I agree the style has some similarities, but was it based on that?

Valerian and Laureline was the main inspiration, yes. But obviously other things too. I personally think the Radlock has a few similarities with the "meat grinder" in the (excellent) movie "Event Horizon".

It wasn't based on the graphics novels as such. There are no actual ties to the story, or the characters. It was merely inspiration. Obviously the Seed graphics were Seed graphics, and not Valerian and Laureline graphics - it's a totally different universe.

Furthermore, it would be downright stupid to try and translate the style, universe and characters of said graphic novels, because it would most likely not translate well into realtime 3D. So the Seed graphics became pretty much the essense of what was the theme in the tower : You make do with whatever you have, and make the best of it

- hope that clears it up a little.

Cheers

As said, Valerian was a big influence/inspiration. But we did have to craft something different, for the different universe that Seed was. I think the style took a form of it's own after the new graphics department was established, and probably about a year after, when we had most of our routines straight, and we started to settle into something that we felt was right for the universe, and for the stories.

I haven't seen Jump Leads before, but I can see the similarities. Has a bit of the crazyness that Kristian had in his character designs. I'm not sure if there was any connection - you'd have to hear from Jan (art director) or Kristian (character design/animator). For me and the other guys in the graphics dep. I think we got inspiration from many places. Could even be something from the industrial harbour front where we had our offices. Could be from a big crane or something. It's amazing what you can use, if you take it out of context and place it in another

Cheers