Wasn't it like a metaphor? It DOES mention a gigantic broom of doom too. And for the record, the genie you made looks crazy cool, I think it's the best so far, along with the marionette fighter.
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CAP 2 Smogon "Create a Pokemon" Part Deux: Art Thread
- Thread starter Hyra
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I'd have to say this is my favorite so far, can't wait to see colors and alternate poses. And I don't think weapons would be a HUGE problem for a kids show, what about Power Rangers?Took me awhile to find this thread.
It took me awhile to think of what a ghost/fighting-type would be. Just about every other kind of "fighter" had been taken (boxer, wrestler, kung fu guy, etc.). Then I thought about death in battle, which then lead to Vikings and the concept of Valhalla and such (those who die honorably in battle feasting and fighting in the afterlife). I call him Valhollow. :D
Finally got the sketch of my guy down. While I did not have a huge list of references like Doug did, I did derive a few things into it.
This guy was created with This post demonstrating a possible BST in mind.
I tried sticking with what I explained in that post and I believe this guy would fit those spreads exceptionally well, I also designed him to be flexible enough to fit any physically balanced spread we come up with.
The main gist of him is that he represents an imprisoned warrior and possesses great power. (IE the chains around his gauntlet arms, suggesting he was restrained and locked away.) The true warrior may have fallen to the course of time, but his vengeful spirit lives on and inhabits his former armor, eternally seeking battle.
Some noticeable concepts I threw into him were Castlevania: Circle of the Moon's Adramalech, and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow's Gergoth.
Also, Exodia proved to be a great inspiration too. Namely his shackles.
What I want to emphasize on this guy is the fact that he has no physical body. The only thing physical on him is the war gear. He is only a poltergeist inhabiting the remains of his own war gear and carries on all his former strength.
If you guys want some action poses, I'd be more than glad to oblige.
This guy was created with This post demonstrating a possible BST in mind.
I tried sticking with what I explained in that post and I believe this guy would fit those spreads exceptionally well, I also designed him to be flexible enough to fit any physically balanced spread we come up with.
The main gist of him is that he represents an imprisoned warrior and possesses great power. (IE the chains around his gauntlet arms, suggesting he was restrained and locked away.) The true warrior may have fallen to the course of time, but his vengeful spirit lives on and inhabits his former armor, eternally seeking battle.
Some noticeable concepts I threw into him were Castlevania: Circle of the Moon's Adramalech, and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow's Gergoth.
Also, Exodia proved to be a great inspiration too. Namely his shackles.
What I want to emphasize on this guy is the fact that he has no physical body. The only thing physical on him is the war gear. He is only a poltergeist inhabiting the remains of his own war gear and carries on all his former strength.
If you guys want some action poses, I'd be more than glad to oblige.
Why do the metal weapons or chains have to be so visible? Why can't we settle on something more organic appearing, instead of something that looks like it was actually human while living and after death possessed the corpses of innocent pokemon?
Because Mystery Dungeon sets a precedent for humans becoming Pokemon. Or better yet, why can't we? He doesn't even have a visible weapon. I can understand that complaint, because Gamefreak does a nice job of integrating them. However, to give a Ghost integrated armor is an oxymoron, especially in Pokemon where none of the Ghosts are solid. You try to make armor look natural on a Ghost, and then talk.
Uh...possessed suit of armor? Just because the soul doesn't have any body part needing protection doesn't mean it can't use the armor for it's own use.
But still, it doesn't need the armor. It's more or less the human fear of a human-like being attacking them, even more frightening because it is faceless. I would imagine that unless it was some sort of sumo ghost (Hariyama evo?) that it wouldn't need any additional superfluous materials as a fighter.
The ghost of a viking, samurai, knight, or any other armor wearing person will still have his armor since they most likely died with it on. It's more on the idea that in death, you'll be wearing the clothes you had on at the time of death so Armor-cladded viking dies, armor-cladded viking ghost.
*looks up* ... Okay. That just says Steel type to me. Maybe Steel/Fighting at a stretch because of the suit's bulkiness. Not even Ghost at all. *reads more* Wait. I thought it said the soul was transmuted into the suit of armor, not stored it in. (Transmute would literally be turning the soul into the suit of armor, not just storing it in one.) I suppose you could have it as a Ghost / Steel like that, with fighting moves, but it doesn't outright scream fighting from appearance. I'd comment more, but I know little about the Full Metal Alchemist anime series.Alphonse Elric would like a word with you.
I think we're running into the weapons / armor => Steel instead of Fighting problem again, but that's just my view. Just in an attempt to come up with some ideas, I'm going to ramble a bit. All current Fighting / partial Fighting types seem to share these characteristics:
- Somewhat humanoid or anthropomorphic in appearance.
- Some have a body fused to the head / coming out of the head
- Bipedal
- Have hands / clawed hands / boxing gloves (excluding Gallade)
For Ghosts:
- Somewhat rounded in appearance
- A greater percentage has a body coming from the head
- Generally more rounded in appearance
- Hands more common than legs
Thanks for the compliment! In my tl;dr post about the background of my design, I completely forgot to include the Djinni inspiration. I don't know how I forgot it, because it's a major part of the design. For any of you interested enough to read that massive wall of text, I've updated it to include the Djinni (genie) references.
I like the drawing a lot. More typical great artwork that I've come to expect from you. The "vengeful Viking poltergeist" is a great theme.
In looking at the drawing, I really want this to be a Ghost/Steel pokemon, as has already been mentioned. But, I think when you get into warriors, the concepts of Steel and Fighting are easily intermingled. When we were discussing Ghost/Steel during the typing threads, I suggested a Valkyrie concept. When we settled on Ghost/Fighting, I thought the concept would work as well. I even toyed around with some Valkyrie doodles for my own design, but couldn't really get anything going. I think your Draugr (that's old Norse for "ghost") is a well-formed concept and a good design.
Don't ever back down from your artwork in the face of criticism. All feedback is valid and should be accepted. But, never allow it to call into question your own artistic motivations. If you do that, you cease to be an artist and begin to be an "illustrator for hire". The feedback is OK too, and it's necessary for you to hear it and internalize it. But art is a singular creative process that doesn't easily lend itself to "design by committee". You did a great job on your design. Leave it out there and let it sink in for other people. You've only heard a little feedback from a few people. Even if everyone says it sucks, that STILL doesn't invalidate the art itself. Art is the external expression of an artist following his or her muse. Even for something as silly as pokemon designs.
There is an intimate relationship between Artist and Audience. The medium of that relationship is the art itself. Obviously, art cannot exist without an artist. By the same token, art cannot exist without an audience. So, you have to create the art and then put it out there for the audience. At that point, the art stands by itself. If you allow the audience to affect the work, then they become the artist and you become the audience. That's a bad place to be, IMO. It's the "inmates running the asylum", so to speak.
Feedback is a necessary part of the process. That's why I said you need to internalize the feedback. Artists that ignore feedback will never grow as an artist. Take criticism (and compliments) in, and let it affect you as an artist. Don't let it affect the art being criticized.
I draw stuff that I think looks cool. I really enjoy it when other people think it looks cool as well. But, even in the face of people telling me my stuff looks like shit, it doesn't change the fact that I still think it looks cool.
And, by the way, I think your stuff looks cool...
@ KoA: No need to apologize for your vision at all! I'm just offering my viewpoint, which may or may not be incorrect. I've had a bit of a history of the may be incorrect, so... But yeah. Going the Starfox 64 route, "Never give up. Trust your instincts!" Except when it involves suffering, oppression, and genocides. Which this is none of.
*scribbles down an idea for a James McCloud Ghost Pokemon*
*scribbles down an idea for a James McCloud Ghost Pokemon*
@ KoA - tend to agree with the others' crit, it looks like it's Ghost/Steel and not like a fighting type at all.
@Doug - just want to reiterate that the design is awesome. I'd really like to see it made into a Pokemon. At the moment it could be a Legendary, at a stretch, I guess, but the art still doesn't look right. Also, it looks a lot like it might be Ground/Ghost not Fighting/Ghost, but I don't think that's a big deal. I like that you were motivated by a djinn.
Also, I noted that the big forearms and heavy brow just scream 'Popeye'.
@Doug - just want to reiterate that the design is awesome. I'd really like to see it made into a Pokemon. At the moment it could be a Legendary, at a stretch, I guess, but the art still doesn't look right. Also, it looks a lot like it might be Ground/Ghost not Fighting/Ghost, but I don't think that's a big deal. I like that you were motivated by a djinn.
Also, I noted that the big forearms and heavy brow just scream 'Popeye'.
This is my personal favorite for a concept. It's simple, cool, and avoids the weapon/armor problem. Plus it knows Kung Fu.jiang shi/ kyonshi
yeah, the best pic i could find was on a yu-gi-oh card... but it's basically the east asian vampire. these guys were really popular in cheesy hong-komg martial arts films, and were the first thing i thought of when i read the ghost/fighting typing. i'd like to see a pokemon with a design similar to this (although not so human-like), with the spell tag covering its face.
Actually, I've been fascinated with Djinn for a very long time. I used to play some RPG's and I created multiple characters based on Djinni (not just the Aladdin kind). Very cool concept of a magic race of creatures from a mystical parallel dimension.
I've batted around the working name of the pokemon -- "Djinkata". It combines "Djinn" and "Kata", which (you probably know) is a common japanese term for martial arts training exercises. Since I conceived this pokemon as a sort of Djinni summoned for fighting, I think the two words work together. Just another tidbit on how much I love the concept of Djinn. I'm glad you like them too.
As for the visual, I agree it's not squarely in the pokemon mold. I struggled a lot with this when working up the sketches. I have a bunch of reasoning behind the visual choices I made. If I post it all here, it will be yet another tl;dr wall of text. I already did one of those with the inspiration and backstory. I think people are probably sick of all that minutae from me. If this design gets any further in the creation process, I'll be happy to discuss changes in great detail.
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