any crystal clear fans here? i made myself and a friend some custom trainer sprites, it was my first time trying pixel art but i loved it 
yes i gave him the ryan-gosling-in-drive scorpion jacket but as a hoodie lol
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Absolutely dope. And yes I’ve talked it up quite a bit on the forum over the years 
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oh rad!!! your collection is sweet but i especially love your CC custom cart!! i’m glad to see someone else enjoying it in that way, it’s fun on an emulator but nothing beats having the actual physical object and playing it the way it was meant to be played. i would love to see your sprite and/or teams!!
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Nothing beats hardware indeed! Got another link for you, showing teams that I’ve trained on crystal clear and shinies caught there. My friend and I play “competitively” with each other via cable link and we have some 100+ lvl 100’s we do round robins on from time to time, betting a little cash to up the stakes and keep the dishes spicy. We take pride in our lineups as some are exclusive and claimed first as we added new amounts (usually 6 at a time) to the roster. Take just as much pride in the nicknames!
Wish I had made a proper custom sprite but I’m sure the current file in the cart has some nice color selection and basic customization.
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oh!! i just needed to keep scrolling lol. the nicknames are so choice 
i spot a ruby sp!! how can you stand playing with the gbc cart poking into your wrists lol
i’m soooo jealous that you have a friend who will link with you!! i made the sprite for my friend and put it on a custom cart and gifted it to him and everything… but he’s kind of a flake (i love him though) and we only got to battle a few times before he moved on to other stuff (i think unbound? he’s a gen 3/4 fanboy). it was fun while it lasted 
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It’s all about the technique 
sorry to hear, it’s a privilege to have that now, never had it as a kid and that’s why we got so excited about doing it and making sure to get a new tournament in if it’s been too long. We’re actually overdue for one as we speak but he’s recently engaged so he has a good excuse to be a bit busy for video games le sigh
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lovely piece! The ocen looks so clean item locked
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Man people have posted some fantastic stuff.
Wanted to throw my hat in the ring.
I haven’t drawn anything with pokemon since college but I want to again just because I have so many cool ideas.
Pet pieces are taking up all my time but here’s my old college piece and I have paid tribute to pokemon in my yearly pumpkin carvings so that has been fun, so here’s those as well.
Never mind the college piece is never seeing the light of day. Have pumpkins instead.
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Booooo show it! Those pumpkins are amazing!
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As requested @Dyl . Here is a little bit of My Process for my Secret Santa art. I live in a beautiful place and one of the best parts of where I live is the light. I live on the coast of North America. It is the first place the morning light touches on the US East Coast. I am a morning person and have the privilege to enjoy this light frequently. In the early spring the fields are filled with dandelions. Dandelions can be a challenge to paint but I love the way they play with the light, especially as they go to seed. Most children from my part of the world have experienced picking dandelions and making a wish as they gently blow on the seeds.
I drew from these parts of my world in creating the setting for Butterfree. One of @Mr.Garrison ‘s favorite Pokémon. Light is so many colors and is so flexible it takes a light brush to keep it fluid. I enjoy the process of allowing the light time to glow, just like in real life the sun rises in stages and everything the light touches plays a role in its reflection and color. I have never drawn Butterfree. Afterall it is an awkward Pokémon to add expression to. It has compound eyes, it has no real mouth that offers expression. It is also a 3 foot butterfly type creature, that does not even have the benefit of detailed delicate wings! When I think of drawing a butterfly I think of a small delicate creature landing on a flower. Not a three foot butterfly with poisonous scales on its wings.
Then I connected with the true Butterfree, Ash’s, the one from “Bye Bye Butterfree”. We all know it. Many of us could relate to it. A bit of an oddball. Kind of geeky and awkward, yet sensitive and kind. Able to show great love and joy and move a generation.
I wanted to create that Butterfree. Like a real creature creating depth takes layers. Allowing just hints of the previous layers colors to blend and meld together. So a tilt of the head, a slight dip in the wing, a small breeze in the early morning light among the filed of delicate flowers ready to seed and there it was. The innocence of that Butterfree as it picks a dandelion and makes a wish.
This time of year is awesome! I am very grateful that my Secret Santa gave me the opportunity to explore this Pokémon. It gave me as much joy as I hope it will give them.
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Thank you! I have great fun with the pumpkins have a bunch of others that more complex but none of em pokemon lol. Fave holiday for me.
The college piece is staying banished its terrible looking lol I’es show off my new stuff but none of it is pokemon related.
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Beautifully written! Thank you for sharing! You’ve certainly transported me to the dandelion fields where Butterfree roam. 
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It truly is a beautiful piece that I’m so grateful to have in my collection! I’ve sent pictures of it to like 10 people already and everyone is floored. I love that you took inspiration from Ash’s Butterfree as that’s where my love for Butterfree started. It’s the first thing I thought of when I looked at the illustration! His awkward quirkiness really come through in your art!
I still don’t understand how you got the light transition from the sun so perfect! Do you just freehand and see where it takes you? was it painted digitally then printed? It’s so stunning I honestly can’t comprehend how making something like this is even possible
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Niece your art here is one of the most remarkable and inspiring pieces I’ve ever seen on the fourum. Extremely proud of you and it is amazing to know you did this extraordinary art and gifted it to a fellow member. Love seeing that. I can be sure they will be keeping that out and in sight to soak in on the regular. Breathtaking beauty. The color, the lighting, the vividness and contrast. You are such an artist.. you have clear inspiration in your locality, have reference pictures, and you incorporate that into your conceptualizing. It’s brilliant and I love it. Thanks for giving us the gift of art my friend!
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That my friend is a loaded question. I’ll try to not get too windy in my answer. I mostly do all my paining digitally now on Procreate. I then have a local printer who has an awesome set up with some beautiful paper that prints for me ( I print on Epson Cold Press 340 gm cotton rag) . I have created a variety of brushes that fit my style and mimic brushes I loved in the physical painting world.
Ok. Here is the windy part. Once I have a rough idea of my composition, I choose my pallet based on the time of day and where the setting is. I always know where the light will be coming from, even if the composition changes some (as it always does) the light does not. Keeping true to my pallet and the light is key to keeping everything together. Light is born, not added later. I begin in the middle saturations as a base and build the light and dark saturations from there. Many people highlight with white or darken with black. There is no white or black out there. It is all a variation of some color. I also build between colors by blending not smudging and use the blended color in between to transition. This is where digital work is so fun. Capturing that transition color is so much simpler. In essence. I build with color. There are many colors here not in my pallet , yet they a built from my pallet. You could click on a color in this piece and try to copy it and never get an exact copy because the color only exists in this built and layer form. Here is my pallet for Butterfree. Notice that each shade has a middle a light and a dark. At its most basic you stay in the middle and only add the full or near full saturation (Like where the white circle is below the word Colors) of a color when you are ready for the light to shine.
There are many layers to light. It is fluid, so it takes on color and shades from the things that it reflects on or bounces from so you also have to understand the textures and shapes too. In this piece many textures are soft they bounce some light but not a lot. Much of the light is being bounced off the mountains in the back, causing the light to scatter higher or lower than the focal point of the rising sun. It is brighter at the focal and dissipates. I do this by spreading the color with my stokes loosing the paint as it moves further away. Of course when that light reaches Butterfree its body blocks the light directly in front of it and only a small bit bounces of to the flower it holds and surfaces around it. That is why there it is so saturation (whiter, which is really blue and yellow but looks white)) on that flower.
Thank so much for your curiosity. I love it. I am very happy that this has brought you some joy. It really makes me smile a lot!
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Thanks Brendan. Your comments mean a lot. I am very fortunate.
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Beautiful explanation and artwork! Loved getting all the dirty details for this. It’s clear you spent a lot of time focusing on the light and building from that and it shows! Well done 
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@cyberurchin Love the Budew! The water here looks especially good. After having tried to semi do water (in pixel-art form) for the art contest, I pay more attention to how people draw water and waves now, and the light and contrast here look great. Hope the Budew can get back to where he needs to though, with those stubby hands and feet 
@PlentyCoup Those pumpkin carvings are great! Love the Umbreon and the howling Houndoom. You must get kids that comment on them as they trick-or-treat 
@niece Thank you for the great write up. The way your color gradients appear look so natural and seamless. Your thought process for how you always keep the light in mind and in context is useful to hear about. Also, having barely any experience with digital art, it’s interesting to hear about creating custom brushes. Also hearing that blending and smudging are supposed to be different
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@bbobrob I’m glad you appreciate the detail. I forgot to comment earlier
In my real life I work as an aquatic biologist and work mostly with plants. I guess it kind of seeps into other things I do.
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