As a massive fan of the v1 reapers and a lover of the look of the v2 I'm going to put in my two cents instead of just posting that your work is amazing as always.
I think for me the coolest part of the v1's design, is the expression on its face and the composition of the jaw. It looks both menacing and mad at the same time, neither shouting nor pouting. Having a skull without the lower jaw removes this, but I think a similar effect could be made with work around the shape of the eyes.
Another thing that really makes the v1 great, is its shape and size. The v1 is pretty short, shorter than most cherry keys and has a really nice feel to it and works great on a board. The one consern I have with the v2 is its height, which has been carried over in this prototype thing. IMO the Reaper should be pretty short and round.
That said the quality of work is amazing, just figured some feedback from someone who likes your work might be useful!
I'm really glad your working on this as its a classic theme! Can't wait to see what else you got cooked up
V1 Reaper was quite literally meant to be Skeletor. So it had a more comical type of face and features. It was also never actually meant to be released other than to a handful of friends.
But people seemed to really like the design, so I went ahead with a few production runs.
But this particular design is meant to be a bit more dramatic/dark/supr srs/etc
Fair enough.
After spending more time looking at it, I think if you wanted to make it more srs cutting the hood short especially at the bottom and having the skull become more looming rather than peeping would look better? With the hood the way it is it looks kind anime haha like maybe something you'd find growing from a tree in Princess Mononokie lol.
I really like the direction though, and I imagine it's pretty hard to come up with your own take on a design and concept that's been done so many times. I like what you've done though!
~I also know this isn't a design by community project or anything haha
