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Description
Reblog on Tumblr: bonnyjohn.tumblr.com/post/8103…
Human Shape Pokemon
Ice/Psychic Pokemon
…Jynx. I’ve been looking forward to illustrating you! And here we are with a rendition I never really thought about when ideas bounced around for you initially! For the longest time, I wrestled with ideas of how I could possibly interpret the unique typing and awkward/creepy form that is known as Jynx. Today’s result takes the “Human Shape” Pokemon into an interpretation that really does seem more human than Pokemon.
Just like Mr. Mime, I wondered if I could attempt to take the overly human features and dial it back to be more ambiguous. The results I would get would be rather horrific in those early drafts not pictured. The main ideas I wanted to convey would be through her typing - ice and psychic as well as her dancing talents. I decided to make her a sort of an elegant ghost-like entity.
As you can see at the bottom of her dress, she is now floating and leaves behind an icy trail over the areas she walks. The original Jynx really makes no reference to her ice typing whatsoever in design. I turned Jynx’s blonde hair into an ice blue to make that visual connection, and by removing the blonde, we can slowly dial down the human connection as well. I gave her eye shadow make up or whatever you call it (lol) and made her fingernails ice blue as well to jump off bright against the darker purple skin.
As I continued to work on the character, I said screw it to making her ambiguous and really just made her more humanized. This is because I’m not designing her here to fit into the game or the Pokemon world, but for the sake of an interesting illustration. If you see the wips, I looked up various poses to discover how I would embody the human shape for a a species that was uniquely female. It was also fun getting to draw anatomy and figures for the first time in a while as well.
To address her psychic nature, you have the floating element which I mentioned earlier but did you know that this was a nod to the fact that Jynx has no known footprint? The next and main obvious call to her psychic abilities are the multiple arms seen here. These arms appear as Jynx begins her mystical dance. One of Jynx’s iconic traits is that she communicates through dance-like movements, and so I decided to mystify that aspect to her with her abilities. With rhythmic swaying and arms that move about, I made a connection to belly dancing.
The arms that are seen here are more of the first and only true pair of arms swaying around, and over time the movements become hypnotic, leading to the victim/viewer to see multiple arms. Some of the hand gestures seen here are taken from Indian dances, such as bharata natyamm, a south Indian style of dancing that my sister happened to learned when she was younger.
In general, hand gestures are a huge part of Indian culture and dance, so those influences, coupled with middle eastern originating belly dancing makes this Jynx feel a bit more ethnic. Not to mention the obvious reference to Hindu gods. This goes against some thought that Jynx may have nordic roots or the complete opposite in representing the ganguro fashion trend originating from Japan.
So there you have it! Jynx! This one is quite a bit of a departure from the original and the style is also a bit out there in a few ways. Actually, it’s more akin to how I draw out cartoons (specifically in the face and hair) but at the same time has a few other artistic elements that mesh against that visual thought. Well anyway, it’s time to call it a night! Thank you for viewing and reading my work, dearest viewer! Enjoy your evening and see you Monday - have a great weekend!
Yours,
Bonny
+ Pokemon One a Day is a series illustrated and curated by Bonny John in an effort to represent the the first generation of characters from the world wide phenomenon that is known as Pokemon. The idea is simple - to draw and share one new Pokemon a day (weekends off!) until every Pokemon from the set is completed. This project is an exploration of fine art styles for learning and leisurely purposes.
