Artist's commentary
80s Style Konata
Hey, how would Lucky Star look if it was made in the 1980s? Well, here's one possibility for Izumi Konata. I think the plot would be substantially different (as in, there would be one), too. If there were more chases and exciting action, then count me in!
How did this come about? Well, I decided that I wanted to draw Konata in an eighties style, after seeing some photoshop edits of modern characters to make them look like they were in an older style. To my mind, they superficially got the look right, but because it was a photoshop rather than a full new drawing, it didn't quite get the little details. There are a lot of structural differences in the way 80s anime characters were drawn versus how modern characters are- and it's a lot deeper than just extra lines on the face or poofier hair.
As for this pic, costuming and colors come straight from the eighties. The couch is based on a real eighties couch from Ikea (long gone now, but I remember it from when I was a really little kid).
Konata is short and petite for her age (16 to 18 in the manga and anime), so I tried to get that look right without going into excessive exaggeration.
Drawn in Opencanvas.