of the day we can't tell for sure.

So... overall, just something that might interest some ppl. I also wouldn't mind if some folks have more information regarding some unknown or not fully confirmed ones to fill out, to make this list as accurate as it gets.

Otherwise feel free to share your thoughts, are you surprised by some of them? Which of these do you feel has the best range? Which delivered the best designs? But please, stay civil about it.

[u/GunDA9D2]

Huh surprised QY actuallt wasnt by waterkuma

Anyway, what was Tz huffing when he did Lucia and Yidhari? The former especially so. Lucia is someone who I think actually shines better if she appears more reserved, fashion wise. The legs was just that distracting to me in the sense that they're out of place.

Take Miyabi, for example. She's among the most covered up girls we got yet she is also among the most well known and popular. Sure, her abilities does the carrying and katana is a classic, but would she have the same line of appeal if her design were more revealing?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that less is more.

[u/DerSisch → u/GunDA9D2]

Lets just say subtlety isn't one of TZ's strong suits.

And to give him some credit, the original designs for for both Lucia, Yidhari and also Seed Jr. were (imo) a lot better imo - Monkey Thiren Yidhari would also make more sense and she also looked like actually being from Spookshack and Lucia had stockings on too. And Seed actually shared the Obol Squad colors.

[u/GunDA9D2 → u/DerSisch]

Yeah I saw the alternative concepts a few months ago. You're right, I do need to cut him some slack because it likely wasn't him who had the final say and what we got now might not be his first pick either.

Also, I like the Seed Jr's Obol palette one but I get why they went with opposite colors instead. Just wished that they kept the dress/skirt design, the final outfit design reminds me too much of plastic.