From concept art to polygons: The evolution of a game character

Before your favorite game heroes (and villains) looked all sexy and bad-ass as 3D models, they started out as fugly drawings on a napkin or raw sketches on a tablet.

Some characters, like Ultra Street Fighter IV’s Decapre [pictured above] all come from existing designs — in this case, Cammy — but artists still have to make multiple illustrations until they get every detail right and ready for rendering.

See how much 10 popular characters changed from concept art to in-game polygonal models in the following side-by-side images.

Click here for more cool comparisons.

Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse (Wolfenstein: The New Order)

Garret (Thief)

Ellie (The Last of Us)

Dracula (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2)