Taking a break from the Dragon's Trap theme for a bit. The thicker outlines I'd been using of late inspired me to take another stab at Paper Mario's style. I'd attempted it a few times before, but this is the first time I felt successful at it.

I think one of the more confounding aspects of the art style (aside from proportions) is some touches that are unconventional to the normal shading process. Particularlly where shaded portions abruptly end until a non-shaded strip before meeting the outline. While this can be pretty jarring it does in a strange sense make the shading pop out even more, even if my attempts to replicate it here are not 100% accurate.

With Thousand Year Door when they began the practice of using several sprites moving in concert to make wonderfully animated characters is when they made an art style that is almost timeless, and any reservations I may have over the newer games of the series they still manage to look magnificent.