[Concept Art Discussion] Pokemon Trainer Design

Pokemon: I Choose You!

When I was a kid -- like most kids, I suppose -- I was really into Pokemon. I owned every one of the games, between Yellow, Red, Blue, Green, Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Even those mislabeled Telefang games, Diamond & Jade. Though my interest in the franchise hasn't really persisted into adulthood, whether it be because of changes to the game franchise or a lack of free time. I did purchase both Pokemon Moon & Y in recent years, though I didn't play them for long.

Pokemon will soon be relevant again, with the free-to-play Pokemon Masters being released August 29th and Sword & Shield releasing on November 15th. My friend, Satellite09 recently took part in the Viser League Tournament (an art battle tournament charity zine). Then, in what seemed to be pure happenstance, I was informed about Crystal Clear -- a rom hack, built upon my favourite game of the franchise -- Crystal.

Rather than spending an entire essay advertising the game, I'll say that it's essentially an open world take on Pokemon, in which the player is allowed to move between the towns freely and start in either region. Crystal Clear is about going on your own adventure, free from the linearity & narrative pull the games originally had.

One of the most interesting things about Crystal Clear is it's character customization. While it offers customization among a few presets, you can also inject your own sprites into it -- which is where this Concept Art post comes in.

So… Why Pokemon?

This is rather uncommon, isn't it? I don't usually draw Pokemon, so why am I troubling myself to do so now? After all, I did say that my interests in Pokemon are not what they used to be.

Playing Pokemon with a unique character has it's appeal, and is something recent games have tried to offer players. With Crystal Clear also offering it, albeit with a bit more work required, why wouldn't I try to take advantage of the opportunity? Plus, it could provide a bit more variety to my work, which can otherwise seem pretty homogenized.

Should nothing profound come of it, however, then it will, at the very least, be fun to do.

Creating a Trainer: Initial Idea

My first attempt at designing a trainer was essentially just a brellomascot with a Poke Ball. Needless to say, that's a bit unremarkable.

Although true to the mundane style of a typical brellomascot design, it just doesn't FEEL like a Pokemon Trainer to me. This isn't to say no one would dress like this in the universe, especially in recent games, which have a wider range of fashion styles. It does, however, just look like an average person with a Pokeball…

Ideally, we'd have something that felt like it belonged in a Pokemon game -- one where the player characters were intentionally designed by their artists.

Creating a Trainer: Second Pass

So next, I sought to expand that idea further by going in a few different directions.

1. Creepy & Overdressed

Still in line with what you might expect from a typical brellomascot.

This portrayal features body language that suggests something a bit more sinister. It looks a bit reclusive, with arms pointing towards the center of the body, suggesting an air of unfriendliness. The body posture is awkward and hunched forward, like a gremlin that never leaves it's cave.

Lackluster colour. Brellomascots typically feature dark, muted colours. It looks as though they've layered a bunch of dark apparel, and is probably very sweaty. Not quite cute & trainer-like, is it? This design lacks contrast and noteworthy areas of interest.

2. Stylish

Much more lightweight & breathable. This looks more like a Pokemon Trainer.

A different direction than the previous sketch, with much more open body language and the use of bright, vibrant colours. This design features more interesting shape usage, with a pink dress under the grey top, adding a bit more diversity in the shapes of the torso. I really like the jacket.

The exposed thigh adds a bit of sex appeal, but creates an awkward breakup of the lower body. The rectangular shapes of the dress, belt, and thighs are all the same general size, but stacked onto one another -- looking busy. Perhaps my usage of shapes is just a bit too complicated here. The fanny pack & messenger bags are competing just a bit too.

3. Late Nerd in a Rush

Still stylish, but mature. This apparel looks better suited towards cooler climates.

Returning to the idea of muted, earthy colours, like those you'd expect from a brellomascot. The body posture and chosen fashion suggests a somewhat formal or academic personality, like a scatterbrained nerd. I could genuinely see this design for an in-game battler sprite.

Though, it does, perhaps, look a bit too mature for a typical Pokemon adventurer. This could be the apparel of a researcher, who's distinguished attire is offset by the vibrant running shoes, so they could conceivably be on a journey -- but it lacks the youthful tone expected of protagonists.

4. Trendy

Lightweight & sporty. This looks more like a Pokemon Trainer than any of the others.

Unlike previous designs, this looks like someone who's active and prepared FOR an adventure, with simple & readable shapes. Design traits from prior sketches have persisted. The hair looks cleaner, appearing much more youthful and fashion conscious.

Brellomascots are typically not portrayed with exposed arms, however, so I'm not particularly keen on so much of their skin being shown here.

Variations

The Trendy design was considered the most popular in a recent stream, so that's the concept I developed further. This part of the process featured some community involvement. 

The most immediate change is the inclusion of Design #2's stylish jacket, which provides more contrast & diversity among the shapes of the torso. A subtler change, however, is the addition of a headband -- rather appropriate since the main characters always have some form of headgear. Furthermore, we've given the shirt a turtleneck, making it easier to distinguish between the head and torso.

I wasn't particularly confident with my colours during the entirety of the development process, but I was trying to think about contrast -- what do I want to stand out and how much of each colour do I want present in the design? Interestingly, it feels like it's carrying some of the ambience present in Red's design -- not sure if that’s good or bad.

Of course, there was direction I was not previously considering -- how would it look in-game?

Colour Limitations

If you're even remotely familiar with the Gameboy Colour, you'll know that the colour palettes could only render a maximum of 4 colours -- meaning I had to think about how to eventually translate my design into the game. So I jumped right into it.

There's not much that I can say about this process, as it's a fairly self-explanatory one. Limited to only 4 colours, I had to create a strong, readable image from a distance. This requires creative thinking because the displayed colours are not literal. 

Colours: Black, White, Skin Pigment, Outfit Colour

As one might expect from an iterative process, I liked the final ones most. That's not to say that we're done with this design, nor does it suggest that we shouldn't explore different directions either. For the time being, I darkened the blacks to be more representational of how they'd look in-game.

Keep in mind: illustrations are reduced & pixelated. The latter being time-consuming, so I won't do that until later, when we've decided on a design to commit to. Let's see how this might look on a Battle screen...

It certainly fits, at least in terms of colour usage. Though the proportions needs adjusting, they're a bit too tall and that affects readability. Notice how it's difficult to easily read the face? Then compare that to the sprites shared earlier in the post, which are easier to read. I should squish the proportions a bit to appear more chibi with the final design, whatever the final design actually is.

Just like one of my Japanese Animes...

Games are fun, but so is art. As a long-time fan of the Pokemon Adventures manga, I wondered, what if I tried to emulate something like that? Could be fun to draw, though I don't have a particularly deep story in mind... So let's see what comes out of this...

Y'know because, apparently, just looking at people means you have to battle them. This page also features Satellite 09's recent Pokemon trainer character, so that was fun to draw.

https://twitter.com/Satellite_09/status/1156754143546994688 

Initially, I had wanted to do it in my usual watercolour style, which often feels a bit like Ken Sugimori's (the original artist for Pokemon), but something more traditionally manga was an interesting direction too. Though I'm sure I'll never understand how to use screen tones.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll revisit this character design and develop it further, at least a little bit -- very rarely is your first idea the best one, as you can see from this very thread. 

This was a pretty fun concept to explore. Thank you for your support!

Don't forget to eat & sleep!