Thread: [CASH] Battle-Ready

Repost from BMG! A friend's Tsareena and Mimikyu OCs getting ready to rumble. This is for cash, not for capture for either Pokemon.

Re-claiming this~!

Sorry for the lateness, curation is a go~!

First Impression:

Despite the title, I can’t help but sing lyrics to the song “Kung Fu Fighting” as I look at this piece. Its fun, its lighthearted, and the shading style really gives it this soft, cute look to it. While the two look as though they are sparring for real, one could take it as some lighthearted fighting. With that said though, moving on to the curation!

Form:

We’ve got two major forms in this image, that of a Tsarenna and a Mimikyu. Upon first glance both are immediately recognizable, although the stark differences between them and official artwork are just as easily seen. A description of them both being original characters does clean up the confusion, such as Tsareena lacking a crown and Mimikyu’s disguise details being noticeably different. With that in mind, I’m going to be taking a closer look at Tsareena first before moving to Mimikyu.

Right off the bat, I see you’ve chosen some stylistic liberties with some of Tsareena’s design, such as the change in its hands and feet into full blown limbs rather then nubs in the official artwork. There’s also some change in the proportions, giving it more of this ‘bad attitude’ look you were going for as opposed to the slender, regal look. When I see this Tsareena, I see a built fighter, ready to go out should someone sour its mood! Interestingly, I’m not sure if done on purpose, but its hair is noticeably shorter too, including the ‘swoop’ of its frontmost bang being both smaller and shorter in length. To give it a bit more personality you’ve also opted to give it its own little scarf to wear and unfurled the petals that make up its hips. The tops of its legs, where we see three pointed protrusions in the official art are also smaller and divided into many more protrusions in your piece. As this is an OC depicted in your own unique style, I find the changes really set it apart from the ‘typical’ Tsareena and lend to the narrative you were going for.

Moving on, we definitely see another drastic difference in regular Mimikyu and the OC you’ve shown here. The bulk of its design is in how its ‘disguise’ is made and presented as if to look like Pikachu. Here, while described as a ‘pragmatic’ approach, it feels a bit on the lazy side for this particular Mimikyu. I get the impression it doesn’t care much for the popular ‘pikachu approach’ the others take, in that its got more of a hooked stick for a tail then one that resembles the tail of a Pikachu. Second would be the work thats gone into the head, where the lines are more deliberate and clean, ignoring the red marks for its cheeks and when the black on the ends of its ears. In fact, its eye sockets are even bigger in its disguise! I’d like to comment that even its ‘ghostly’ shadow is different from official sources as its much more sinister and muscular looking, giving it a noticeable difference in strength. Just as you’ve depicted Tsareena, you’ve given this Mimikyu a whole new look leading to an entirely different narrative and personality different from the typical versions of either of them.

Background/Foreground:

Most of the background appears to be much a gradient drop, with this kind of shadow-y look around the middle of it. Its interesting, but I am not sure what it means. It is possible it could be kicked up dirt, but its hard to tell. It could also just be an addition to the background so it didnt look like a straight gradient. My own issue with it though, is that the color is a bit close to Tsarenna’s, though not enough to blend her in with it. With two entities, its a little harder, but I feel like a darker color or a complimentary color might have complimented this piece better and drawn more attention to both of your subjects. As Tsareena is the larger figure, I feel as though perhaps a blue or brown/beige color would have brought both of them out a little bit. I will also note the lines on the right edges resembling spider webs is a cool addition, although I’m not quite sure how they relate to the rest of your piece.

Line:

Your lines overall are especially neat and you’ve even swapped between using thicker or thinner lines in areas you felt needed them. The interesting thing about the lines as you’ve depicted them is that, is how you’re directing ours eyes around the image with your clever usage of them. In areas where there is a drastic change of direction and there feels a need to direct the eye to another portion of the piece, the lines are thicker, such as under Tsarenna’s lifted leg, or the outer portions on left side of her hair. If you follow the curvature of her hair for example, you’ll follow it down her leg and right into Mimikyu where you’re not only drawn to its oversized ghost hand, but the light colors of its costume. Its really well done. You’re leading the audience to where you want them to look and I’m honestly struggling here on what advice to give since its done so well. Admittedly though, there is something that did catch my eye, and its near Tsareena’s neck area with the scarf. The lines are neat, don’t get me wrong, but in the left corner where her armpit would be, the lines are a bit too light and hard to see, and the I feel as though they could have been defined a bit more on the pink protrusions that extends into its face. I can see them, but the lines could be a bit more defined in this case I believe.

As far as the lines on the Mimikyu, I find very little odd about it except for its arm, which don’t get me wrong, is nicely done, but I feel as though the lines could have used more of a brown color. It’s a ghost and the arm itself would be considered a shadow and while the twist and bends are fantastic, you wouldn’t necessarily see these things in a shadow. They are great for looking at them, but i feel using colors closer to the shadows color would give it more of a ‘shadow’ and three-dimensional look and the shadows and highlights would be the main causes of seeing the bends and twists.

Technique:

As the main subjects of this piece are Tsareena and Mimikyu, I will be focusing on them in this section in relation to the lighting and shadows. From what I can tell, the light source is coming from the top left of the image. A good portion of the shadows are hard with clear outlines, although some soft shading can be seen in Mimikyu’s shadow arm and in the cloth of its disguise. Fitting considering one is meant to be in shadow and cloth is a soft material. It was mentioned before in the lines, but the lighting feels a little too soft in the shadow arm, especially where it first branches out from Mimikyu. The lines help to set it apart, but some higher contrast of darks and lights would have suited something not meant to have edges a bit better.

There aren’t really any gripes with this, as the hard shadows do fit the more action packed scene you have displayed here. It feels direct, to the point and in a way, resembles some of the way the official art is displayed.

Overall:

Overall, another selldown piece by you Velo and I apologize for the severe lateness of this curation. I’m glad I was able to finish it though as I generally did enjoy taking closer looks as your art. I think this was a fun take from what I’ve seen from you prior and it has a lot of charm in the way you depicted these characters. With that said, I’m happy to pass this as Hard rank and so you may claim $20k for this piece. Thanks for your patience!