In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. My first candidate is Dawn who is sporting a shiny Piplup suit on a beach in Sinnoh. Whether she's after her next contest prize or is saving the region from an evil organization she's doing it in style. Because Piplup is a penguin, an anmial that's often described as "wearing white tie", this was a fairly starightforward design, its features just expanded to fit a humanoid. I had thought about making a sort of cape as well in accordance with piplup's "tailcoat"... but for now that was as far as I wanted to go. As the first in the series I made it off the cuff on my patterned noteblock so the quality is a bit scuffed, but it turned out nice enough as a proof of concept to get me hooked for the many that would follow. Made on: Feb 26 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. With her new PokeSuit Gym Leader Flannery takes on the scorching hot colors of her signature Pokemon Torkoal in my Pokegirl series. She may have a passion hotter than a volcano, but she does enjoy the cool Hoenn breeze of the Verdanturf Woods from time to time. To me Torkoal is a very interesting Pokemon. It's usually flying under people's radar, being one of the non-evolving species. But it has a rather rare ability in White Smoke and can be a capable team member as a tank. Its design focuses on the billowing smoke and steam coming constantly out of its shell which was a challenge to channel into the suit's design. Eventually I decided to uncouple the design of the shell and the smoke and turned the cloud into a cape, making it look like she's constantly scorching with steam coming off her shoulders. As for the shell: I noticed the rim of Torkoal's shell has a zig-zag shaped rim on the edge so I made that into a Sailor Moon style minidress. Surprisingly I really like how it turned out even though I'm usually not a big fan of skirts and dresses. For this piece I had a struggle with my reference material. because Flannery is usually wearing baggy pants, so I had trouble forming her legs for a skinthight suit. Though with her generally laid back pose I really like how it turned out in the end. Especially interesting was the background where I could go into more detail in the tree trunks, because it's a more close to the ground shot. Made on: March 12 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. Hi I'm back after a bit of a creative break. A long standing candidate as a Pokegirl in my PokeSuit series come to life: Gym Leader Misty is guarding the oceans in her jet-propelled Sharpedo Suit. Want to go for a swim with her? Misty was on my list of models for quite a while, but the choice of her Pokemon took me a long time. Originally I had planned to use Starmie/Staryu as bases for her suit, but then someone showed me a really nice picture of Sharpedo and I was thunderstruck by how perfect it would fit for my suit. Because I like the idea that Misty is a professional swimmer I immediately thought of the swimsuits athletes wear that have an actual sharkskin texture that traps air bubbles to reduce friction underwater, making it a perfect match for Sharpedo. I added fins on her wrists and ankles for control and lifted Sharpedo's eyes as jet boosters to give the suit an extra function. After the break it was surprisingly difficult to find my feet again, especially with shading and perspective. But I'm overall happy with the result for a de-rusting exercise. Now that Scarlet/Violet spoiler season seems to be taking off I'm sure I'll find enough material to keep going 😊 Made on: June 6 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. The future is now! At least for Nemona and her Miraidon PokeSuit. This suit provides all the features for the Pokegirl heroine of distinction: jet-powered rollerblades, protective shield plating and a detachable surveillance drone. Even though the Pokemon games of recent years have fallen out of my favor a bit in terms of gameplay, I still enjoy watching the series from afar, and I'm still quite a fan of their creature, and even more, their character designs. Yet even among the many, many trainers that I like, Nemona was an instant home run for me. I saw her and thought: "Yup... she's awesome!". What's also interesting is her right-hand glove. On the official site it reads that Nemona apparently has trouble throwing Pokeballs, for which she uses that hand, so in my head canon the glove is some sort of orthopedic support to help her with that. As for Miraidon and the Theme of "Past vs. Future" I just have to admit I'm a sucker for all things Sci-fi: futuristic designs, vast amounts of energy pulsing through everything, sleek bodysuits (go figure 😂). So as much as it gets memed by all the infantiles in the community (because "ha-ha d*ck joke") I like Miradon's look a lot. That being said... getting Future-Snek here to behave as a suit was a WHOOOLE other can of worms. So I started with her waistguard and then worked my way down, because Miraidon's lower protions is also covered in plating. For the boots I wanted to do something special. Because Miraidon doesn't have discernible hind legs (they're folded into the thrusters that make it hover) I needed to come up with something futuristic, yet convincing. Since the ballet boots in my Cynthia-Arceus piece worked out so well I did something similar here, adjusted the feet to be straightened, but intead of heels add jet boosters and rollerblades to it, which was a nice functional addition as well as resolving the design of her feet. In order to make the suit more believable I added elbow- and kneepads like normal skaters would wear. Next was her upper body. That was the REAL challenge of the piece. Miraidon, similar to Lunala, has a body seemingly made of glass filled with pure energy, so I immediately knew shading would be nigh impossible. And if that wasnt enough it also has very distinct markings flowing in that energy stream, that I would have to include to not have it look flat. I think I redrew those stripes 6 or 7 times before I was satisfied. And finally I needed some accessories for the arms. Miraidon had some nice adornments on its shoulders so that was a 1:1 no-brainer. More complicated were Nemona's arms. Originally I didn't include her glove in the first outline sketch, where I usually remove all clothes from a character (I want to make skintight suits after all) but at second thought I wanted something to be on that arm, because it's a surprisingly dominant piece of her official artwork. So I added the bracer, but just like the glove in my head canon I wanted it to serve a function, so I came up with the idea of an independent Mirai-Drone. First I thought I could have it attached but I was worried people would not be able to tell what it's supposed to be, plus of course the electrical wings would not be visible in standby. So I decided to seperate it and show it in action, which turned out very nicely. After using my previous piece to warm back up I was back in the swing of things and with the new trailer for Scarlet and Violet coming out in the meantime what better time to give my new favorite Rival some more spotlight. One technical thing I struggled with was the composition of the background. Because the suit is so predominantly blue I feared she would basically melt into the sky, if i didn't make it distinct enough, but my choice of blue hues is pretty limited in that regard. In the end it worked out with a well placed mountain as a backdrop, as well as very pronounced outlines where things do eventually clash. Made on: June 12 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. Even though she is not the chosen trainer to ride the celestial dragon to stop the Delta Meteor, Lorekeeper Zinnia of the Draconid people is showing her devotion to their patron Rayquaza with her stunning Mega-Rayquaza suit while crossing the mountainous ranges of Hoenn Rayquaza as a legendary has a very different design philosophy than regular pokemon. Because it is the cover mascot for the game it is designed to look very special and allows the designers to be more intricate than usual. In turn I wanted that to reflect in my own design of the suit. To make the necessary concessions and compromises to fit a serpentine creature onto a humanoid character was quite a challenge at first but once I had some cornerstones set it came together very quickly. As for key features Rayquaza's segmented scales that give it an almost mechanical look as well as its fins were the things I wanted to focus on. And for it's Mega-Evolution there's of couse the strains of energy, which, similar to my Serena pice, had fall over her shoulders, billowing in the wind. So Pokemon Day had passed but I was still on fire so I took to something more ambitious, going for my first legendary Pokesuit design. I was actually intimidated to even make a single stroke after I had the initial outline done, out of fear I might ruin it and had to start over. I made a scan of it early so if push came to shove I could print it out again and start over. Gladly that was not necessary and I had my best piece to date in hand. Because I didn't have the green hue I wanted this is the first time I started mixing colors, which is not easy with pencils. But I managed to give the scales a really nice shimmer in addition to taking off the edge from the very fragrant green that it was originally by mixing it with a bit of gray and dark teal. Made on: Mar 2 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. (OMG it's already the 10th one) This time we see Warden Mai keeping watch over the northern Mountains of the Hisui Region. Perfectly adapted to the climate, her Weavile PokeSuit helps her to traverse the frozen ridges. I chose Weavile for Mai because I wanted something with a typing I hadn't done yet. Also, since Weavile is fairly light on features, I knew it would be a challenge to flesh out the design as well. Since Mai is a grown woman, rather than the usually younger trainers, she also has a different bodytype compared to my other models. So I somehow had to mix super-agile and lightweight Weavile to Mai's more "sturdy" proportions. To convey that I decided to stay light on features, only emphasizing the red crown, which turned into the collar and the body, the feathers, which I used for the ankles and the tail, and of course the claws. I went for Wolverine-style wrist claws, so she can still use her hands with relative freedom, but on the feet made them extensions of the toes, so they can be used to dig into icy surfaces. This was the first time I went for a snowscape in the background. I had to be very careful with lining out the mountains, so they don't vanish in the light blue sky. Thankfully I can do a little bit of color correction when I scan these in so it turned out very nicely. Where I want to improve next time is the distinction between the snow-covered and bare rock parts of the mountains, it feels like here I have too much snow, but for a first proof of concept it worked very well. Made on: March 26 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. This time I have a very special Kanto Pokegirl in the spotlight. Abducted as a small child, Green had to fight for survival in the Pokemon World. Scraping by as a spy and a thief she came across a Pokesuit in the shape of Nidoqueen which enhanced her abilities even further. Green is a very interesting character whom not many actually know. Most prominent as the Antihero in the Pokemon Adventures Manga, she's the third kid who's supposed to start their Pokemon journey from Alabastia along with Red and Blue. But fate had other plans and so she has to resort to a life on the fringe of society, surviving on thievery and subterfuge, trading intel to whoever is paying. Her Pokemon partners are trained in her ways as well so they can help her sneak in and out of buildings, laboratories and secret bases. Nidoqueen fulfills the role of the scout in her team, with its ultrasonic hearing and the ability the feel oncoming steps through the ground, so it turned into my pick for her Pokesuit. The desgin was a bit of a struggle. Firstly Nidoqueen is a Pokemon of the 1st Generation, meaning it has less features due to the technical limitations of the games back then. Also it is of a stunted stature, so, like many suits before, I had to expand it to fit a bipedal human. I basically used the same technicque that I used on Haxorus: Emphasise the scaly texture of the skin and embellish them along the limbs as needed. I added the tail pretty late in the design phase, but it added a nice application to the lower half of the piece. Finally there's the headpiece. Similar to my earlier pieces I wanted to include the ears of the Pokemon in the design, but this time I wanted the audio enhancing properties to be available to the wearer, so I added a little earpiece, which I think is very helpful in her line of work. I went for a very different background to my usual nature shot. I wanted her to basically be interrupted stealing something (probably the suit itself). So she's standing in someone's spotlight which casts a really cool shadow on the wall behind her, and her silhouette looks completely alien because of the suit. Looks like she's ready to make a break for it. Made: 17. - 23. June 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. With unparallelled power and divine grace did Cynthia lay claim to the title of Sinnoh Champion, so who better to represent the creator god himself, Arceus, at his shrine Spear Pillar on the summit of Mt. Coronet. Arceus is a Pokemon near and dear to my heart. In general I'm fascinated with all things mystical, spanning from fantasy and science-fiction to even my own faith irl. And with Platinum being the first Pokemon game I actually played all the way through, the Origin Trio and its leader Arceus are natually high on my list. Arceus' defining feature is obviously the Ring around its body, the chain that channels the interdimensional energy it uses to exert its immense power. The problem with just putting it around Cynthias waist however is that I want the suit to look comfortable and usable so the ring would just be cumbersome. After some consideration, like putting it on her feet or behind her back I settled on making it into a crown/halo, which nicely underlined the divine imagery I wanted to go for. Beyond that Arceus has sharply pointed hooves which even seem to be tipped with a sort of metal. I wanted a way to recreate those as well while again keeping the suit wearable by a human, so I came up with the bracers which worked very well and, even better, for the feet I made the hooves into metal tipped ballet boots which combined with the overall pose of Cynthia I am particularly proud of and it emphasized her aura of superiority very nicely. So was warmed up and ready to do something crazy - one of my favorite Pokemon and one of my favorite characters. For this piece I actually started digging for reference material and found an amazing pose on a cover art, which I then extracted with some photoshop magic. Also this was a nice exercise in shading. Because Arceus is predominantly white, all texture and topography of the suit would have to come from shadows. And lastly I put a little more diversity into the background. For the mountain ridges I actualy employed techniques I gleaned from Bob Ross believe it or not. The way the two directions of strokes give the mountain its depth and shape is directly derived from how he made them in his paintings by spreading out the paint with a knife. Made on: Mar 2 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. At number 3 in the Pokesuit Series Rosa from the Unova Region is going green with her Serperior suit. Team Plasma better take cover when this heroine makes her entrance in a Leaf Storm. This one was mostly inspired by the Black 2 & White 2 trailer where Rosa is featured battling Cheren with her Serperior, and I found them to be a very convincing team. Beyond that Serperior has quite distinct features and applications that lend themsleves nicely to prop up the design of the suit, like the markings on the legs or of course the leaves that form the collar. This is where I was hitting my stride. I was also starting to experiment with techniques to generate a background, using the uneven nature of quick pencil strokes to convey things like grass, trees or a sky, without overpowering the central character. Made on: Feb 27 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. The next Pokegirl is Unova Champion Iris. As an aspiring Dragon Master she is flying the colors of her Pokemon partner Haxorus in her awesome new PokeSuit. Haxorus as Iris' signature Pokemon was not easy to translate into a suit. First there is the imbalance of Haxorus' anatomy having a very slender head but very bulky lower body. Also its main feature, the enormous tusks, would normally call for a design with a helmet, however there we run into trouble with Iris' enormous hairdo. So I settled for blades on the arms in lieu of seperate handheld weapons. So once that was settled I needed to design the texture of the main suit. Haxorus has those bulky, vertibrae like scales that cover its long neck and tail. That would only be cumbersome to a humanoid. So what I did to mimic some of the hardness of the carapace I propped up her shoulders to give them more substance and then covered the suit in layered scales. So the suit has both a proper defensive layer, while remaining flexible. I really like how the scales of the suit came out, especially on her arms and hip. Because her torso is twisted in this shot, I had to pay close attention to the "seam line", the border beween what one would consider the front and the back of her body. Most of the colors are, again, mixed to differentiate them form the background. For the scales I toned down yellow with green, and her hair is a mix of purple and blue. For her skin I actually had a surprisingly fitting color right out the gate, so that turned out very nicely, only adding a little shading with gray. Made on: March 19

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. This time we visit the Kalos region again to meet Clemont's little sister Bonnie who is showing off her cute Dedenne Pokesuit. In stark contrast to Mai, Bonnie is quite a bit younger than most Pokemon characters. As such she has a more slender stature and thus less "real estate" on the main body of the suit to add designs onto. The choice of Pokemon was a obviously a pretty short affair, since she only has the Dedenne of her brother Clemont. But it's a very fitting partner nonetheless so I went for it. I chose a pose that emphasised her happy-go-lucky attitude, going into the world with that infantile innocence, seeing wonder around every corner. I particularly like how this is even anchored in the series, because Bonnie is doing some form of dress-up or cosplay all the time, wearing dresses, gowns, ninja suits and her Tyrantrum pyjamas, so her running around in a suit like this with a pair of ears on her head is perfectly in character. I've gotten quite good at finding reference material for the base pose of my chatacters. I've even started to employ my amateur photoshop skills to cut out and embolden what I want to draw from and it's broadening the scope of what I can do more and more. Made on: 2 April 2022

In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe. Surprise Bonus Bonnie Fascinated by the little Zygarde core "Squishy" Bonnie had been unwittingly taking care of none less than the Guardian of Kalos. Nowadays they may walk seperate paths, but in their hearts they're never far. Especially with her new Pokesuit. So this is Bonnies other side: When push comes to shove she is little but fierce in the face of adversity and I wanted to capture that before I move on to other trainers. So I'm back to a Legendary, and one of the "busiest" designs they've ever done. Perfect Form Zygarde is a towering monster, with multiple tails, enormous claws, complex scale patterns and even more than one face. So I focused first on the signature hexagonal scales of Zygarde, as they woud best convey which Pokemon the suit is meant to represent. During the linework Bonnie looked like a human soccer ball... So after that was done I had to think about the coloring. Since Perfect Forme is basically the union of the 2 Zygarde Cores (blue and red) it has two halves to it that I wanted to reflect in the accessories and I took some liberty as to where the colors would show up, because I had so much less physical space than the full size pokemon. And lastly I wanted another headwear for her, since Bonnie would not settle for half measures either. Of course it included the horned crown, but I also added a face guard on the sides to give it more actual protective quality. This is the first time I actually made a custom pose by stiching together several pieces from different reference material to form this combat ready, dynamic pose and I am REALLY happy with how it turned out. But: I needed the background to support it so I created this rocky area that would invite jumping from place to place. Also it afforded me with the opportunity for some extra details. I hope you enjoy spotting them. :) Made on: April 9 2022