Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay, I've been sick last week therefore couldn't get anything done during that time. u_u'' But now that I'm better I made sure to finish these for today, I was so excited to show this to you! I believe I already mentioned last time that I was working on another crosssover-ish project, so here it is: The Mark Bearers with their own Pokemon-companions. ^^ I'm very curious what you guys think about this. The idea came to me through the discord channel, when I saw an art post with sketches of Yashiki and Mashita surrounded by Pokemon. The inspiration for something similar that had been ghosting around in my head some time before was reignited and formed the idea for this "project" - so a big thanks to that specific person in the discord channel (I'm sure you know who you are!) ^^ It was challenging but I wanted to draw every single Mark Bearer for this and I tried to pick a companion that fits in some way to their characters. A big thanks to @moonflowerwrites for helping me pick a few of them! ^-^ I'm gonna say a little bit to each of the characters, so this is gonna be a looong post again. ^^' So let's get started, these were my thoughts about this project:
Mashita: For our favourite ex-detective with the sharp steel eyes I was looking for a Pokemon that immediately reminded me of him just by its looks. There is quite a few that have a similar intensive "steely" stare, honourable mentions are: Sneasel, Luxray, Houndoom or Zangoose that made it to the short list, but in the end I just had to pick Zoroark. It's one of my personal favorite Pokemon, but what's more important is that it has a face similar to a fox which I thought was very fitting to Mashita's character. Also, I thought it funny to give Mashita a comparatively rather big Poke-companion. He may not be the tallest adult of the group but he has a big Pokemon, fitting to his ego. xD I thought it even funnier in contrast to Yashiki, who is taller than Mashita but has very small companions. ^-^
Ai: She was the first one I drew. For some reason Staryu was the first Pokemon that came to mind when I thought about Ai - maybe because she's a "star" herself with being famous idol, haha - so I just stuck with that choice. The posture was a bit challenging, and I'm not sure I drew it correctly, bur I really like how it turned out.
Shou: For our very impulsive, hotheaded youngster Shou it had to be a fire-type Pokemon. Quilava not only fits the job description but also has a similar style of hair - spiky and short - I thought the two of them fit together perfectly. I imagine they go training together every day. Shou is secretly in a competition with Mashita, he wants his companion to grow strong and evolve fast so it can keep up with Zoroark, haha. xD
Tsukasa & Moe: I put them both together pretty much for the same reason as Suzu and Eita. Don't know why but I've always thought of them a little bit like they're brother and sister (and they have similar hair styles, lol). About Tsukasa: My thought process behind this was pretty simple - the small boy gets a cute teddy bear. But thinking of how Teddiursa's evolution looks like, it might be a good fit, because they both seem a little grumpy, don't you think? xD About Moe: Figuring out her companion was also a little tricky. Initially I was thinking maybe Morpeco or Espeon/Umbreon, but with Moonflower's help I went for Screamtail instead. (I like Screamtail's design better than Igglybuff, because it looks more Japanese) I know lore-wise it doesn't make much sense that she'd have one since it's an ancient, extinct Pokemon that can only be found in that super secret Area Zero, but maybe she is one of the few lucky ones with a permission to go there. And to top it off she found herself a shiny (because I like the red eyes better than the yellow).
Christie: A graceful looking Pokemon seemed a good fit for her, because Christie always appears very well dressed. It was thinking between Froslass and Gardevoir, but I chose the latter in the end because it somehow reminded me a lot of Christies looks. With her job as a TV reporter I imagine Christie is often very busy but her Gardevoir is helping out, noting down her shedule so she won't forget anything.
Hiroo: She was one of the more troublesome characters to find a suiting Poke-companion for, but with the help of Moonflower I decided on this one. Hiroo can be such a silly character (in my opinion), so this silly Salandit fits just fine to her, haha. xD It's a bit mischievous and loves to play tricks on her.
Banshee: As someone living on the streets I imagined it would fit very well to Banshee's lifestyle if he made friends with Pidove and Thrubbish. And yes I'm aware that my first drawn picture of him looked kinda similar, lol. 'xD Tbh I find Banshee a very challenging character to draw, because I haven't fully grasped/understood his character yet.
Suzu & Eita: I put the two of them on one piece because we see them together most of the time and also tbh I wanted to be done quicker, haha. About Suzu: I had a lot of ideas for Suzu's companion - mostly small, round baby Pokemon. But with Moonflower's suggestion I settled on Sylveon instead. It's colors and the many ribbon-accents fit very well to a cute little girl. Sadly I couldn't fit much of it in the picture. Because it's so small I went for a very close perspective, like a cat that is standing too close to the camera. About Eita: He was another trouble character for me, because I couldn't decide what could fit him best. Thanks to Moonflower for the idea of Wobbuffet, now that I see them I really think they fit together because they're both fun, goofy characters. Fun fact: the German name of Wobbuffet is "Woingenau" which can roughly be translated as "(To) where exactly?" which I always found very amusing. xD
Daimon: As a doctor I definitely wanted to give him a "healer"-Pokemon. But I didn't want to pick the "obvious" choice Chaneira, because it's already so prominent in the series and kinda cliché. So I settled on Audino. I like that it uses it's "antennae" on its ears like a stethoscope - just imagining the two of them tending to a patient together painted such a cute picture in my mind! ^w^
Yashiki: I gave him two Poke-companions here because I couldn't settle on just one (and he's the main character, so he gets special treatment, lol). Litwick was one of the first ideas I got for him and it stuck. I knew I had to give him a ghost type Pokemon as a companion, that was just a given with his line of work as spirit hunter. But I especially liked the idea to give him a super tiny baby Pokemon, because that'd fit so well to his very underdeveloped sense of self-esteem and confidence. It's my headcanon that in the game series we only see glimpses of Yashiki's spiritual powers, because he doesn't know they're there or how to use them. I made the Litwick a shiny here because I'm a big fan of neon blue flame look. The other companion I see as a great fit for him is Chimecho. This rests heavily on my own personal opinion, but I always thought of wind chimes as very calm and soothing, which - to me - is the very essence of Yashiki's character. I see him as a very softhearted, kind and gentle person and I like to think that he has that kind of an invisible aura of calmness around him that makes other people feel more relaxed and safe when at his side. Similar to the soothing sounds of a wind chime. (Or maybe that's just my obsession with this character speaking here ^^') The fact that Chimechou is also one of my absolute favorite Pokemon is just another very happy coincidence.
Saya: It just had to be a bunny for Saya. Sadly there was no black bunny Pokemon (that I know of). Scoppel seemed the best choice to me because it has a rather dark fur and is small enough to be carried around. It could have evolved a long time ago, but it chose not to because it likes to be held and carried around by Saya. ^-^ I couldn't fit it in here, but I also imagined that Saya and Yashiki both could have an Indeedee as another Poke-companion - the male one for Saya and the female version for Yashiki. I just thought they would be very fitting, because they (to me) look a little like small butlers/maids and the Kujou siblings live in a big mansion.
Yasuoka: This was one of the fastest and easiest picks. Just like with Yashiki it went without saying that Yasuoka would have a ghost type companion, and Mismagius seemed perfect to me. It has the look of a very wise, knowledgeful being which fits very well to Yasuoka who has a lot of knowledge and experience when it comes to spirits.
To anyone who cares about my thoughts about the work process: I tried to keep the pictures rather simple with mostly flat colors. For the shading I copied a "technique" I've seen many other artists use that I really like and that is to paint all the shadows in black. I might have cheated a little bit by using other, very slight shadings, but I kept that to a minimum. I also lowered the opacity of the Pokemon's shadings a bit to create a contrast to keep most of the focus on the characters. The lines look very messy because I used a brush with zero pressure sensitivity for almost everything, meaning the line thickness does not vary. When coloring my goal was to keep each piece monochrome-ish and arrange them all in the order of a rainbow, maybe you've already noticed that tiny detail. Don't know if I did a good job there, some of the colors might not fit as great (had to get creative with some color variants, since we have more characters than colors in a rainbow). But I think it came out okay enough.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the results of this project a little. Thanks for taking a look, I hope you're gonna have a good week. Let me know what you think if you like and if you have a favorite. Until next time. ^^
Oh, I almost forgot: I'm currently working on another "project" that I'm very excited to share once I'm done. It involves a new idea for a curse (maybe not super new, but I haven't seen that exact "constellation" in the Death Mark fandom yet at least). I don't wanna spoil anything yet because I hope that I'll be able to finish the drawings for my next post, but I wanted to mention it at least. Wish me luck! ^^
