jeneliper

[jeneliper]

NUZLUCK'S FINAL PAGE OF CHAPTER 1 OUT NOW!

And with the closing of the chapter (that is really more of an epilogue), I also have 2 announcements (although 1 isn't exactly new, lol)

[jeneliper]

Episode 8 of Aventurine is out now!

In the description, the sparknotes explanation for the Coronet Challenge is that it dates back to the days of the Galaxy Team, which had Alolans amongst their ranks. I'd imagined that their kids were salty about being unable to do a traditional Island Challenge, so they started a new one with the help of the Clans and a Surveyor, after Sinnoh gained its new name. This modified Challenge later became the blueprint for the League System.

The slightly extended version is that, in the original form of the Coronet Challenge, participants had to battle the 10 Wardens, challenge 5 stronger individuals, which were originally the 5 Nobles, and then climb to the top of Mt. Coronet. This continued to evolve, changing from 10 Wardens to 8 Leaders, 5 Nobles to 4 Elites and 1 Champion whose position can be won, if defeated. Other regions adopted this, but have varying approaches, deviating from traditional values.

For the majority of regions, Gym Leaders are social pillars for their towns, offering either leadership for the community and/or a means of primary income. The expectations of Champions is the least consistent through the regions, unlike the Leaders. Kalos and Galar have Celebrity Champs, the Indigo League and Unova has the Champ take a more defensive role in-case of threats to the region as a whole, Paldea is the most structured with the Champ's responsibilities with an emphasis on politics, infrastructure, and education, Alola has yet to establish their League as of the events of Nuzluck and still has their traditional Island Challenge system, and Hoenn and Sinnoh have absolutely no structure for their Champs. Their Champions may assist with keeping order, but have no real obligations outside of meeting with challengers. They're not even required to be in their regions at all times and are free to leave at any time for vacations, as long as they are present during certain seasons for league challengers. Hoenn and Sinnoh Champs are not very likely to be a celebrity, unless they take a career which puts them in the spotlight, like a Coordinator, or are more involved with the public.

Modern day Coronet Challengers now view the Champion and Elite 4 as an optional part of the challenge, as it eventually it became too much pressure and far too difficult, leaving Challengers unfulfilled, upset, or even feeling like it's too far removed from the real purpose of the Coronet Challenge as a coming-of-age journey, or a journey of self-discovery. Instead, the modern Challenge now only requires the 8 Leaders, the mountain climb, and the creation of something at the peak to represent their experiences and growth. Still, there are those who may see the Elites and Champ as a required part of their own Challenge. Sometimes, it's because they think it should still be mandatory, while some have more personal reasons to believe it's important for them.

[jeneliper]

#300 - #301 - The skitty line is one of the most exotic cat pokémon, and many yearn to own them as pets. However, they are extremely mischievous and hard to maintain, being more suited for high energy lifestyles such as contests or battling.

sponsored by @sweet-tea-skitty! Design process under cut

I wasn't sure what to do with the skitty line, until my friend mentioned servals and everything clicked. Both in shapes, but also because skitty is often a rare encounter, and servals are exotic pets that are not fit to Be a pet, I could play with that.

I did some simple studies of servals, and kinda just jumped into designing these guys

The main things i added were serval spots, but also a crescent moon marking to delcatty, and little crescent moon in skitty cheeks. Delcatty used to have a moon marking on its gen 3 sprite, and I wanted that back!!! it was so cute!!!! I think it ties their moon theming and moonstone evo a lot more.

I also kept delcatty's tail more similar to skitties. because it looks like a flower with stamens now which is very cute

[jeneliper]

Vespa is the world's largest Vespa!!

[jeneliper]

Made a spec bio/pokemon ecology graphic for mantyke only for the Pokémon Company to reveal an official Pokecology book almost a month later, omFG-

[jeneliper]

Okay, finally making this pinned post, which I probably shoulda done first.

Hi, I'm Jeneliper, and I'm an artist and animator who has quite a few hyperfixations that'll pop up every now and then, but the most prevalent will be Pokemon, my lifelong special interest. I have 2 ongoing Nuzlocke comics, but I also have plans for original works in the future along with plans for YouTube.

________________________________

Commissions

CLOSED (((I still need to figure out how to go about it. Open to advice on that)))

Other Socials

Bluesky

Tapas

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Tags

#nuzluck comics | #aventurine nuzluck | #nuzluck platinum

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Current Ongoing Comics

Nuzluck: A Platinum Nuzlocke

A nuzlocke series I started primarily as a way to refine my art and storytelling skills, but it isn't something I want to leave unfinished, despite starting the project back in 2019.

Longer pages, more detailed panels with bursts of color, but irregular updates on Fridays when the other comic isn't updating.

Post Chapter Character QnA | OPEN Characters Available for Questions:

Guinevere

All 3 starters

Ichirou

Barry

Lucas

Rowan

Mesprit

Aventurine: A Crystal Nuzlocke

Intended as a spinoff prequel of Nuzluck, set 30 years in the past, that was also meant to sort of train myself to make faster updates.

Pages are normally 8 panels with some exceptions, simpler style, but regularly updates every 2 weeks on Fridays.

Post Chapter Character QnA | CLOSED

[jeneliper]

Episode 6 of Aventurine is out now!

In the description of this episode, the short answer for Katsu's pre-training was that it was to explain the 3 level difference between the 2 starters, since I swapped the order of the rival battle and egg pickup.

The longer, lore-focused answer though is that designated starter pokemon distributed by individuals licensed to do so in the Nuzluck universe all traditionally have a certain amount of pre-training before they are distributed to new trainers. This is partially so that new trainers don't have to go through a situation like Pikachu and Ash in the beginning of the anime, or worse. Not only that, but certain regions also carry the idea that a starter pokemon must train their new human before they are able to train any of their pokemon, hence Ethan taking a backseat during Katsu's first battle. Jin never really got that memo where he grew up, so his direction for the poor, inexperienced totodile was more or less unhelpful. Pre-training is a practice that began sometime in the 70s, while the idea of pokemon training their humans predates any written history.

Also, wanna mention that, at Ethan and Jin's point in the timeline (1998), the Pokedex does not yet have the capability of showing what moves a trainer's pokemon knows. They have to kinda eyeball it and guess through either a test battle or by asking their pokemon to demonstrate.

[jeneliper]

Episode 6 of Aventurine is coming out tomorrow! So, I went and designed the two opposing starters as humans. Buuut... I kinda went a step further and gave them human au backstories, lol. The backstories will evolve with them along with the progression of the comic.

Backstories are under the cut, for anyone interested, but the tldr is they were former college roommates, now work at a highschool, and are the legal guardians of either Ethan or Jin.

KATSU

Toto's former college roommate

New high school gym teacher

Ethan's 1st cousin once removed and is currently the new legal guardian of him and his sister after some issues with their mom

The Crystal Nuzlocke team are either his coworkers or his students

Some of those students joined Katsu's softball team alongside Ethan

That fur coat around his waist was a thrift-store find

He tries to seem cool, so he refuses to wear glasses, dyes his hair, and he had taken up smoking late in high school

Not the greatest with kids like Ethan (Seems to be too innocent and oblivious, incredibly hyper, decidedly uncool, etc.)

TOTO

Katsu's former college roommate

Foster parent and guidance counselor

Becomes Jin's foster parent after 3 years of being in the system following his father's abandonment

4 of the future rival team members will be other foster kids under his care who go all go to the same high school, while 1 will be a runaway who likes to hang out with them

He'd always wanted to be a father, but had little interest in romance, so he decided to become a foster parent and potentially adopt

Hoodie was a lazy Halloween costume that turned out to be really comfortable

Doesn't care too much for fashion or his overall appearance, but Katsu and some of the kids hope to fix that

[jeneliper]

Ok, nevermind on the weekly updates, it's every 2 weeks now. episode 5 of Aventurine is still releasing this Friday, but 6 will be on the 18th.

The pages each take 2 days to finish, maybe 1 if it's simple enough or I'm motivated enough, but I felt like it wasn't giving me enough time to work on Nuzluck, further writing for both, or some projects I have in mind for a Youtube channel that's unrelated to the comics. Hopefully I'll be able to create a stable backlog to help with that, but that probably won't happen until the post chapter hiatus.

Ok, finally did the Aventurine boys in my normal style! The next page of Aventurine is scheduled for this Friday.

Unlike the main Nuzluck comic, this one should be updating weekly, unless a new page of Nuzluck is scheduled for the week. Or at least I'm gonna try to keep it weekly. Should be possible, considering its style is simpler and I'm limiting it to 8 panels per page, unless there's something special happening.

Not much else to say for now, since I got most of it out in the last update post and Aventurine isn't as close to the end of the chapter, although the overall story is shaping to be much shorter than Nuzluck. The QnA is still open for the characters listed over in the last update post.

[jeneliper]

Ok, finally did the Aventurine boys in my normal style! The next page of Aventurine is scheduled for this Friday.

Unlike the main Nuzluck comic, this one should be updating weekly, unless a new page of Nuzluck is scheduled for the week. Or at least I'm gonna try to keep it weekly. Should be possible, considering its style is simpler and I'm limiting it to 8 panels per page, unless there's something special happening.

Not much else to say for now, since I got most of it out in the last update post and Aventurine isn't as close to the end of the chapter, although the overall story is shaping to be much shorter than Nuzluck. The QnA is still open for the characters listed over in the last update post.

[jeneliper]

Some of Mantyke's entries mention how their patterns vary based on the region, but this is something TPC has never put into practice. SO, I decided to do it myself and make some speculative patterns. Explanations and worldbuilding backgrounds for each under the cut.

SINJOH MIGRATION Sinnoh is considered the home region of the Mantyke evolutionary line, so this pattern is theorized to be the root of all the rest. In the cold seasons, Mantyke will migrate south to Johto's warmer waters, occasionally even going as far as the Sevii Islands, evolving into Mantine along the way as they travel alongside schools of Remoraid. When the warm seasons return, their young make the journey back to Sinnoh. (In the games, Mantine was Gen 2 while Mantyke was Gen 4. In HGSS, Mantyke is not wild and has to be bred for. In all Sinnoh games, excluding Hisui, Mantine can't be caught wild and has to be evolved)

HOENN Considered the closest relative of the Sinjoh variation, so their pattern is most similar to the theorized original. Likely descended from a migratory group that went off track during the yearly Sinjoh Migration and settled more permanently due to Hoenn's tropical climate. (Nothing too crazy, I just hc that Hoenn is pretty close to Johto, and it's the region between the 2 generations that introduced each member of the evolutionary line)

UNOVA Either introduced to the region due to flocks of Mantyke following human ships, or due to roaming Mantine arriving on their own and breeding. Thought to also be derived from the Sinjoh Migration. (I noticed that Unova had quite a few pokemon with eyebrows, so this design incorporated that too)

ALOLA Thought to be derived from Hoenn Mantyke that drifted closer to the archipelago islands leading to Alola. They are the most friendly of all, to the point of early domestication by Alolans which allowed for Mantine surfing to travel between the islands. Many "Fancy Patterns" are descended from Alolan Mantyke due to their temperamentality and appealing patterns. (Happiest expression with some implied flowers, which unintentionally made it look like a laughing-crying emoji)

KALOS Introduced due to a migratory group from Alola following human ships to Kalos's coasts. If some "Fancy Patterns" are not bred directly from Alolan Mantyke, then they are from their Kalosian counterparts. (Makeup for the fashion region)

GALAR "Mantyke living in Galar seem to be somewhat sluggish. The colder waters of the seas in this region may be the cause. It swims along with a school of Remoraid, and they'll all fight together to repel attackers." - Galar Pokédex Entry Mantyke were introduced to Galar from Kalos mostly artificially by humans, forced to adapt to much colder waters as they only inhabit enclosed bodies of water in mainland Galar, and thus are unable to migrate elsewhere. The only reason for their continued survival in the region, to the point of even developing a new pattern, is the presence of their symbiotic relationship with the region's Remoraid. Specimens found in the Isle of Armor are either migratory from Kalos, released from Galarian trainers, or descendants of the released. (I don't think a lot of the Mantyke are too happy there. The cold seasons on the mainland must suck, at least with Sinnoh they can go elsewhere) PALDEA None have been seen in the seas surrounding Paldea, likely deterred by Barraskewda and Finizen as the two species compete over prey in the region's seas. Paldea's border security measures also forbid trainers from bringing in non-approved species of pokémon to prevent the introduction of potentially invasive species.

[jeneliper]

So, thought I'd draw my Nuzlocke comic mc, Guinevere, in my normal style for once, rather than the style I've established for the comics.

I've got more free time now, so I wanted to try making more frequent updates for Nuzluck and Aventurine AND I wanted to try and finally be active here, too. While I'm here, I'm open to questions about both comics, the characters, and the worldbuilding, because I might've put too much thought into that last part. There's some things that may never come up in the comics because they won't be relevant and I might not find places to sneak them in. Also, I'm tired of reaching the character limit in the descriptions on Tapas, so, with every update, there will be a supplementary text post over here with the bulk of lore details, if there's any.

Also, since the last page of Nuzluck's Chapter 1 is coming soon (I really shoulda called that a prologue, but too late for that-), Imma just say now that with the end of each chapter, for both comics, I'll have an in-character QnA that will be posted both here and on Tapas before the release of the next chapter. I can start taking questions right now for: Guinevere Broseidon Ichirou Barry Lucas and the other 2 starters

Anyway, page 6 of Nuzluck is coming this Friday, while page 4 of Aventurine is next Friday. I wanna try drawing the Aventurine boys and their starters in my normal style next.

[jeneliper]

Nah, don't apologize for spreading info! This stuff is good to know. The more people learn, the better!

[jeneliper]

Ah, I see. Yeah, most of that information matches up pretty well with the information I remember from that one class. There had been a lot of emphasis how this tragedy contributed to the improvement of fire safety protocols.

The only thing questionable with how I was taught it though was that I specifically remember the teacher saying that the door was blocked by the panicking women, not that it was locked. In the documentary that I saw years later on my own, I remember for sure now that it said the door was locked, not blocked.

[jeneliper]

Okay, I WAS taught this at least once back in middle school.

BUT

We were taught that the deaths only occured because of lack of fire safety protocols and the womens' own panic. There was no mention of Unions or the company's door locking.

[jeneliper]

....

It got F***ING CANCELLED, GDI NETFLIX-

Just thought about how the tradgedy of Orpheus and Eurydice this time isnt that orpheus failed to get her out the underworld but that he succeeded and their love still ended. He still didnt reunite with her. The story changed but the tragedy of it stayed exactly the same!!

[jeneliper]

The way how I see it is that it wasn't JUST Eurydice that died but also her LOVE for him.

Throughout the intro, he could not stop "looking" at her (he kept doing things related to her, he kept wanting people to also look at her, it built up to the point she had asked him to "love her quietly"), and bc of that her love for him had died before her body. Then, towards the end when he was getting her out... She was in front for most of the walk. He never looked away until he realized she was in love with someone else, and he refused to look at her until she asked him to in order to say goodbye and help him move on. Right before they could cross the final threshold, that lone arch from the burnt ruins.

While Eurydice did get a second chance at living, her LOVE still remained in the Underworld because he could never stop "looking" until it was too late. The story truly did remain the same, they just gave it even more layers.

Just thought about how the tradgedy of Orpheus and Eurydice this time isnt that orpheus failed to get her out the underworld but that he succeeded and their love still ended. He still didnt reunite with her. The story changed but the tragedy of it stayed exactly the same!!