[THREAD=35119]Click here to see my full Gallery in the OP of this thread.[/THREAD]
CAP 2 - Ghost/Fighting
In my opinion, Fighting and Ghost are two of the coolest, badass types in the entire game. So, once CAP2 selected the typing, I was determined to make a total badass pokemon design. This was what I came up with...
Sketches
Here's the "final" sketch and the working sketch that I used to flesh out the basic concept.
(click thumbnails for full image)
Alternate Color Schemes
These were part of an "Easter Egg" in the CAP2 art thread. But, there's no reason to keep them secret any longer.
(click thumbnails for full image)
Description
I had so much fun with this design. I drew up the first sketch on a 4-hour plane trip from New York to Texas, and my mind was racing with all sorts of weird ideas.
Here's the full backstory that I posted in the CAP2 art thread. If you take the time to read all that, you will see there were lots of influences. I poured all those references into the design, and then noodled on it endlessly in Photoshop once it was rendered digitally. I was very pleased with the final result. At the time, I thought it had a legitimate chance to win.
The general theme is a "Fighting Djinni". So there's all sorts of mystical and tribal flourishes in the design. The best part of the drawing, in my opinion, are the tattoos. Tats are badass-looking in real life, and I think they are badass-looking here. I painstakingly inked them with vectors, and the resulting clean lines really paid off. I colored them red, because red "feels" like Fighting to me. The gold rings were a bitch to color in Photoshop, but bring an original element to the drawing. It's a twist on the cliche Djinni smoke trail, but still gives the impression of an ethereal lower body.
I was criticized for it looking too much like a superhero or super-villain. Not surprising, considering my extensive background and training in comic book illustration. I didn't think it was overdone, but like many CAP designs -- the "it doesn't look like a pokemon" comment came up a lot during voting. Despite the criticism, this design did very well in the art polls. I came in third (or 2nd, depending on how you look at it) to KOA's winning mummy design. No offense to the current Revenankh design, but of all my CAP designs -- this is the one I most wish would have won. KOA's design is awesome, but I REALLY liked this design. It was so much fun to work on, and I think it looks completely badass.
The big lesson I learned with this design, was to avoid making them too "human-looking". My superhero comic art background makes me naturally go in that direction, so I specifically try to resist that tendency on all new CAP designs.