"Pikachu Used Thundershock" 3

After squeezing in free time through several months of work, the third installment of my music playlist "Pikachu Used Thundershock" is FINALLY finished!! For those who haven't seen the first 2 batch of characters, here's one and two.

Most of these characters weren't too difficult to come up with, as their designs are very close to their respective logos/mascots. Shout outs to the people who helped me find more EDM artists for this batch! Here's each character's design process:

Crooked Kitty (derives from Camo & Krooked. Info for this character can be found here.)

Werecat (Monstercat Media)
     - Originally, I was going to stick to just artists and not record labels, but the Monstercat logo was a prime candidate for turning into a character. Further suggestion for the character came from someone who commented on this blog, too (thank you ShiftOne). :)
     - Werecat's design is pretty much straightforward from the original Monstercat design. I just beefed it up and added some spiky fur.

Blackbunny (Blackburner)
     - One of many artists I was introduced to by a fellow deviant on DeviantArt.
     - Again, a very straightforward character design. I mixed the style of Blackburner's bunny logo with the masks and clothing the artists themselves wear when they perform.
     - I wasn't too confident tackling a Blackburner character at first, but after seeing Rise of the Guardians and declaring Bunnymund as my favorite character, drawing Blackbunny became a piece of cake.

SKisMophobic (SKisM)
     - I hadn't heard of SKisM until a friend posted the "Experts" music video on my Facebook wall. It's pretty much the best music video ever.
     - SKisMophobic's design is a mix between the most common pics of SKisM I could find through Google, the wicked spider mech that appears in the "Experts" video, and the double skulls that are on the artist's albums. He was a fun character to draw.
     - (A fun little note: the texture on his hoodie is a picture of a fish I took at the Baltimore Aquarium.)

Epix (Eptic)
     - As simple as Eptic's mascot is, designing this character ironically took the longest and was the most stressful out of all the characters in this batch. I was conflicted whether or not to design Epix as epic or simple but could kick your ass (like ASOT 9001). I changed Epix's design about four times until I finally settled on this one.
     - Epix is a giant, pixel sprite. The orbs on its halo contain Epix's alternate forms: a mech, tank, killer UFO, some Godzilla/killer monster thing, and a mystery form. Whichever form Epix decides to use, the halo disappears and the respective orb expands and sinks into Epix's head, similar to the contained brain on Eptic's mascot.


It may be a while until the next batch of characters, mainly because finishing this one was kinda stressful. Who to pick next... ;)

Style Exploration: My Pokemon Battle Team

I've been busy with multiple freelance jobs lately and I haven't had time to work on anything personal, so I took a day off and decided to let off some steam by drawing Pokemon:

This is my Pokemon Battle Team. Strategy-wise, it's not the best lineup but these six Pokemon are my favorite to use in battle. CLAYDOL, CHANDELURE, BISHARP, and SCOLIPEDE are from my Pokemon White Version team whereas GALLADE and MISMAGIUS are from my Soul Silver Version lineup. The hexagon boxes below the images are the techniques I gave them in their respective games, the red highlighted boxes being the move used in the illustration.

Style-wise, I wanted to take a break from line art because that's the part of my drawing style that takes the longest. Since this was a stress-reliever exercise, I wanted to draw these Pokemon quickly, so after creating a rough sketch of their poses I went straight to colour.

For those curious about the nicknames:

[CLAYDOL] "Pendulum"
     - Named after my favorite band, plus "Pendulum" seemed to fit this Pokemon. I like Claydol's design for some reason - I think it has something to do with the "eyes" all around its head. It's weird, therefore I like it.

[CHANDELURE] "Daniel"
     - Named after the player character in Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This Pokemon is a ghost and a source of light, so I paid homage to the lantern Daniel carries in the scariest game I've ever played.

[GALLADE] "Jak"
     - Named after Jak from the Jak & Daxter games. I wanted to give Gallade a slick name and "Jak" was the only one I could think of at the time. I also gave him a partner: a Buizel nicknamed "Daxter".

[BISHARP] "Mr.Justice"
     - A name I thought of out of ridiculousness because Bisharp looked like a total badass. His design reminded me of Ultraman or some superhero, so I made him a guardian of justice. I made sure to match his techniques with the epicness of his name.
     - Mr.Justice is my favorite battle Pokemon on this team. Imagining him as a superhero makes him extremely fun to play.

[SCOLIPEDE] "Snare"
     - For the longest time, his nickname was "Pendoraa" which is his Japanese name because it sounded so cool and I couldn't think of a better name. So I took my Knife Party-inspired centipede plush's name and shared it with this centipede-inspired Pokemon.
     - Scolipede holds my favorite design out of this whole team.

[MISMAGIUS] "Onryo"
     - "Onryo" are vengeful spirits in Japanese folklore. Honestly, I was kinda bummed that I couldn't catch a female Mismagius, so it was tough nicknaming this male one.
     - Onryo was the first Pokemon in my Soul Silver Version to reach level 100.