I know this post is a few days old and what Im about to poitn out is a semi non-sequitur, but Ive been mulling this over in my had and had a few thoughts about this. The reason why the art work works and the 3D doesnt is hte 3D models dont adhere to the proportions given in the artwork. You can broadly look at them at tell a few things almost immediately.
https://i.imgur.com/kFo1tm5.jpg
The left is teh direct screen grabbed model, Middle is the concept art, and right is a photoshopped version of the in game model (**PLEASE NOTE: This edit is only an approximation, it is not perfect or 100% accurate. Just a general idea.) I am using the head as the reference point in this comparison, where I sized the current in game model's head size to the concept arts.
The ingame model is proportionally different than the concept art, instead using a completely separate set of proportions. IF I had to hazard a guess, I would say they had a baseline female model and rig, and they 'stretched' it to get the height they needed without actually reworking the proportions. I say that because if they were working from the concept art and not a previous model, the proportions should be more closely aligned but that doesnt appear to be the case. The male model I would hazard has the same proportions issue, broadly speaking.
With that in consideration, not sure youd want to use the Elezen body as the base for the Viera if theyre not even following the concept art they put out and are instead putting out models with semi weird proportions. Anyways, was just something that I was thinking about.
