ArtJustArt - The Art of DougJustDoug

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
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[THREAD=35119]Click here to see my full Gallery in the OP of this thread.[/THREAD]
I just did this yesterday for McGraw's "What If?" thread. Since I haven't updated my art thread in a long time, I thought I'd include it here too.

Electric Tentacruel



And just for reference, here's the real Tentacruel:


If you haven't seen the original thread, you should check it out. It has some amazing artwork in it and some fabulously creative ideas. Cartoons, Atyroki, and CyzirVisheen come to mind as some of the all-stars of that thread. After seeing all their stuff, I just had to jump in and do one of my own.

This is a whimsical take on a different type for Tentacruel. I was looking through the pokedex, trying to find a pokemon that jumped out at me for an alternate typing. When I saw those translucent globes and long tentacles on Tentacruel, I immediately envisioned a big lightbulb with electric cords hanging underneath. I sketched the idea in a quick 15 minute burst of inspiration.

Since this isn't a "serious" piece like most other stuff in my thread, I just freehanded all the ink (as opposed to painstakingly vectoring all the ink, like I normally do) and slapped down some basic coloring. It's nowhere near as clean as my other stuff, but it was loads of fun to do.
 
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Heh, nice design. I really do prefer your freehand style of drawing, it's got a nice energy to it and yet the pose still looks well thought out.
 
I see what they mean. The "freehand" style does translate a little more personality and energy than your usual. The other stuff is definitely good because it is so clean and professional looking, but there is something to be said of the more traditional approach (not completely traditional obviously).
 
I woohoo'd inside when I saw your thread had new posts. And again with electric tentacruel. Nice design!



It's completely lost any bit at all that would indicate it was from the ocean but maybe that's intended with the whole.. electric type thing.
 

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
[THREAD=35119]Click here to see my full Gallery in the OP of this thread.[/THREAD]​
CAP 4 - Poison/Ground

This is one of my favorite CAP designs so far. When the typing was finalized, I immediately began imagining a "Desert Serpent" - a snake that could swim through the sand as if it was water. With vibrant colors, some nifty visual details, and a cool backstory -- I really enjoyed putting this design together.



Sketch
(click thumbnail for full image)


Alternate Colors
I also worked up some possible shiny color schemes.
(click thumbnails for full image)



Description
After failing miserably on CAP3, somewhat due to lack of effort, I resolved to bring my "A-game" to CAP4. I spent a lot of time concocting a rich background lore for this creature. For anyone interested, the detailed story is posted here. It's a bit of a long read, but based on feedback, apparently the backstory was a major factor in some of the votes that I received. That was nice to hear, because there is no element of the design that I did not analyze in great detail.

As for the pure art aspects of the drawing, I was happy with the overall aesthetic appeal. Some people thought the face looked terrible -- that it was too long or droopy. I didn't want to overdo the "badass" nature of the design. I tried to give it a face that looked more like a worm, and less like a snake or dragon. Personally, I like the face a lot. It's a little bit quirky and makes the pokemon look more friendly IMO, which is a big part of the story behind the pokemon.

I really tried to play up the mystical elements of the drawing. I'm a longtime fan of fantasy novels, Dungeons & Dragons, and the like -- so magical themes are common in my art. The belly pattern is actually derived from the window design of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum (I'm a longtime comic book fan too). Perhaps that visual reference will become more familiar to some of you after the Doctor Strange movie comes out next year (I think). With all the mystical flourishes, this pokemon might be better suited to be a legendary than a regular ingame pokemon. Perhaps it could be a "special" pokemon like Gyarados or Milotic? Both of which were general inspirations for this design, since they are relatively bulky and fast -- two key images I wanted to evoke.

I had great fun making this design. Although it did not win, it did very well in the polls and got tons of positive feedback along the way. As an artist, that's good enough for me!
 
I really like your style. Your freehand is outstanding, and your electric tentacruel is just genious. The Serpent from CAP 4 is also really cool: I can see your idea of it swimming through sand as if it were water. Really cool work!
 
Wow, you're amazing at what you do. I love how Swampert looks like it could be a fast sweeper in the edition you made and EleCruel is just awesome! =)
 

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
[THREAD=35119]Click here to see my full Gallery in the OP of this thread.[/THREAD]​
CAP 5 - Rock

This was the first CAP project to choose mono-typing. However, it still had an innovative twist. Unlike any other Rock-type in the game, this pokemon was designed to have very high Special Attack (120 base) and very high Speed (130 base). So, I cooked up this "intergalactic" design...



Sketch
(click thumbnail for full image)



Description
This is my simplest CAP design to date. That was intentional. I wanted to make a design with just a few key elements, and not overdo it with complexity and detail. In retrospect, I think I probably went a little TOO far with the simplicity. This design lacks the "wow factor" required to do well in a CAP design competition. I think it's probably my most "pokemon-like" design so far -- but, it's not a favorite of mine.

I think I should have done a little something more; perhaps some more detailed design work on the planet "body". I actually tried out some patterns to look like the swirls on planets like Jupiter and Saturn. Unfortunately, there was no way to do it without getting fancy with gradient color transitions. Even after some complicated color work -- the patterns just didn't fit with the goggles and eyes. So I scrapped the colorful patterns and went with a more basic texture, that could pass for the surface of a planet.

My favorite part of the design are the glassy elements of the goggles and the floating orbs. I think it really brings out the impression of a high-powered special attacker. The planetary ring is tilted forward to convey an aggressive attacking pose, and the rings are narrowed on the sides to imply that they are spinning around at high speed. The combined effect was intended to connote astronauts, rockets, and space travel -- all images associated with "speed". Since this pokemon is at the top of the pokedex in terms of speed -- I wanted this design to look like it could move really fast. Since it is obviously a planet, the Rock-typing is pretty obvious.

Comparisons to Solrock and Lunatone were unavoidable, and many people commented as such. Some critics felt this design would only be appropriate if the typing were Rock/Psychic. I guess I can see where they were coming from, but obviously I disagree...

I had some fun with this design, but it doesn't stand out for me. It was a nice effort, and I'm proud of the work -- but not much more than that. For anyone that complains that my pokemon designs are too complicated to "fit" alongside other ingame pokemon -- I'll just point them to this design, to see that I occasionally do some simple stuff too.
 

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
[THREAD=35119]Click here to see my full Gallery in the OP of this thread.[/THREAD]​
CAP 6 - Water/Fighting

There are so many Water pokemon in the game; it makes it very difficult to come up with a design that is original. I decided to make a pokemon based on the blend of a "scuba diver" and a "sumo wrestler". The end result was something that looks completely different than any other pokemon in the game.



Sketch
(click thumbnail for full image)


Shiny
I'm a huge fan of purple water shinies (Walrein, Lanturn, etc). So, I couldn't pass up the chance to make a purple shiny version of the "Scuba Wrestler".

(click thumbnail for full image)


Description
Since this CAP project duplicated a typing that was previously unique in the game (sorry about that, Poliwrath!) - I really wanted to make this look different. In real life, I have been a certified scuba diver for a long time. So, the idea of a scuba pokemon was in the back of my mind as soon as we decided that the pokemon would be a Water-type.

When Fighting was added to the mix, I wasn't quite sure how I would handle it. I sketched up several scuba ideas, and one of them was fat and bulky. It looked a bit like a sumo wrestler -- so I went with the idea. I know Hariyama already has the sumo angle covered, but I didn't plan to emphasize the sumo thing too much. I was more concerned with making it look like a bulky wrestler that can grapple and block. The pokemon had the stats of a physical tank (105/110/95/70/100/75), so I think the bulky design fits the build.

Mixing in various scuba diving elements was a lot of fun. My favorite part of the design is the eye. I jumped at the chance to make the scuba mask into one big cyclops-like eye. Some people felt the single eye made the design look like a Psychic-type. I'm not seeing that at all. But, of course, I'm biased. I didn't want to put scuba tanks overtly on the pokemon, since that would really detract from the pokemon's mobility. So, I emphasized the hoses instead. The feet are meant to evoke the image of flippers, but not be so big and floppy that it couldn't move on land. I stole a tidbit from my Swampert pic and put little webs between the toes.

This design did OK in the polls, but it wasn't one of the top designs in CAP 6. Many people thought it was a bit too ugly. It was well-received as a nice artistic effort, but the design didn't excite many people. After early feedback was lukewarm, I knew this design was a labor of love for me. And that's fine -- as a lifelong scuba diver, this "Scuba Wrestler" design was tons of fun for me.
 

Xia

On porpoise
is a Contributor Alumnus
For some reason I had never looked through your art thread. I'm happy I finally did. =]

Goes without saying, but you're a real good artist.
 

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Thanks to everyone that has commented on my art! I just added a couple of new sketches to my Gallery. Click here to see my full Gallery in the OP of this thread.

The sketches are of Cacturne and Infernape. Both of them are highly stylized, like most of my pokemon pics. I'll be interested to see how they look when I get around to inking and coloring them. Here are thumbnail links to the new sketches. Just click them to see the full sketches.



I know I haven't been doing any Pokemon characters over the past few months. All of my art thread updates have been Create-A-Pokemon art submissions. I don't have much time for art in general, so usually all I can muster is a CAP art submission every once in a while.

I have been slowly working on inking and coloring the Skarmory sketch in my Gallery. I have no idea when I'll be finished, but it's about 25% done right now. I really want to see the final piece, since I've been excited about it ever since I first sketched it.
 
Hey doug is there any way you can make the Electric Tentacruel avatar sized?

Hell I may just sprite it if I have the time for fun, its really cute!
 

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Sure, EM. Here's Electricruel in 100x100 form. I trimmed out the whitespace as much as possible, while still keeping the whole thing a perfect square. Since the pic is wider than it is tall, you see some unneccessary vertical padding. Good luck with the sprite, if you decide to go through with it. I'd love to see it!

 

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