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Masahiro Ito (artist) has been tweeting Silent Hill creature design tidbits

H

How About No

Member
So I follow Masahiro Ito (the creature designer for the first three Silent Hill games, and god-tier macabre artist) on Twitter and he's been posting these since last month. I figured there was enough for a thread here and Silent Hill dorks like me and you would get a kick out of these.

Just a warning, a lot of his artwork can be considered NSFW (but really cool!). I won't link to anything bad here, but if you want to look at more of his stuff just lettin' you know

The nurses have a small baby face
ito1z0skm.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/871025486180122624
ito2f2sov.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/871025486180122624

The red squares over the nurses' mouths
ito3rxs1w.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/871026997140443137

Hmm.
TKLZQ.jpg


Funnest part here. So apparently Ito is a huge WW2 tank and airplane nerd and based Pyramid Head's helmet off of them
ito5w5s4j.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/867407857762705408
ito6y9sgx.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/867419611813117952

Teehee
ito4n7sn5.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/867501554554724352

Other stuff

ito7vgscq.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/867041895603556352

ito8lssn7.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/866396901750460416

ito9oes96.png

https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/866411411764682752

Sorry I haven't really made an image-intensive thread like this before so if you have any formatting suggestions or find screwed up links let me know plz
 
Plumpbiscuit

Plumpbiscuit

Member
Masahiro Ito is my favourite creature designer ever since I played SH2 when it came out, Pyramid Head being the best stalker in a horror game. It's pretty amazing how many times I've played SH2 and not seen the baby face on the nurse until he pointed it out, I love these little details he puts in his work. I also love the fact he is a German design enthusiast as am I, so we share that in common. It's good to know Pyramid Head helmet's is actually based off realistic concepts and not just put together for teh lolz and look scary in the next jumpscare-crazy horror game.

Though I'm still not sure what he means with the whole 9 red squares thing, but it was still a pretty creepy moment in the game.
 
R

RoyaleDuke

Banned
This just makes me sad that Silent Hills didn't get made. :(

He was going to be the lead monster designer with Junji Ito.
 
V

venom2124

Member
Thank you for posting these images. Ito is in a class all his own. I still hope one day konami gets its act together and either makes a good silent hill again or sell the franchise to someone who would put in the work and creativity. And I hope Ito is there if that day ever happens.
 
R

RoyaleDuke

Banned
Joqu said:
I didn't know this. nooooooooo
Click to expand...

We were so close bruhs.

So close to the best fucking monster designs ever created.

Guillermo Del Toro.

Hideo Kojima.

Silent Hills with Norman Reedus. :(

People say we don't know what it would have turned out like and I think that while that is a partial truth, the pedigree behind it as well as what they threw together in like 2 weeks, imagine a few years. Kojima also seemed really excited to work on it, he has always expressed interest in working with the Silent Hill IP as well as with some great artists.
 
D

DerekOfTheDykes

Member
HeelPower said:
How the fuck does he not have a consistent job in AAA monster design.
Click to expand...

Half the industry saw Abstract Daddy and went "naw, we're good, you keep doing your thing"

But all jokes aside, is he known for much outside of Silent Hill? I wonder if his horror auteur design chops don't necessarily translate to other genres or types of project. Or maybe this sort of thing is just his passion and he doesn't really feel the need to chase projects left and right.
 
H

How About No

Member
DerekOfTheDykes said:
Half the industry saw Abstract Daddy and went "naw, we're good, you keep doing your thing"

But all jokes aside, is he known for much outside of Silent Hill? I wonder if his horror auteur design chops don't necessarily translate to other genres or types of project. Or maybe this sort of thing is just his passion and he doesn't really feel the need to chase projects left and right.
Click to expand...
He's been doing some mecha and sci-fi stuff too, pretty cool and still looks totally like his style somehow
 
Cramoss

Cramoss

Member
RoyaleDuke said:
We were so close bruhs.

So close to the best fucking monster designs ever created.

Guillermo Del Toro.

Hideo Kojima.

Silent Hills with Norman Reedus. :(

People say we don't know what it would have turned out like and I think that while that is a partial truth, the pedigree behind it as well as what they threw together in like 2 weeks, imagine a few years. Kojima also seemed really excited to work on it, he has always expressed interest in working with the Silent Hill IP as well as with some great artists.
Click to expand...

It still hurts and will never stop
 
J

Joqu

Member
RoyaleDuke said:
We were so close bruhs.

So close to the best fucking monster designs ever created.

Guillermo Del Toro.

Hideo Kojima.

Silent Hills with Norman Reedus. :(

People say we don't know what it would have turned out like and I think that while that is a partial truth, the pedigree behind it as well as what they threw together in like 2 weeks, imagine a few years. Kojima also seemed really excited to work on it, he has always expressed interest in working with the Silent Hill IP as well as with some great artists.
Click to expand...

Man, this is not okay. I thought I had gotten over Silent Hills, but reading this just hurts... I'm pretty content with how Kojima-led Metal Gear has wrapped up and I'm so stoked for Death Stranding, but there will always be a Silent Hills shaped hole in my heart. ;_;
 
L

Laranja

Member
Cool thread. I've been seeing a few of those on my Twitter feed and it's always interesting to read Ito's comments on his creations.

Also, might as well turn this into a "favourite Ito monster design" thread. As much as I like good old PH, I just can't get over how creepy (and cool) Valtiel is.

ValtielArt.png
Click to expand...

The fact that you never get to fight him (he doesn't really seem to be an enemy, after all) makes him all the more mysterious.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
SargerusBR said:
SH2 nurses with baby faces is blowing my mind really hard right now.
Click to expand...

Unless I'm reading another of his comments inaccurately, he's also indicating that James/Mary were possibly unable to conceive and/or might have been in the process of trying before she got sick? Maybe that's just overblown speculation on my part from a simple tweet?

Goddamn... if that's another idea Sato/Owaku had with the story to add to the profound level of tragedy... :(

(Also, thanks for the thread, OP!)
 
R

randomwab

Member
I've replayed Silent Hill 2 so many times since release and feel like I understand and know almost every bit of story and symbolism in that game, but the meaning behind those damn 9 red squares still elude me to this day. Closest I could call is that it symbolises all the pieces of James' memory, or the story, coming together.

Ito why you taunting my lack of understanding.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
Silent Hill is my favorite game series of all time, no doubt, and largely because of Ito's work, but i honestly think there's no need for it to come back.

The gaming public is obsessed with sequels, for good reason in some cases, because game mechanics are iterative.
Silent Hill doesn't have peculiar mechanics though, it was more or less a run of the mill Resident Evil clone when it came to gameplay.

"Silent Hill" is just a name and a vague concept at this point, there is no big story that needs closure, and there is no brilliant gameplay element to salvage.
And if all the sourced out, shitty attempts proved anything, is that the name alone doesn't mean shit, if you don't have the talent behind it.

Soooo... really Ito and the rest of Team Silent should get together, but they should also drop the idea of bringing Silent Hill back.
They can do a new IP, a new psychological horror IP even, without the need to beg Konami for the rights, or hoping that they'll somehow start caring enough to finance a good game.
Hell, it would even give them more freedom to stray away from those tropes that, frankly, have been milked dry.
 
C

CHC

Member
Great influences. Sometimes I get really sick of shitty art direction in games, and how it often just looks to other games or fantasy art for influence, rather than fine art or real world designs.
 
L

Lime

Member
UrbanRats said:
Silent Hill is my favorite game series of all time, no doubt, and largely because of Ito's work, but i honestly think there's no need for it to come back.

The gaming public is obsessed with sequels, for good reason in some cases, because game mechanics are iterative.
Silent Hill doesn't have peculiar mechanics though, it was more or less a run of the mill Resident Evil clone when it came to gameplay.

"Silent Hill" is just a name and a vague concept at this point, there is no big story that needs closure, and there is no brilliant gameplay element to salvage.
And if all the sourced out, shitty attempts proved anything, is that the name alone doesn't mean shit, if you don't have the talent behind it.

Soooo... really Ito and the rest of Team Silent should get together, but they should also drop the idea of bringing Silent Hill back.
They can do a new IP, a new psychological horror IP even, without the need to beg Konami for the rights, or hoping that they'll somehow start caring enough to finance a good game.
Hell, it would even give them more freedom to stray away from those tropes that, frankly, have been milked dry.
Click to expand...

Totally with you about the need for sequels. There's always this unnecessary desire to replicate classics and the magic associated with them (whether it's your favorite music artist, film maker, writer, and in this case game developer, etc.)

All I want is SH1, 2, 3, and 4 for contemporary consoles + PC with a hardcover artbook, a music collection, and developer interviews. If not this, then the same style of what Double Fine has done with the Lucasarts classics - remastered graphics true to the original with a possibility to switch back and forth, remastered audio, and a developer commentary track.

Basically I just want a product that celebrates the artistry of what all the creative people involved in the creation of the various Silent Hill games achieved. These games are seminal classics that define and show what video games are capable of in terms of emotion, horror, humanity, themes, music, sound design, environmental and procedural storytelling, and on and on.

Silent Hill 1 through 4 demands commemoration forever and always. I'm almost becoming emotional about how important these games are to me personally, but also to games as aesthetically sublime.
 
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