A little rich considering "Skiing Flygon", but then, who am I to talk. You're right, my designs aren't stunningly new and innovative.
Anyone who actually followed the art thread where I came up with that design, would know that I designed it to be an alt evo for trapinch/vibrava. I was playing off the fact that Flygon and its pre-evos were very bug-like (they're in the Bug egg group BTW). I was pretty annoyed at every Johnny-come-lately that would accuse me of ripping off Flygon, like it was some brilliant fucking revelation. It was totally intentional, and I made that clear in multiple posts in the original art threads. Of course, the art poll does not include any background info on the design. Even if it did, no one would read it. People look at the picture and jump to conclusions. Obviously, you did too.
That's one reason I really don't think it's a good idea to use anything that's been done before. For example, KOA's design is good. But, I fear that if it's posted in the art poll, it will get trashed for being a Banette rip-off -- even though it's intentional.
I don't think a nunchuck warrior is all that cliched in the world of Pokemon, and I think a marionette really, really is (even more so if we talk about gaming in general). That's just my opinion, and even if marionettes are hackneyed, I don't think that detracts from KoA's drawing too much. Good overall design for a Banette evo, if you ask me. I'm not really certain what standards you're trying to apply here.
The nunchuk idea is cool enough. I thought your first crack at it wasn't very cohesive. After seeing the second one, I guess it was something about the posing. The design study in your second nunchuk post is damn good. The rendering is first rate. In fact, all your drawings are really, really good. The poor CG detracts from your rendering. I think you should only post your pencils at this stage. If you can hand ink and color as good as you pencil, then do that. As you know, digitizing in Paint really sucks, unless you are doing a sprite. I try to look past the rendering and evaluate the design, but it's hard to do that. Other people don't even try to separate the two. To them, Good Drawing = Good Design, and Bad Drawing = Bad Design. Since you obviously have good rendering skills, you shouldn't have a problem either way.
I like the "tribal mask" look of your nunchuk poke. I'm not seeing ghost in it, but I think you are thinking outside the box, which is great.
Took your suggestions and expanded, Dragontamer.
Your "fencing ghost" totally rocks! That is fucking awesome in my opinion. It's a hella drawing, which isn't really important right now, but you deserve the praise for artskills on the rendering. The design IS important, and your's is top-notch. Not only is it original and conveys both fighting and ghost -- but it looks like a pokemon. On Syclant, everyone seemed to favor designs that looked "kick-ass" or downright bloodthirsty, and dismissed the ones that looked "child-friendly" (I can't think of a better word). To me, very few pokemon look bloodthirsty. Almost all of them are very cartoony. Your design looks like a pokemon, and I hope people give it the credit it deserves.
If your Rapier Ghost doesn't make the final poll, I'll be very disappointed. Great job!
