DID RESIDENT EVIL STEAL HER DESIGN? [Reference vs Copying] 

Clarification! I do love the design, I thought it was the best in the game, but I feel like they didn’t iterate enough from their reference. And I was upset so many people think character designers normally just take whole outfits from premade sources when they do so much more. I don’t think they should’ve dressed her so realistically when every other character is so campy. She can stand out from them without losing the ‘look’ of a RE villain. That’s all! I hope this didn’t make anyone too mad, I thought it would be interesting to discuss, not upsetting :(

I thought her character was supposed to juxtapose the daughters, She's this prim, proper, mature woman, different from the wild designs of the daughters. I do agree they could've iterated on her design a bit more though, look at some models from the time or something. Good video also.

“Tall vampire lady with the big *swoopy hat.*” Never change Lavendertowne 😆

I love her design and honestly the only thing that Lady Dmitrescu reminded me of was Lust from FMAB due to her claws

As someone who indulges in ventage fashion, it's not uncommon for media to heavily use fashion shown in magazines and photos, and honestly it makes the look more period accurate. Which is rather fitting for Lady D, she is timeless from a long forgotten era.

Lavendertown isn't saying that the design is bad or not iconic, she is just saying that using only one reference picture and barely changing it wasn't exactly right and could have done a bit more- at least a little bit more than what they did.

"big swoopy hat" I uh- sure thats the most family friendly way to describe her

I feel there's a bit of a difference between references and straight up copying, but this definitely is a tricky situation.

I didn’t even know about this controversy I’ve just been to busy simping for her-

She is also a reference to a monster in Japan, who is also a tall woman with a large hat, she also has the great depression style like the 30s

Even though it is based off a photo I absolutely adore this character design. I think it’s very good thing that they made her stand out. I think it makes sense to have her look more refined than her daughters because, well, they’re daughters.

I love her design- I personally think it fits her position as a “mother” and semi-“matriarch” of her household- that being she runs the household of her daughters. Which she would need to be more refined and classy, unlike her daughters and brother. She typically isn’t meant to do the dirty work- she sends her daughters to do it in her place. Until she needs to do it herself, though. I think the dress of the picture was a absolutely perfect fit for the idea that they had. But that’s just my personal opinion, anyway.

but.. but.. pretty monster lady🙏

Art twitter really likes having things concise, but I was still really surprised that everyone jumped on reference defense when the op was just excited finding the picture.

Realistically the company found an public domain photo of a refined elegant woman and used her as a base changed her dimensions as they found her outfit to fitting. The defining a character through their clothes and accessories is harder in realistic outfits.

I don't I guess it would be nice if they tried new things but honestly, it works. She's simple but in a very nice way, her dress makes her make her look like a pillar which emphasizes her size. and the contrast to her in her daughters is actually good, it shows the differences of the personalities. I just can't diss her design because it works

Hey if they fell in love with that picture and said this is her... I can't blame them that picture screams "I rule this room" just wish they gave credit. I think the reason we all love her is because she doesn't seem like a resident evil villain.

I personally think that the whole point of Lady Dimitrescu's design was for her to stand out and not fit the design of the other characters. Her whole concept was to just catch everyone's (the players, fans etc) attention and make her engraved into our brains essentially a marketing tactic. The more she stands out the more you remember the game. Honestly really smart of the re8 team.

I like your analysis and critique! It almost makes me want to try drawing a redesign of her using more references from the series and her time period for fun

I think something people seem to be missing is that they also needed to make the outfit accurate to the *location* . Since Romania is a country that most people usually tend to ignore, the team had to do a lot of research on a place that there isnt much information on. Maybe the team was scared to experiment with a "historically accurate" design since they didn't want to offend anyone or just didnt have any ideas of how they could experiment with it in an authentic manner. An american 1930s dress =/= a romanian 1930s dress. Im not trying to excuse the fact that the team couldve put more reasearch into it tho (especially with the Romanian words which were butchered in the voiceacting).

I think it's healthy for artists to look at major productions like Resident Evil and notice the imperfections. Noticing imperfections is part of what motivates me, because I can see all the love and praise of something with a lot of flaws and take that as a sign to not put so much pressure on myself to make something "perfect."

I’m getting vibes of, “I’m not mad, just disappointed”. I wished they had used more than just that one reference image for their design.

This is done a lot in game development when characters are realistic, its just rarely noticed except in copypasters like this and the photo of suit less tali from masseffect. When you have to make 100 individual characters, you tend to pick from photographs. Not saying it is right or wrong, just that it happens much more than people notice. Also, someone on the design team may have had a thing for the picture.

I think this view point changes from what area of design someone is from. From a Costume Designers perspective ( and I mean traditionally trained ), we are more encouraged to find a vintage piece that fits the character and translate it. This is because if it isn't necessarily accurate towards the time frame it can get confusing. Personally I'm quite happy they used this piece instead of making a dress that "looks vintage," and added accessories to amplify it. I do recommend watching Karolina Żebrowska video on breaking down Lady Dimitrescu outfit, because I think you can really see how a Costume Designer and Fashion Historian views this.

Historians: oh yes her design is pretty Historically accurate, we love a videogame being more accurate than a historical movie. Artists: this sucks! they copied an outfit without being creative at all! Where's the characters design, the concept art! They haven't even tried. Normal people: step on me mommy! Edit: I feel like the creators of her design saw that old photo of that woman in a white dress and where like, ohhhhh I want her to be my mommy.

Lady Dimitrescu's daughters' designs were so boring to me, I couldn't tell any of them apart from each other. I couldn't ever tell who Ethan had killed off when he ended each one of them. They just melt together. It really didn't seem they had many personalities to them other than being crazy. I don't understand their hoods at all. They were like bug-vampire mutants. They never interacted with each other aside from cutscenes. Like I said, they didn't seem to have personalities, yet the wikia says they do have personalities and one of them likes to keep an eye on her sisters and keep them from doing dumb stuff. Yet, in game, all of the daughters are alone when they fight Ethan, which is probably why they all got murdered and had no personalities to them. Also, them being minor enemies, they wouldn't need much life put into them as they are killed off. Lady Dimitrescu has a different style than her daughters cause they aren't born from Lady Dimitrescu. They were experiments than Lady Dimitrescu kept an eye on as they transformed from being humans to their mutant forms. They are from a different time period than Lady Dimitrescu I'm pretty sure. Also Lady Dimitrescu was given a family since Family was a major theme in the game.

Honestly it just feels like either someone was too lazy and no one else noticed OR the whole team started simping like all of us lol

Fun Fact about her necklace from another channel named 'Liam McEvoy': If you look closely you'll notice that the pearls she was wearing was dented or irregular shapes. These Mediterranean pearls are called Scaramaza Pearls and today only exists in antiquity meaning you can't get them new anymore. Also known to be extremely valuable and it shows that she comes from very old money. If only they thought about her design more like they did the pearls and the graphics. I still like the design even if it was stolen, I think it genuinely does suit her.

Im afraid I used too much reference for the fights in my comic :'( I feel like they are "copies" but I drew all the original characters, it's just reference for the poses! How can I feel ok about it?

I think the fact that she is really different from everything else is part of why people like the design so much. Also the fact that the design is so different from the designs of the daughters fits well because the so called daughters are'nt her real daughters.

I feel like it fits her because she’s more refined compared to her counterparts in the game, she’s hundreds of years old and her daughters used to dress in a similar way which we can see from the painting. But they adapted and changed I feel like this is good bc it portrays that lady D doesn’t grow along with the times. The designs you drew are cute! But taking in where she lives and the way she acts it doesn’t feel like her. I don’t think taking fashion is a problem at all! Ehe

SPOILERS Lady Dimitrescu (the u is silent btw) was stated to be the one they wanted to stand out the most in her area. Her clan (the zombie vampire creatures) and her daughters are meant to be goth like on purpose. Her daughters are literal corpses that flies attached themselves to as hosts. The Lady is literally the only one in her household that can go outside and adapt to different fashions. Because her daughters will die permanently when cold air touches them. The Lady was alive when she turned into her “The Vampire Lady” and also has a hereditary disease that requires her to drink blood as a “vampire”. And she comes from a slightly different era in the game. She also comes from regal descent. The Village isn’t meant for everything to match since everyone is an experiment throughout different time periods.

This is such an odd situation, you see smaller artists all the time saying “don’t reference my art” and that includes the pose and clothing etc. Considering this design was basically wholly copied I have to wonder if this character wasn’t so loved how much backlash would they have gotten,,,

I think the most upsetting part of this isn't even the "design steal" itself, but people's reaction to comments calling it out or just saying what it is, lazy or not, justified or not. People's concept of what's "taking reference" changes drastically when it envolves something they simp to, ain't it? Now an artist actually taking reference to draw something they don't know how to draw and studying it, "That's being unoriginal".

hi, romanian here dimitrescu is a popular last name here , its pronounced as dee-mee-treh-skuu (dont forget to roll your r!!) and thats just the... original ? idk way to pronounce her name. people saying its not pronounced like it is here is weird because shes a romanian character and the whole game happens in romania. but anyways i was kinda bummed when i saw that the vampires didnt have any cultural clothing. we have very beautiful traditional dresses here esp in transylvania so they couldve done a really beautiful design instead of just copying a model. usually romania faces a lott of racism and usually is ignored or looked down upon, so this was a huge thing for us !

My guess is some high-up suit from Capcom's marketing team took a look at an early sketch, got obsessed with it and tossed out everything more refined. Usually when there's some weird design choice in an otherwise well-made piece of media, it's because of executive meddling.

"They wanted to make it historically accurate" "They were using a reference" No no no no, people are missing the easiest justification for only using one reference and barely changing anything: "Yes, this is EXACTLY what we're looking for. Make her scary while changing as little as possible about her actual appearance." If you specifically wanted to change as little as possible, the first thing you would do to make her scary is make her large and imposing, because the rest of her appearance can stay the same. I genuinely like the approach of taking an aesthetic or design you like and recontextualizing it because that changes the meaning people build around it. The morality in this particular instance does seem a bit iffy; we don't know if Capcom had permission to use the photo so directly--so for a character design decision, they could have crossed that boundary. But as far as the artistry itself goes, I think the actual process that went into making Lady Dimitrescu can make for good art. And, whether they intended that or even had that process or not, they still accomplished that recontextualization quite successfully in my opinion. But I also really appreciate LavenderTowne's insights into this, too. Why they designed her this way when they could've designed her through a more traditional process does make me raise an eyebrow.

Its obvious that this one sketch was exploring the design of the first photo. It likely was what I call a "first pass". When I reference art in my scaffolding of new pieces I will sometimes literally copy something in order to warm up my hands and my mind. Just working to complete a design that was already produced can result in a mentality that helps make something better on the next pass. I think that you critique would be more valid if the final model of Lady D was as similar but there are sever clothing changes and not to mention physiologic ones as well. Additionally Lady D has an obsession with beauty. She covers her dead skin with large swaths of thick white makeup. SO thick you can see the brush marks on her face. She is so disgusted with her "natural" form that she likely wanted to impersonate someone she thought was beautiful and this mindset is validated by this photograph. But it boils down to this, this is a single piece of art that likely was a first pass on a concept. There are likely hundreds if not thousands more from the team and simply ignoring this fact in order to support the claim they stole this image is foolish.

Lady Dimitrescu Concept Art: Hey, can I copy your homework? Lady Dimitrescu Reference Photo: Ya, but just change it up a bit so it doesn't look the same. Final Design:

I'm personally happy they kept that initial look from the old photo for Dimitrescu. It was too perfect to change, the other references Lavendertown showed didn't really fit her vibe

I totally agree and I feel like a lot of the pushback on this critique comes from fans who are jumping to the defensive when in reality no one’s being attacked, if anything this is coming from a place of artists saying that resident evil has the capability of iterating and innovating their designs so it’s a shame they chose to take a questionable shortcut. Is what they did illegal? No. Is it morally repugnant? Probably not. Is it a bad design? No. But is it wasteful of their teams talents and the designs potential? Yeah, I think so. (Also, as someone currently working on their own character designs I wouldn’t feel okay doing this. I feel like the internet likes to polarize reference and inspiration but there’s nuance, ya know?) But yeah, super well spoken video with clear points that didn’t come across as hyperbolic discourse or anything like that! Also, I love ambience and atmospheric vibes of the final pic!

i do agree that the clothing is generic, however when an artist is using reference images, it’s often recommended that they use multiple for both accuracy and to avoid plagiarism. in order to explain this, i’ll use an analogy - if you wrote an essay on one topic using one reference, speaking about the exact same events in the exact same order as the reference, not adding citations, but using your own words, your teacher would likely label that as plagiarism. [this example is simple and clear-cut for emphasis, i understand that the situation in this video is more complex]. posing in a concept sketch can tell a lot about a character [low energy, high energy, mood, etc] so the fact that it was skipped over is concerning. just something to ponder.

I think a lot of the backlash against the "copying" accusation (or even just implication) is the result of many artists growing up hearing that using references is "cheating", having their artistic growth stunted by this mindset, and then eventually learning that using references is normal, helpful, and often essential. So now, there's a defensive reflex associated with it. The more a pendulum is pulled to one side, the harder it swings in the other direction. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I agree it wasn't a unique design, but on the other hand what we usually get in historical movies etc. is people constantly ahistorically combining design elements they would never have combined in that period. E.g. watch the Regency Tailor's video on the Bridgerton designs to see what I mean: lots of people there wear Victorian outdoor pants together with (correct) Regency coats, wear wrong color combinations, wear day wear together with night wear, wear undergarments on top, missing hats, wrong silhouettes, details from different periods added, and so on. So with too much "uniqueness" we tend to end up with completely ahistorical outfits that are really annoying/immersion-destroying for people who know the period a bit. I agree that more could have been done here, especially to bring out her personality, though. But that tends to require lots of research of what a woman with that personality would have worn in that time period, which concepts artists often don't get the time to do. Ideal would have been to give them a period expert on hand who can tell them if an outfit is wrong (or simply not care, but then we just further increase the public's utter ignorance about what the past was like).

Apparently one of the other villains, later on in the game, is rumored to have been stolen from a horror film.

I'm glad you made a video on the subject, I find it super interesting to have your point of view as a character designer ! The situation as its pros and cons but maybe it's more about what makes sense and is legit or not VS what's artistically legit or not ? Any way that's a very interesting and fun video idea, thanks for educating us as always Haley !!! 💕 Glad you didn't got too scared to share your "unpopular opinion" !

There's so many references smooshed in there that the whole thing is a pretty frank pastiche. The whole thing about mother Miranda and the sisters dragging Ethan around with hooks is straight out of suspiria.

I really love her character design, the fact that she grew up with a family that were wealthy nobles, so she’s sophisticated and have etiquette. Not to mention obviously she was born before 1950, so her style is really old

I honestly don’t doubt that it was a “I made thousand designs and they really like this one that I used one ref for and told me they wanted more” because honestly I think even with it being one reference it IS an iconic design and if you hadn’t shown the image I doubt anyone would have realized that it was one reference. Also on the point of it not fitting in I definitely think that’s her purpose. In a world of rif-raf and dirty hobo brothers and biblically accurate Angel mothers she’s supposed to be this beautiful elegant regal beacon. This is reflected in her home as it’s one of the only levels in the game without that dirty grimy I’m definitely going to get an infection on my lack of fingers hand feel to it. As for her daughters.... if you know the lore she literally made them out of flies, so it makes sense that compared to their elegant and proper mother they look...... grimy n dirty and tattered, because they are a bunch of flies hanging out to make a human shape. I honestly really like the desgin and don’t think it needs a lot more. I think saying she’s only popular because big hot woman isn’t completely fair, because if she didn’t stand out against the rest of the cast I doubt the internet would be frothing over her so much.

I think the design fits her character perfectly from the way she holds herself, the way she talks, her overall demeanor, I think everything fits her perfectly. I personally don't see a problem with it but it that's just me

That kind of style was very popular. Saying they stole a design would be like saying making an alt character and giving her basic alt style is stealing a design.

bruh people be telling her in the comments that she’s wrong, or “its a bad take,” or “it’s nitpicking” when anyone with the ability to see can tell that the concept art and the reference look almost the same. it’s fine to like something but still critique it; just because you like something doesn’t mean it’s without fault. edit: i cut out “she literally went to school for character design” because everybody’s being annoying about it because they took it as an end all be all. if you want to say comment on this topic still, feel free to, but you’ll look like an idiot because there were already arguments made and you’re just rehashing that. if you want to add something to the conservation, actually read what was said.

‘She didn’t fit with her daughters’ I obviously can’t read your mind, but it really seems like you didn’t dig into the actual lore of the game. Those aren’t her biological children, and yes, they were in fact, from a different time. They were born decades after Lady D was immortalised at the age of 44.

her design fits in with the game, it's only her daughters that look more goth and edgy she looks fine and fits in with the other guy in the hat and glasses

even though it looks very similar the real photo i think it was changed enough so it fits the world and the character itself, yeah, it is a lot similar and they could do something crazy to make it more different, but at the same time I think that the RE series had a very "real life" based theme when it comes to the characters, so for me it is cool to them to use a very real life based model to concept based

Wow I’m early :D Considering that this is the best chance for you to see something I’ve said to you- I just want to say that I love Unfamiliar! It’s such a great story and the characters & art style is adorable :O ✨

It does look like lady d went through some change, because in original concept art she was described as a “bewitching vampire” with garden shears and looking a lot lest refined and stylish, so I think what you said about a bunch of design being made and the one that was the least “original” was chosen

This is such an awesome video! Super informative and actually helps me with character art !

unfortunately either way, Lady D isnt the only direct from reference they did. The doll Angie is only change in proportions from the doll they "referenced". the Original doll was hand made by an artist with no credit given. All they did was change Angie's head shape and face. Kind disappointing that they took the doll without credit and that they stole it at all. The Doll is by Shain Erin called Lost Lenore. You can find it on their flickr gallery. It was created in 2011.

If you think lady dimitrescu clashes with the design of the other characters, that’s fair. If you think her concept art resembles the reference too closely, that’s also fair. As an artist you are more than qualified to make such judgements. However, to presume that the entire design was lifted from one reference image and that not much time was spent is absurd. This is especially absurd to presume of a AAA development team. I didn’t fully appreciate just how much time (and bloody meetings) software development took until I became a dev. I would be shocked if there weren’t many meetings and iterations on the design of the characters. I think the much more reasonable explanation is that they just liked the current design best.

People who are mad about this are gonna be REALLY upset when they find out how costuming actually works :| especially when attempting to create a costume that looks like its from a certain time period. Titanic, one of the highest grossing films EVER, has Rose wearing outfits that were literal reproductions of clothes shown in fashion magazines from the time. I personally don't see anything wrong with this.

I like her design and I don’t know if I think it would get better. I feel like it still works even if she stands out BUT I get your point about using one photo. It wouldn’t have been that difficult to alter parts of it and it is wild to me that they didn’t. Even just changing the dress accents or hat some more would have been fine.

I feel like she looks so different from everyone else because she feels like she is better than everyone else. Like how she gets angry when she doesn't think she's the favorite of Mother Miranda's. So I think it makes sense she looks more proper and put together to visually show how she feels above and better than the others.

well, a lot of people used to dress like this in that time when the picture was taken, i feel like its more a reference to the time that he photo was takken than a reference to the photo itself

Me: has absolutely *NO* idea what she’s talking about... Also me: *well it’s a LavenderTowne video and it has something to do with art so ya know* 🤪

I mean, that outfit is just the perfect fit for her. Any major change and it would be too cluttered for her elegant character, but that's just my opinion. She also stands out because her design is simple, clean, but the most memorable and easy to recognize.

I believe that this is tricky. They probably wouldn't give credit to the picture unless they give an interview to the artists and then they mention it. But as of the design, I can see why they decided for the dress from the picture. Lady Dimitrescu having a long simple dress, but with a nice design gives the most powerful addition. Not because they add to her, but because it highlights how she doesn't need a great design or a great dress to show how powerful she is. She is in charge, she's above others, she's mother's favourite and she's intimidating. She does not need something that makes her look powerful. Her confidence doesn't need to get any higher with a more intricate design. Another comment I saw said that her look being more refined while her daughters looked classic resident evil was because they did the dirty work for her, and I completely agree. She is in charge, she doesn't need to do what others can do for her. Her daughters are more sinical but in a childlike way. They enjoy hunting, they play with their pray, they enjoy inflicting pain and have fun. Although Lady Dimitrescu does hunt, she wants to get it done and only makes her prey run because of he cockiness. Lady Dimitrescu also has been from noble lineage since before becoming the tall lady, she doesn't do things for herself. Anyway, I think her simple design highlights her cockiness and confidence. How she doesn't need eccentric clothing to show her power. (I also think it was probably easier to animate but i'm not sure)

As someone with a BA in graphics for video games I can say, yeah there isnt enough addaptation or use of multiple refferences for this to be an unplagerising concept design. I will say I think there is a huge lore reason as to why lady Dimitrescu stands out from her "daughters" so harshly in a lore sense though and that is due to what they are compared to what she is lore wise. She is a living mutant while the girls are more like resurrected ghouls.

I dunno, I hear what your saying but even though Lady Demistrescu stands out or seems out of place aesthetically speaking, I'd argue that it's befitting of her character. Just take a look at her castle and it's interior. Just like her, it completly stands out from the rest of the game's environments. It's filled with elaborate art and decorum. Even her manner of speaking stands out, it comes off as poised or with some manner of sofistication when compared to the rest of the cast. Maybe from a concept design angle it's not researched or developed enough but there's enough elements in the game related to her that justifies her standing out from the rest. Plus, her true form fits with the creature design of the rest of the game. If anything, Heisenberg's boss battle design sticks out like a sore thumb.

Not gonna lie, I think this is a bad take. They clearly intended to keep Lady Dimitrescu's aesthetic bound to her time period, hence they used a historical costume reference. This is extremely normal for historical costume design- there are tons of period films with costumes that are piece for piece recreations of garments from paintings, photographs, and fashion plates. I'd also say it's a little insulting to say that because they recreated a real dress and hat that were popular at the time, that therefore they somehow didn't think about those elements of her character design or that no time was spent on it. Choosing the reference garment based on factors like personality, time period, and social status are a large part of designing a character. It's like a character designer choosing to give their character prada heels and responding "Boo, prada heels already existed! Clearly you put no thought into that decision!" I also find the argument that her design feels more refined a little puzzling. Like... yeah, that's what they were going for. That's why they chose the outfit, so she would look like a glamorous noblewoman from the 30s. She fits into the castle environment perfectly. Of course she doesn't look like the other lords- they all look discordant together. They're made to work well apart, in their individual regions, not together. If anything I'd say Moreau is the one who's the real outlier. Idk. Not a big fan of this take. And I also think the clickbait in the thumbnail is a little iffy feeling. (Edit: Also, acting like they only used one reference for her dress, hair, and hat is a bit weird given that you can't even see the other side of her hair or the main body of the hat. They clearly used separate references for them. And I'm pretty sure her hair is styled differently to the woman in the photo. Not to mention tacking on "and they used the makeup too!!" is a bit weird.. you can't even see the model's makeup)

The designers: draws his character thinking she’s not gonna be that important in the game. *Two days later* Another designer: “They love her!!!” “What?” “The big vampire lady you drew, they love her!!!!” “Really?” “Yep she’s the only character people actually recognize.” *Bro literally spent five minutes on her* P.s. this is a joke, i’m not trying to say that they didn’t put any effort into the character design. And if you comes across that way I apologize

"in resident evil 4 all the characters look like they belong in the same game" Uhh.. Look at Salazar

I thought it was just a fashion trend. I thought people wear that kind of clothes back then. I mean its like calling someone off for making that character wear a T-shirt and Jeans.

Huh, I feel like my friend said something about this yesterday

yes!! yes!! i LOVE hearing you talk about big company character designs.. your input is so respectful and insightful

Honestly, I don't really mind it. Many shows I've watched have heavily referenced cultures, clothes, etc. into their characters and so, it's not really a problem.

They found a nice design, and integrated it. Nothing was really stolen 💀. There's no need to overthink this stuff.

The only lore peice we got from lady D is the three roses she has on her left side of her dress represents her three daughters

I definitely see points on both sides. Having seen other early concepts of her, where she looked much more similar to her daughters and wielded shears, I genuinely think this was more a case where the artist might've done it as inspiration or something and the leads on the project latched onto it as her new look. That said I still love the design and, credit where credit is due, I do like the subtle little details they did add, such as her final design incorporating three flowers on the corsage above her heart to represent her three daughters, the lavish necklace to emphasize her nobility, and the bright red accents of her lipstick and eye shadow to pop against the black and white. I do also agree that I feel like they could've at least played with different hairstyles, adding a couple extra details to further distinguish it, etc. Especially if they could've played more with allusions to her role as the 'bat king' in the story (such as adding a fur boa to reflect his fuzzy body in the story) or adding more floral aesthetics reflect the silver flowers that have become so iconic in her castle (which, to be fair, I suppose the corsage does). I also know her role in the story is minor, overall, but I remember I was genuinely wondering where her passion for that era of New York fashion even came from, since you really don't see anything else in the castle that suggests she has any interest in it. Like even just having some magazines lying around would've been a silly, but nice little touch. I 100% admit that I'm just being a nerd, but it just was a little odd sometimes to have the Lady in 1930s garb, with her more gothic-modern blend daughters, wandering around a castle that was gothic on the outside, but positively baroque on the inside. In the end, it all just feels like nitpicks, though. The thing I absolutely agree with is her daughters. The game portrays her treating them like real family that she genuinely cares about. Don't get me wrong, I love their designs, but it could've been fun to see her having them dress in 1930s New York fashion like herself to unify their designs. Like yeah, they are kinda her little goth kids, but it just seems odd that as much as they seem to look up to her (literally and figuratively), that they wouldn't try emulating her in some ways.

I remember markiplier going off about the vampire lady and saying why she’s so cool lol, it was a livestream I think! ☺️😆

ooooooooooo I can't wait to hear your thoughts **pretends to know what's going on rn and what the big vampire lady controversy is**

I always love your art and commentary! And your channel in general!

“I feel like she didn’t come from the same world her daughters did.” That’s because she didn’t. They’re from different time periods and they’re not her real daughters. I don’t understand this complaint.

Its just an outfit... if we start copyrighting a certain fashion/style, everything would be limited and we’d have bland characters 🙄 (tho id like to think Its a homage to the original rather than a direct copycat)

I am a simple human. I see LavenderTowne video, I click.

As a non-artist that simply appreciates it from afar rather than having actually studied it (so, take my opinion with a grain of salt XD), while you're right about the fact she doesn't match the other characters, I kinda feel like that suits her, weirdly. The few scenes I've actually seen of her (as I haven't played it or really watched much), she comes off as this suave, domineering, and refined character that is juxtaposed with her daughter's wild, chaotic, violence that just emanates off them. It almost makes Tall Lady more scary because while the daughters are like flashing neon signs of "DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON", Tall Lady is that like quiet danger that you constantly think "Fuck, when's is she gonna snap and how long does she want to draw out my death". That all being said, I do agree that it would have been cool to see what they would have come up with if they went with a more original design, even if they did use the original reference. This design looks really cool on it's own, but the evolution of it could have been interesting too. There is the thought that the developers looked at the photo and went "This is Lady Deslkjhali. This is her, in a photograph", which can happen, but seeing the concept artists other sketches would have been nice too. Maybe we'll get more backstory about the design when the artbook becomes available, hopefully.

Her daughters are not actually her daughters, they weren’t born from her or in any natural way

I think that the reason why they gave such drastic differences in design from Lady Dimitrescu to her daughters is because she’s the main villain, and would need to clearly stand out. If you took one look, you would immediately know that she is the ringleader, the leader, the mom in charge. Furthermore, her choice in fashion speaks to her character. She’s very much an older-woman, and her design reflecting a more traditional fashion brings that out. I wouldn’t be nearly as enamored by Lady Dimitrescu if she wore the same rags that her daughters do. Not to mention, an gothic background behind a pasty white coloring contrasts very well against her. And finally, it shows that she’s a lady of culture, of refinement. Instead of wearing gothic rags, or some messy jacket, she wears a long, expensive dress, with jewelry and a fanciful hat. Say what you will about the designs not really detracting from the original reference- The design definitely works, and very much serves the purpose of putting great emphasis on our fair Lady Dimitrescu. (Having seen her comments on the fact they didn’t originally intend her to have as big of a role, well, the design was able to capture the attention of thousands of people, so therefore you can make her the main villain and it would fit way more efficiently than before)

So I'm someone who's had the privilege of learning concept art specifically for Animation and someone who's now learning concept art specifically for Video Games. What I can say with both certainty is what you're creating a concept for greatly effects the approach of your designs. Resident Evil is a game series that's Triple A and even as a horror it falls into the realism bracket of game design. In the sense that a lot of the monsters have realistic bone structures and textures that you would find in real life. Or are heavily influenced by real life creature and plants. Or at least would realistically move and the components work together. As part of my concept art for video game course I have also had to learn how to 3D model and let me tell you off the bat LMAO you don't want realistic 3D models to have too many components that will move on a character or have it's own physics or in general the poor modellers will have to work on. Because it'll be A LOT of people's jobs to model, rig, animate and apply an AI to. And if you're not careful you'll get weird stretching animations or the AI will struggle with having all the physic components on top of it acting up and then all the developers are phoning the 3D modellers who'll have to simplify your design just to get everything work and it's honestly just a pipeline of headaches for a lot of people LMAO. I also believe she was modelled in Zbrush and that software is HELL in general to work on and very time heavy for a production. I don't even know anyone who's ever said they LIKE using Zbrush as a software they only like what they can achieve. So when designing a character for video games that are in the realistic style it's often better to start with a simpler design or a design based off a real person, a real creature or real clothing style then exaggerate or put emphasis on a select key features, like a claw or their head or the hat lmao. Because the 3D modeller is going to need A LOT of references to create that realistic look. In general Lady Dimitrescu is really in line with what's expected in the realism side of the game industry at large. She's meant to be realistic in her proportions (apart from the height but that's her key component) and because she's wearing a real life outfit that was common at the time there's A LOT of references on shape and texture that can be found. In general she is part of a more sleek fashion of the time and she's so accurate people can recognise even what style of dress she's wearing from the time period. If you want to see the process expected for the next stage that takes the concept artists works and how much work it is I highly recommend watching Character model timelapse Shinobi | Game Character by on youtube. It's just a timelapse but you can see how every component needs to be modelled and how much work it is for the 3D modellers alone. And that's just the pipeline before the character has even left the art department and continue the pipeline to the game developers. ALSO SORRY IF THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. It's 3:20 AM and writing essays has never been more forte. I'm very visual oriented LMAO.

Unless I’m mistaken, I think she stands out from her daughters and the rest because of the experiments made to make her only worked in the best way for The Lady whereas her daughters had some side effects. (I could be wrong though) However, your points about the image that was the “inspiration” for the character are indeed valid. I haven’t even started art school yet, (it’s expensive af and I’m scared of putting my money into something I won’t get use out of), but from watching different art teachers/students/graduates this finalized design looking so close to the reference isn’t really acceptable. The design is as captivating as it is equally very...lazy in creativity ESPECIALLY in comparison to what her final form looks like.

as someone who is in love with vintage clothing. the way the dress is constructied pointed more to dresses worn by actress Mae West in some of her movie roles. the fitted hips and thighs and flaired bell shape with train mermaid style dress. the dress that is heavy showning as the main reference is a more straight up and down. there is a video by Karolina Zebrowska, that goes into these details a bit better. along with the japanese yokai inspiration to the design.

dude you should make more videos like this! i love hearing ppl talk about their expertise :0)

i would say is hard to imagine them not having an artist designing the characters, maybe they just really loved this design, even if is simple or if it doesn't have that much diferences i think it looks good, that can be a reason, like creating a character with a trope and going with something steriotypical because that just looks good for you.

It's like how the creator of Sailor Moon basically stole the design of a full outfit from the headdress to the shoes from this 1980's fashion show for her character Koan.

It's not really a tricky situation at all, it's a 1940's Lana dress and sun hats like that were really popular in the 40's and 50's among the rich and famous, it's just a reference to a time period rather than the look belonging to one person.

Well i think they made lady D different from her daughter's is because she is ment to be a high class noble lady that doesn't get her handy dirty unlike her daughter's which are more chaotic and often do things while their mother sits back and watch like what a common noble women would.

So your idea of redesigning a perfectly fine character with a period accurate dress was to make her a generic witch. Cool.

Just wanna say the art you were drawing in the background is awesome, especially the one at the end, so cool I couldn't take my eyes off it 🥺

I think her simpler design is perfect. They really should have credited the model and photographer, though.

My only problem with Re village is Alcena's daughters I can't tell who's who since they look the same.