[THREAD=35119]Click here to see my full Gallery in the OP of this thread.[/THREAD]
Garchomp
There's no question about it: Garchomp is the most devastating pokemon in the current OU metagame. Uber-level base stats, perfect typing, and frighteningly powerful moves. It truly has no counters. I've used this pokemon quite a bit and I've had it used against me. If there is one pokemon in the whole pokedex that should look scary, it's this guy. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the most threatening pokemon in the game....
Reference
Here's the game sprite and Nintendo's original design:
Sketch
Click the thumbnail to see the full original sketch:
Description
When I first got the idea for an art thread, I did a few pics in advance so I could load the gallery with some content fairly quickly after introducing my thread. As somewhat of an afterthought, I decided to include some sketches of "upcoming" pics. Unfortunately, I didn't have many sketches lying around. So I whipped up a few one day, without thinking too much about them. This Garchomp picture was the last of that initial flurry of sketches. I didn't put much thought into it.
I've always felt that Garchomp looked a little bit silly, which is a total injustice to it -- since it is so amazingly powerful. The game sprite looks kinda "gangly", IMO. So, I thought, "What if I make Garchomp lean forward?" That would mitigate some of the gangliness, and I could point all those sharp things forward in a sort of "torpedo-attack position". I'm really glad I made that decision, because I think the pose is the single best aspect of the picture. I've never seen another drawing with Garchomp in this position, so I should get a few originality points, if nothing else.
I wasn't really intending to make it look too shark-like. Yes, I know Garchomp is based on a shark. But, I wasn't trying to emphasize it. I just leaned him forward and started adding all the elements from the base design, with a little more bulk and strength. As the sketch unfolded, I realized "Damn! This thing really looks like a hammerhead shark in this position." So I went with it.
I minimized the fins on its arms because when they were long, they got in the way of everything. I also changed up the legs, which was one of the riskier decisions on my design. I was afraid they looked too weird with all those joints, but I think they have a certain animal authenticity that the sprite lacks.
I had a many, many problems with the tail. If you look at the original sketch, I really had no idea where I would go with the tail. The sketch indicated I would curl the tail around in some fashion. But, the perspective on that didn't work out. So I decided to send the tail straight back behind him, and stylized the fins to be more "swept back" and graceful. Unfortunately, those swept-back fins lengthened the tail considerably, so I had to shorten the tail base to compensate and keep the overall proportion of the design in check. If you look at the Nintendo design, you'll notice two rings near the end of the tail. Garchomp has rings like this elsewhere, notably around its neck, "hammerhead things", and ankles. I really couldn't include the rings on the shortened tail, even though I think it would have balanced the colors a bit better. I had to choose between the cool sweeping tailfins, or the stripes. Cool tailfins won.
The worst part about this pose, is that it hides all the interesting colors on Garchomp. Garchomp's back is fairly bland when it comes to coloring. All the color is on its belly, which is facing the ground in this pose. So I tried to make up for it with more advanced shading and highlights. This is probably the most sophisticated shading/highlighting I have done so far. Garchomp has lots of "parts", so it was quite a chore to apply light and dark in all the right places. I also cheated several times for dramatic effect. Nothing big, but for example, if you look at the little highlights on his eyebrow and his backfin "notch" -- those are not technically correct according to the logical light source. They are flourishes that accentuate the drawing. Most people likely never notice this stuff consciously, but I think it adds to the overall drawing effect. Even if they are wasted pixels, I love little details, so it's fun for me. I decided to not use any skin texture (unlike most of my other pics). I think the smooth, untextured skin makes Garchomp look sleek and fast.
After posting the sketches, this one received the most attention. Many people have replied that they have been waiting for me to finish it. Expectations like that make me nervous, so I tried to put a little extra effort into it. Despite all my earlier misgivings, I am very pleased with the end result. For those of you that have anticipated this pic, I hope I came through for you.