#ground ice

[normaldex]

#473 Mamoswine

This own was so much harder than you probably imagine. Mamoswine already captures so much of that amalgamammal theme I was going for with this line.

I would say this design took a lot of inspiration from the Boltunov mammoth- because that's true!- but it also seems the original design did as well. Oh well.

It's a mammoth. Does it have to be Ice? No; blubber is not the same as frozen. Does it have to be Ground? No; they're just members of Proboscidea. I don't know how much there was to do with this design to get it to cross the threshold into Normalcy. I threw some more defined hair on there to attempt to get there.

Other sprites used: Camerupt, Growlithe, Herdier, Spoink

[normaldex]

#221 Piloswine I like how Pokemon designs have more room to get more complex as they evolve. Many of the same design processes were the same for Piloswine as they were for Swinub. This design leaned further into the alleged yak inspirations while still trying to keep the whole "generic mammal monster" thing the Swinub line already has. Other sprites used: Bouffalant, Grumpig, Tauros

[normaldex]

#220 Swinub I did Swinub less as a- okay, so Swinub is some kind of boar, but, like, highly stylized and reduced to what feels like a wig. This is meant to look more like a shoat. The issue with Swinub and Piloswine is that they're very believable as mammalian animals, and feel deserving of that Ground/Ice typing. I looked at the issue of how to remove the Ground typing. They seem to be very attached to the ground. While the two do have feet, they're not very pronounced. I don't know if that's why they have that type, but it seemed important to get them off the ground. At the very least, this has the benefit of increasing the design distance between the original and this form. Ice is a trickier type to tackle. Ostensibly, it seems these Pokemon have that type because of their great resistance to the cold, what through their shaggy hair and thick fat. But plenty of Pokemon have thick fat and plenty of Pokemon have shaggy hair. Thick Fat is a common ability for a reason. So for these two Pokemon, the trick proves to be to keep them within an appropriate level. I've had these Pokemon on my laptop in a completed state for over a year, not sure they were complete. If you look at Swinub and want to say it looks more like a Tepig redesign, I can't fault you, but just wait to see what I have planned for that ;) Other sprites used: Tepig, Spoink