Platinum Games have posted a very interesting blog post that showcases a few pieces of concept art for the upcoming Bayonetta sequel.

Featured above, you can get a look at the work of Mari Shimazaki, the concept artist who came up with Bayonetta and Jeanne’s new designs in Bayonetta 2.

While most of us probably felt like Bayonetta’s new design looked fresh and striking, it appears making her stand out has been difficult:

Bayonetta’s overall theme this time is “Solid.”

She’s still wearing black, and I think her shorter hair gives her a generally more masculine look. While her design in the last game focused on curves, this time we see more straight lines. All of her accessories follow this, except her glasses, which I gave a slightly softer design.There was some debate about where to show skin. Once we decided her new cape would come around to the front, we closed the front of her suit off to let the cape stand out. In exchange, we opened up a lot in back.

As water is a big theme of the second game, Hashimoto requested to make her key color blue. This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.

Blue doesn’t have the sharp quality of red, her previous key color. As it’s relatively easy on the eyes, making it stand out among all the other textures and colors in the game is a huge headache. On top of that, I had to balance it with black and silver (these colors were also decided right off the bat), which also is not easy. Ever since we decided Bayonetta should wear a sleak, black outfit, it’s always been a nightmare trying to have her properly stand out.

For those who haven’t played the original, the color red was indeed prominently featured in the designing process to help things stand out. As the sequel is more focused around the element of water, and as such Bayonetta’s costume has been emblazoned with some blue designs – making Mari have to think outside of the box.

Do you guys like Bayonetta’s new design?