I was "eh" about the new design on the female for the reasons everyone else seems to have stated, but the new lineart updates are FANTASTIC I cannot praise the artists enough.

With regards to the cartooniness (lol) I think the majority of that has been solved with these lineart updates. Some features were too soft and lines too curved and the female qitari had a somewhat dopey expression alongside her out-of-proportion front half. The new lineart for her and the jaw adjustment on the colt have removed all issues for me there - they look like fantastically drawn ethereal horses now. No cartoon complaints here, just thumbs up. Thanks so much for taking everyones feedback into account :D

LOVE IT! Oh my gosh, so cute :3 I can't wait 'til they're released!

*goes to buy all the Qitari*

I love the adjustments! It will be worth the wait <3

OMG so awesome! Send my regards to the artists.

I cannot wait to see what silver stream will lokk like!

These are spectacular!! I could literally see these in a cartoon, which I would watch! Keep up the awesome work :D

The updated female lineart looks AWESOME!! I love it!! I'm even more excited for the revamp now than I was before. I can't wait to see how all my Qitaries will look because I know they'll look incredible.

I'm going to take a stab at answering your question, Fai, even though I expect at least three people to opine that these reasons are not their reasons for regarding the re-drawn Qitaries as "cartoony." (BTW, is the plural "Quitaries" or "Qitari"?)

Anyhow, I think some of the appearance of "cartoonishess" is simply that these are not finished. Compare these illustrations to the Draeyl redraw--the redraw we players have seen most recently. Of course these illustrations look two-dimensional, like a cartoon, in comparison. Even the old Qitari looks less flat, largely (I believe) because it is completed.

Another factor may be the expressions. Real-world animals don't have as many facial muscles as humans do. Their ranges of facial expressions are limited, but humans often don't notice because we're accustomed to also considering an animal's body language. Three of the four new Qitari images have big smiles; only male's smile is subtle. (Compare to the new Draeyls' expressions.) But we all grew up seeing animals with great big smiles and other human-like expressions--in cartoons.

The new Qitari poses are action poses. The colt and the mare look like they are going places! The stallion could be pawing the ground. Even the filly looks like she is about to either roll on her back or get to her feet. The only place where line drawings move are in animations--cartoons.

Finally, I think the redrawn Qitaries look more like MLPs than the old Qitaries do. It's the friendliness of their expressions. I understand the Vulnyx was redrawn to make it look more like a wild animal; the new Qitaries look quite, quite tame. Where do we mostly see MLPs? In their cartoons.

This is all, of course, IMO. Your mileage may vary. :)

Edit: Saw the post after mine. I, too, hope the site's art is trending more in the new Draeyl's direction. Those look like wild animals. Also, I may take it all back when I see the final Qitari designs.

I don't really know how to explain it better. I do get that this new one is better anatomically but the current female qitari has grace that this new one doesn't. It looks gentle and wise, mainly I think it's the eyes and the position.

By cartoon look I mean a bit too childish look for my taste. If it looked more like out of adults cartoon it would be different but the new one looks like it's too well.. childish for my taste. I'm and adult player so it might be that.

The male definetly needs rework and the new one is better but yet again I'm just not fan of the style.
And what I find weird is that the new drayel looks very good and not childish at all but this qitari is something very different. I think the current female qitari is much closer to new drayel style and that style I like. It's a bit more classical and mature in my eyes.

I'm not a fan of over cute. But I do often like chibi things still.

I have no idea if this explanation helps anything but at least I tried. :D

Main issues for me with the new style is the cheerfulness and the scales look like they aren't naturally part of the qitari, old female version has pretty scales.

From uncommons that come across on maps the most beautiful ones are Qitari females and Faelora females. Also the revamped Drayel looks very good as plain drayel.

You can't please everyone, I know that. I'm just a bit worried that if that new qitari is the style you want to go to, it might not be my site very long. Also the old qitari is more the style which many of the character outfits are and those I like. The new style just looks so different then the things I love in this sites art.

edit: And the adjusted female qitari looks much better :)

Ooh, I'm glad for the edit on the first post. The lineart looks great (it'll take a bit to get used to though), and the scales on the hatchlings look awesome (though I'm not a big fan of their linearts... but then again, I don't really like any hatchlings). When I first saw the thread I was really disappointed in how clunky the scales looked on the adults, but I'm glad they'll be redrawn and I look forward to seeing the final result.