Redesigned Majestics from my BEYBLADE AU “Beyfantasy” in 2010.
The Majestics were my favorite team in BEYBLADE so I always had a lot of fun and motivation working on their designs. I’ve been in a rather tough spot in terms of workload as times got difficult on our end so I had to balance a queue of due commissions I work on everyday, and the Beyfantasy Majestics. Each of them were the artworks that gave me joy and pleasure in the midst of the grind. Thank you for being there for me, Majestics- I made sure to honour your assigned birthdays with their design releases. My ideas for their Beyfantasy version were already pretty solid, but I had to change their writeups a bit.
Ralf Jürgens
The basis for making him a Summoner was because he was extremely proud of his notable holy beast- Griffolyon. In the old concept- he could only summon the Ewig Gryphon. For this new one- I made him able to summon his knights and servants on his beck and call. As I was typing the character description, I feel there is still so much to say about his design. Ideas would include having his summoned knights based off on chess pieces, and his cane turning red when he summons the Ewig Gryphon. He is familially close to his butler Johann, who is the only non-summon-piece residing in his castle as he took care of him growing up. I thought of a concept that perhaps his Castle is alive in a way- that it is a summon in itself. I’m taking this from the time in BEYBLADE when the bust statue changed its eyes and Takao fell into the row of guillotines. Ralf is basically a loner but not exactly, in this way.
His old outfit looked more like a lightweight magician’s outfit. One of the difficult decisions I made before for his design was to choose more fabric over armor. For this new design, I wanted to incorporate an armor feel into it by giving his clothes more structure. My favorite addition are the feathers on his shoulder pads. His outfit’s color is also more gray than contrasting in the remake. Given he has a very pale complexion, I did not want him to appear with a goth/vampire aesthetic (distinguised from Blood, and King and Queen) and I need to have him stray from a necromancer (keeping his pieces as “summons” than the undead.) The Spade design remains on his outfit based on when he pulled the Ace of Spades card in the anime.
I found difficulty in balancing his design. I wanted him to go for more form and function so it should not be too elaborate or gaudy, but at the same time- I wanted to decorate him some more. Chains were mandatory for his design and I wished I could add more on him. In the end, I think keeping it with a certain degree of simplicity was the way to go. I also loved his pose in the first art, but I had to change it to show a lot of his outfit. I wanted to express him with more dominance than elegance, since he was always about intimidating others and having a huge presence. His cane stays almost the same in design- with the top part bigger to match his physique.
Summoner Ralf was one of my favorite Beyfantasy designs, and it still stands with this redesign. I am particularly fond of his sleeves- they’re twisted like that to express the winds from the Ewig Gryphon.
Johnny McGregor
I changed Johnny’s title from “PyroKnight” ot “Knight” for this one. I didn’t think there was a reason to include “Pyro” in the title and keeping it simple made it better classy. Of all the Beyfantasy designs, Johnny’s was the most difficult for me to work on. Armor was never my specialty and he would always have a lot of variation sketches for when I designed him. I took redesigning him very seriously and carefull as it had to make sense with his movements and comfort. Working on this piece involved me having to draw him scantily clad with the kind of athletic physique I wanted for him, then drawing on the body suit, then armor pieces on different layers. The Heart shaped designs remain on his outfit and his weapon based on when he pulled the Queen of hearts card in the anime.
His weapon definitely had to be changed. My first idea for him as a Pyroknight was he would ignite his axe and swing it around to make a ring of fire on the ground. For this new design- I changed his weapon from an axe to a javelin- closer to his design in BEYBLADE. I wanted him to be a little more mobile, with his Javelin still igniting as he pleases. My favorite part would be the fauld on his lower area. One of the criticisms and frustrations I had with his old design was the discomfort around that part, so redesigning that area to give him better comfort and protection gave me a lot of contentment.
With his weapon change, comes a pose change. I wanted to give him a simpler pose to show his armor better. At the same time, I did not want it to be devoid of his deeper aspect of his personality. I thought that his head tilted up while having a softer expression looking to the side is a good representation for this, while the entire of his body showed an arrogant and hostile warrior. Unlike Ralf, who is mostly inherently secure with his character, Johnny seems to have unresolved issues and internal conflict.
The bandanna did not suit the armor, but I could not give him a helmet since his hair was iconic. I gave him a crest on the bandana instead, and I think it worked out pretty well.
I feel so much redemption from the first design- it’s like I was able to execute his costume the way I’ve always wanted to. I made his character written in this way because he was one of the BEYBLADE characters that had a kind of problematic attitude with little to no explanation. He also seemed tougher than he looked. I wanted to give him a brief history for why he turned out like this, to also distinguish him from Ralf’s more conclusive writeup.
Giancarlo Tornatore
Gladiator Giancarlo was the easiest to redesign in this group. I was already satisfied with his old design, but I had to fix some parts to have it make better sense. The Diamond shape is included throughout his design based on when he pulled the 7 of Diamonds card in the anime.
His leg guards were changed to make more sense- with the front/shield side having a bigger guard compared to the back leg. The leather straps with diamonds along his waist were also elongated to protect his lower area. His sword was changed to something simpler to refocus the attention to his shield. I also covered his right arm with thick leather for protection.
His old pose had its own charm, but it did not express his personality too well. I imagined Giancarlo Tornatore to be strangely eccentric and seemingly carefree, but with another bloodlusty and unmerciful side to him. I think that this duality is what characterized him in the anime, as it goes with his holy beast’s theme. Making him spread out his pose in the redesign gives that cocky attitude, ready to swing at anyone in the coliseum as he claims his fun. I also wanted him to puff out his chest to express a “macho” that was going on with him being fond of women. I just love how the cape flowed with his arm, as well as his grin.
I think I was able to portray Gladiator Giancarlo better. I really wanted to emphasize his eccentric side and bloodlust when donning armor. I’d picture he would look more relaxed when in ordinary clothes though, appreciating the pleasures in life. His character has a lot of duality going on.
Olivier Boulanger
My favorite character in the BEYBLADE series so he gets a lot of affection. Olivier’s original design was good, but I felt it did not compliment his relatively shorter and slimmer physique too well as it made him look short and stocky with the shape. I thought his outfit needed a lot of fixing and restructuring, and then I realized that I had to scrap the old one entirely and start over.
I took different days spread throughout months in planning his outfit so it was not stressful or crammed in. I took note of the best parts of his old outfit which were the colors, the plume, the white pants, and the hat. I made sure to incorporate these favored elements in the new design.
I said that he had to have the most elaborate outfit among the Majestics, or even among the other Beyfantasy characters without being too gaudy. I put a lot of details, and changed the cut of his top so that it shapes on his torso properly- making him look taller and have broader shoulders. As I work on the sketch, I said “I will not stop until I can look at it and say ‘It is truly beautiful.’” Beauty and elegance were things that Olivier held important so I had to practice them here.
For the colors, I wanted them to be as close to the original as possible. But after rendering it- I think a bit of vibrance suited the new design better and gave him more vertical size. Prussian blue and Cadmium red were mixed with off-whites and white gold. I had to be very meticulous on these details.
His weapon had to be redesigned entirely as well. I had a hard time designing this because it had to match his outfit, but it also had to be special. There had to be a Unicorn design on it too- so I integrated a unicorn’s shape on the guard, and made the blade shine pink towards the end when wielded since his sword can heal wounds.
It is not very noticeable, but he had a trim for his haircut. I made sure that his hair isn’t too short, but short enough to look neat and form a good silhouette with the entire outfit. I considered giving him longer hair tied in a low or side ponytail, but it did not look very clean-cut for the appeal that I was going for. Since his shoulders looked broad, I had to shift the weight of the hair upwards or it will look too heavy.
His footwear was changed from boots to shin guards and shoes, again to better compliment his stature and physique. I felt like a professional stylist just working on his redesign, Musketeer Olivier occupied my thoughts all the time.
His pose was changed into something more elegant overall. The petals were mandatory for his character, and I had to make sure most of his outfit details were seen. Just like Johnny, I wanted to express Olivier’s character on a deeper level through his facial expression. In the anime, he would make a kind of smirk in some frames and his character seems to be more manipulative than innocent at times. In this new piece, you can’t tell if he’s smiling, being playful, or evil in intent.
Unlike the other three characters, Olivier’s writeup did not have to be too elaborate as his character is clear if you pay close attention to him. My favorite part in his redesign is his cape at the back- I thought it would make him look more graceful.
Those are the designer’s notes on the Majestics Beyfantasy Remake! Despite not being as close with each other, their poses were planned carefully as a group. For every one in this team, I wanted them to not have much angled shots unlike the other Beyfantasy art. They were to be standing tall and showing off their entire outfit- occupying as much space as they can to express dominance. It was surprisingly hard to compile them all into one image without resizing them much.
Olivier had a more tucked-in silhouette since his very elaborate outfit is already most expressive. Giancarlo and Olivier were posed so that it looks like they’re looking at each other when put together, or looking at opposite directions about to battle alongside each other. Johnny could either be looking at Ralf, or facing towards him while looking away. Ralf is the most static in the team as he usually only cares for his own thing. Since these character artworks are barely angled, I had to pay even closer attention to their body builts/proportions and height. If you put them together, I would say they’re pretty much height-accurate.
Thank you for reading ^-^
