synergy-poprocks

[synergy-poprocks]

#0012: Butterfree

Another gender variant, so two for one!! Top right is Acmboppf (ACK-em-Bop), and bottom left is Aboaf (ah-BOW-aff). I did mention the naming convention turning into a word salad, didn't I? These guys suffer worst of all: Acmboppf actually has a type-o and is supposed to stand for "I can't make butter or pie for free" and Aboaf stands for "a butt or a free" which are just SO bad. At least the other two ended up with cute names. Anyway, they're informally called Ack and Abo to save them from fate of their legal names. Ack is "Brave" and "Mischievous," while Abo is "Naive" and "Likes to thrash about." When I saw this, I thought "sibling-coded," so I imagine Ack teases Abo in an older brother way–like a "there's gullible written on the ceiling" kind of way–and Abo TOTALLY just thinks he's serious until the punchline. She'll then go off at Ack the way younger sisters tend to do. (Basically, they're me and my brother when we were kids XD) Ack better watch out though, since Abo is the one who can GMAX!! artist notes under cut

I have an awesome idea for a follow-up for this when I am more comfortable with wing shapes and forms XD I'm excited to get better! Bug wings are hard because they're meant to be symmetrical. These are my first bug wings so they are NOT symmetrical, but they're not too terrible either. Usually the ones I model off the original art turn out better, but this is an exception–I think Abo actually looks better than Ack, especially considering I had zero lighting reference for her. I like the little head-cock to the side, it was fun to figure that out (and easy to practice because her head is a circle, meaning the antenna and eyes are key). The different wing shapes made Ack more difficult despite having the pose and lighting ref.

[synergy-poprocks]

#0011: Metapod

Meet Saabiar (SAH-bee-arr)!! In my notes, his name stands for “sung as a bug in a rug,” which makes sense to me since he’s all cocooned up. He’s listed as “brave” and “capable of taking hits.” Anyone who’s gone against a harden metapod can verify it’s capable of taking quite a few hits in the early game, so I think he fits the bill.

Cocoon-like mons aren’t really dynamic, so I just did one art this time. I think the only way to get him to have a “dynamic pose” is to draw someone throwing him like a boomerang or something.

(not a bad idea for later tho tbh gonna put a pin in that)

thoughts below:

Saabiar looks pretty good! Cleanest lines yet and best color (using the ref as a guide for lights and shadows, but eyeballing the color). Despite it looking REALLY good, I can’t figure out why my outlines are so blurry, even at this bigger size. That’s the next thing to figure out.

[synergy-poprocks]

What is the DexXL Project?

DexXL is short for what you’d call a “living origin form dex.” Let's break that down on behalf of the uninitiated:

Living: Every pokémon individually

Origin: must be caught from the earliest game you can find them in with a **personal OT (aka no trading)

Form: and every shape a pokémon can take must be accounted for. (eg. Alcremie has 64 possible forms. luckily, most mons have 0 - 1 additional forms)

Dex: Pokédex, index, whatever.

**It's a little more nuanced than that on occasion, but that's the gist. Exceptions will be mentioned as they arise.

Every pokémon on this blog—including natures, personalities, and occasional anecdotes—all come from the actual pokémon in my collection!

I'm drawing my DexXL for three reasons:

the nature + personality combo is a built-in character creation opportunity, and as a writer I can't help myself.

all these Pokémon are just sitting here, I might as well do something with them.

decided to learn a new skill out of spite (certified Al Art hater).

Send asks with further questions if you'd like! Check under the cut for my current progress:

General Stats: 1025 Pokémon; 351 forms. Total: 1376 Pokémon (fun fact: 18% of all forms accounted for are Alcremie!) Obtained: 1006/1025 pokémon (1331/1376 forms)

Drawn: 12/1025 pokémon (14/1376 forms)

In-Game Targets: Munchlax, Jirachi, Giratina

Currently Playing: HGSS/PokéWalker, Channel, DPP

Updated as needed!

[synergy-poprocks]

#0010: Caterpie

Meet Nacnap! I wrote down in my spreadsheet that this strange name stands for "not a cat nor a pie." Everyone in this line has some sort of word salad that stands for something as their name, likely because I caught them late at night and because I think I'm 10x funnier than I actually am when I don't sleep. Nacnap is "brave" and "likes to thrash about." a real wiggy worm. I realized after drawing it all out that he looks like he's rolling over from his back to standing up, so that "thrashing about" thing became quite real suddenly. it was not intentional and is in fact the happiest of accidents. thoughts:

The middle one has the most problems (face too wide on right) but that's ok. Not only was that pose hard to do, but the one of him on his back was even HARDER and I think it looks great. I spent FOREVER getting that foreshortening even a little bit correct, especially in the tail and how much of the back vs. the belly was gonna show. While the face isn't quite at the angle I was looking for (wanted to be more head-on), it looks great. not complaining.

experimenting with brushes now too. clean lines are very difficult. people who do commissions, I see you. I understand you. I will never be like you, y'all are too cool for me.

[synergy-poprocks]

woohoo that took 10 billion years and it’s a little scuffed but I no longer look like a bot!! Yippee!!

My childhood Swampert is a BEAST. It seemed fitting for him to represent the blog. I called him “Kip” as a kid, but now he also goes by “Mubs.” He is pictured with a bag of “synergy poprocks” as a treat.

and there’s an alternate (equally scuffed) version too that explains ye ol’ hiatus:

I done graduated. Freed from the prison of Academia™️ into the prison of The Job Market™️. what a sweet treat for me.

Fun Fact tho: I keep clones of my OGs in various other games so I can mess around with them, so I actually ended up walking for my degree with Kip/Mubs using a PokeWalker. He’s one of the oldest things I own, so that was pretty fun!

[synergy-poprocks]

Taking a short break from the regurally scheduled program to make a pfp of some kind (so this blog looks less like a crappy art bot) and then I'll get back to it with Caterpie. Hopefully won't take too long since I know what I want to do already. Also, I decided that for now, Megas and GMAX forms are OUT until I am more comfortable with details and complex designs! I will get to them later.

[synergy-poprocks]

#0006: Charizard

Meet Charlie, aka "The Crit King!!

Charlie is listed as "Naughty, takes plenty of siestas." I think he's like a misbehaving dog–the horns and the face actually remind me of a doberman–and I imagine he has lots of energy and loves getting into things he shouldn't! His chief partner in crime is Tam. A king needs someone to boss around!! Speaking of his title, Charlie is the "Crit King" because once he evolved, every single one of his slashes resulted in a critical hit. God bless Gen 1 crit mechanics lol. It came seriously in handy and he hard carried until our run together ended in Cinnabar (more on that later). thoughts under cut

I WAS SUPPOSED TO ADD A CROWN WHOOPSIE. I might edit that later.

Zard has some FUNKY proportions, hence why I ended up just doing neck up for the free poses. Out of the three, the base form looks best. I think order of difficulty is actually the order I worked on them too: base, front (front is HARD, eyes are HARD), and the munch. I'm most proud of the munch because not only did I get TWO characters in one frame, but I also realized pretty far along (in the coloring phase) that Tam’s face was SO WRONG. It looked like crap so I erased it all and went at it again. AND I FIXED IT. IT LOOKS SO GOOD IN COMPARISON.

I need to learn how to do the happy eyes though. Charlie doesn’t look as happy as I’d like him to. The front pose was hard mainly because of the mouth. His base is a bit tubby but he likes siestas so maybe he just is built like that. He's fine. It looks great. I'm mad proud.

[synergy-poprocks]

#0005: Charmeleon

I'll explain why this took so damn long later. Anyway, meet Tam! Tam's in the dex as "Docile" and "Mischievous," so I think he's very good at being someone's sneaky little partner-in-crime. . . we'll see them later. personal notes below:

K so idk why it took ten billion years to do the one based on the official art, but the other one I did in like, an afternoon?!?!?!?! what the heck?!?!? I LOVE the pose in the second one, it's slightly adapted from this card but again, no tracing and I adapted the arms and the face on my own. I think he's neat, I like him best of the two, though I think it's weird that you can't see his claws really from the back. he's got stumpy lil legs from this angle lol I also started to experiment with smear–starting first with the fire (it's pretty good) and then with adding additional depth of color on the second pose. I'm gonna keep doing this, I think it's a good skill. I also adjusted the saturation on the colors because I like them bright. I think Cinnamon's a bit too pasty. I'm no longer gonna eyedrop colors from the official art, I'm just gonna have fun. I don't know how light works and I don't intend on studying yet so I'll guess on the smear stuff for now.

[synergy-poprocks]

hahahaha this semester whooped my BUTT and I came off conqueror. I hope to finish the starters before the end of the year!! I was almost done with Charmeleon when the Big Sad™ hit so I'm SO close.

[synergy-poprocks]

0004: Charmander

Meet Cinnamon!! I know I did these out of order but I’m happy how he turned out. He’s got a Hardy nature and “can take hits,” so I like to think he’s a bit of a brawler and gets scuffy.

Cinnamon was the one that inspired this whole thing, his ability and trait just vibes so well, so props to him. I might do some lil sketches of him later too, but I’ll keep those ideas a surprise.

less poses because of the coloring, but I’m not mad about that!!

thoughts under cut

I didn’t mean to color it, but I accidentally just started to do so thinking I’d stop on the tail. and tbh it was REALLY fun, so I might start to do this for at least one sketch of the bunch.

HELLA proud of the tail on my original pose. That worked amazingly well. Also, I kinda like how chunky the normal one is. He’s a thicc lizard.

I also experimented with some different brushes. I like the dirt brush I used (watercolor: real) and I also liked my new outline pen.

now, I just want to work on my “coloring.” Eventually I want to work towards adding shadows. Long-term goal is to make more dynamic poses.

[synergy-poprocks]

0009: Blastoise

OK WOW TURTLE IS HARD

Meet Bolo!! We were buddies during my ill-fated run of Pokémon Azul. He’s got a rash nature and is somewhat vain. Given this, I’ve decided he likes to treat himself frequently with cake, which is the sweet treat he is named after (in portuguese). Bolo and I were pals while I figured out the inner-workings of Gen 1 (I'm a gen 3-4 girlie). I really thought we were going to make it all the way to the league, but I decided to call it quits when I realized I couldn't use the necessary glitches in Azul. Perhaps Bolo and I will one day take on the champion cup in gen 9, so he can finally be a champion like he deserves.

thoughts under cut

Megas are SO technical. GMAX are even worse, which is why he’s such a rough sketch. I DO like the normal pose though, I kinda cooked with that, especially with the weird head angle.

I’m glad I finished. That’s my only thought on this one. I am no long sad the turtles are done.

[synergy-poprocks]

MY DUMB ASS MESSED UP THE DEX ORDER. CHARMANDER COMES BEFORE THE TURTLES.

that's what i get for trusting my memory. and also for trusting my eyes because i had my spreadsheet RIGHT THERE and just didn't notice it until today. I'll edit the numbers.

I'm still gonna finish the final turtle entry before moving onto charmander and that line. I've done the base pose, which was a miracle. I'm working on the GMAX and mega but damn those canons are brutal and also my academic career is conspiring to bring me to an early grave, but I will not let it win.

[synergy-poprocks]

this is LITERALLY one of the reasons I started the DexXL drawing project. I didn't get into it with my first post, but I might as well now. Under the cut because it's a bit ranty:

When I think of AI Art, I think of that one quote from Jane Austin's Emma where Mr. Knightly says, "[Emma] will never submit to any thing requiring industry and patience." It's the same thing with anyone interested in AI. @mewtwoandme said it best above: they're LAZY. They don't WANT to do real art, they want people to THINK they're talented without putting in any of the actual effort required to develop a legitimate talent.

Along with that: any AI bro I've ever met is one of the most wholly unpleasant people to be around. They're rude. They think they know better than you or ARE better than you not just at art, but at other things too. They think they're owed something just by existing when they've never put the work in to receive any real reward, praise, or special treatment.

One such guy comes into my work. We've had to ban him from parts of the store because he'll try to use equipment without our permission. He thinks we can't cut his silly little AI prints as straight as he can. He can't just seem to wrap his silly little head around the fact that no amount of "straight cutting" is going to make his so-called "art" anything more than a cheap imitation of other people's actual hard work and training. Even if the cutting is crooked, that's the least of his problems. His REAL problem is that he evidently has no talent to begin with, nor is he interested in developing it.

If imitation really is "the sincerest form of flattery mediocrity can pay to greatness," then AI bros might as well parade with a banner that says "I'm mediocre!! I'm only interested in the path of least resistance!! Please stay as far away from me as possible!!" Personally, I feel like nothing could be more embarrassing than admitting I'm incapable of developing my talents on my own. Loudly advertising my biggest, most egregious flaws (in the case of an AI Bro, their own laziness) would be humiliating for me.

But that's none of my business, I suppose.

I guess what I'm saying is I'd rather create something with my own hands that doesn't look very nice as opposed to taking someone else's work and tell everyone it's my own. fun fact: that's a crime called ˚✧₊⁎plagiarism⁎⁺˳✧༚

You wanna be good at something!??! WORK FOR IT.

If a child puts some scribbles on a page, it'll make it on the fridge. Not because it's good, but because it's THEIRS. It was made from LOVE. A love of color, a love of the subject, a love of making a mess and containing it on a piece of paper. IT CAME FROM LOVE.

AI isn't born of love, it's born of laziness. I'm in no wise a real artist like my friends or the people I follow, but AI makes me sick.

Every time I report a bot another one appears and now they’re also posting stolen art fed through an Ai generator, the same one taken right off my deviantart

Fuck AI generating pictures, AI is not art, AI is garbage and theft and anyone who believes it is art can unfollow me right now because I will only speak more unkindly about AI from here on out

[synergy-poprocks]

no, i haven’t forgotten about the big canon turtle. the semester is just k!lling me slowly but also a little faster than usual

[synergy-poprocks]

#0008: Wartortle

Meet Manantial!! She’s timid and “somewhat vain,” which Ive decided to interpret as “trying to get her to stop being timid is in vain” as opposed to the whole “narcissism, thinks highly of oneself” thing. I’ve noticed a LOT of duplicate natures/traits in these first few gens because of how transferring works, so a lot of my mons are described the same or have the same natures. I figure a little loose interpretation of language keeps things interesting. also, it has come to my attention that this is my silly little project and I can interpret words as I please :D

I had fun with this!! I finished late at night so excuse how unhinged she got. Her name means “spring” in Spanish, and I’m pretty sure it’s the water-kind of spring rather than the equipment kind. Still, I thought given the Timid nature, it’d be a fun play on words to have her be easily spooked, thus literally “springing” up in surprise and then popping into her shell. The last stuff in red in the corner is her scuttling away, but it’s like real late and i quit caring about it looking nice at that point. tbh the feral vibes make it better.

thoughts below

ok well wow. That’s probably the best non-reference drawing yet. Her legs were hard and I actually used some chopper expressions as a ref for the eyes and mouth bc that was also hard but overall? looks amazing. best one yet. Yippee!! Outlining faltered a little but that’s chill, its late. I’m eepy, and it looks great overall. One day all the stars will align but not today.

i like how I made the word “scuttle” be the path in the silly red section.

the reference drawing isn’t perfect to the reference but that’s ok. I messed up on my layers tho and couldn’t fix the body's proportions w/o undoing a lot of work, so that stinks. I’ll be more careful next time.

I’m hyped for this next one, I got pretty attached to him in my playthrough.

[synergy-poprocks]

#0007: Squirtle

well that was certainly a relief after Venusaur took me nearly three weeks!! Meet Tortuguita ("Little Turtle" in Spanish)!! He's got a quirky nature and is "alert to sounds." I gave him some headphones so he could chill without sounds bothering him, and some sunglasses a la Squirtle Squad because it seemed fitting. He's enjoying some well-deserved floor time or possibly floating in a river in that second shot as us folk who are sensitive to sounds like to do when we're overwhelmed.

. . . it just now occurs to me that I may have made an autistic-coded turtle, and you know what? that seems right.

thoughts under the cut:

Ok I am MEGA proud of how the normal model on the right looks. There are some flaws but he looks REAL good, especially the eyes. I see my roommate draw on her tablet all the time and copied one of her tricks where she uses the selection tool to adjust proportions when something she's done doesn't look quite right, and doing that to make the body a better size in relation to the head made ALL the difference. My little line trick I learned with Venusaur helped get the feet right, which were probably the hardest part to nail aside from the lines on Tortuguita's stomach. The one on the left has some issues proportionally and still looks a little flat, but isn't too bad. The glasses took a while, but 'm happy how they turned out overall. I cut myself a LOT more slack when doing my own poses etc., though I did use a little help from a Pokémon Sleep style to see where the tail should go. I didn't have it on my canvas like I do for my other references though, just pulled up on the side on Serebii. This one's ended up even better than the one based on the official art work, I think!!

Goal wise, I think I've finally found a way/thickness/color for outlining that I like. I do need to work on making stuff more 3D when I'm not working with a reference, but the one I worked on WITH a reference has some decent depth.

Overall, I'm getting better and I can feel the progress. The last one was a bit of a slog, but Tortuguita was a fun one!!

[synergy-poprocks]

. . . im gonna have to do alcreamie eventually now aren’t i.

all 63 forms of alcreamie, plus a GMAX

what have i done