Back when Platinum was the latest game, Lucario was originally designed as a Fighting Pokemon who focuses on special attacks like Aura Sphere, when most Fighters were physically-focused. However, because Lucario had almost equal physical and special power, and because Lucario learned more potent physical attacks compared to his equivalent special options (Close Combat > Aura Sphere, Extreme Speed > Vacuum Wave), the blue jackal rose to being one of the most dangerous physical sweepers in the game, especially with the Attack-boosting Swords Dance at his disposal. After a failed attempt in Black and White to set physical and special Lucario on equal ground by granting the latter Nasty Plot (Swords Dance's Special Attack variation), the developers embraced the apparently-dominant physical end by granting Lucario a Mega Evolution: a temporary state where a Pokemon becomes even stronger during a battle (similar to the "Digivolutions" from the Digimon cartoon). The Lucario in this drawing has Mega Evolved, as evidenced by the symbol behind him (which resembles part of a DNA strand).
I wanted to draw Lucario in particular, partly because he received a Mega Evolution and partly because he was one of my favorite Pokemon even before his Mega form existed. Lucario, who I admired for his impressive power as a Swords Dance sweeper, was the focus of the first team I built in the cartridges. Along with Infernape, Lucario helped me learn to really like Fighting-type Pokemon, who were (in the days from Platinum through Black and White) incredibly useful offensively and defensively due to common tactics. Even in X and Y, when the newly-introduced Fairy-type Pokemon resisted Fighting attacks and hit Fighters for super-effective damage, Lucario still remains a popular choice in battles. Lucario's other type - Steel - protects him from the weaknesses most other Fighting Pokemon suffer (Flying, Psychic, and Fairy attacks) by resisting all of them, turning those into neutral attacks. Lucario still packs plenty of options for priority moves (attacks which hit the opponent before he can make a move): Bullet Punch for Mega physical sets, Vacuum Wave for Mega special sets, and Extreme Speed if you do not want to Mega Evolve him. Speaking of the Mega Evolution, his new ability caused by this transformation - Adaptability - powers his Fighting and Steel attacks (his types) to even greater heights than most Pokemon. With all of this at his disposal, Lucario may be one of the best Fighting Pokemon in the game right now.
As for this particular drawing, I am noticing a trend of pictures where I have my subjects' backs turned to the camera. This the second post in a row where I did that, and I also posed Tamaki like that. Admittedly, I do not draw characters from behind often enough, so maybe I am subconsciously practicing that. I think Mega Lucario turned out a lot better than Ken from last week's drawing did, mainly evidenced by the legs not facing entirely different directions.
In the video games and cartoon, when Lucario uses his Aura-based powers, the aura he emanates is usually blue or cyan. When I drew this picture, though, I thought Mega Lucario could potentially exude a different kind of aura than his standard form. I chose red (or reddish-orange) because parts which are usually black on Lucario's body turned to a dark red in this transformation. "What if the appearance of red on Lucario's body is a symptom of a change in his inner energy? His aura?" I thought. This is why I made the glowing red spot, which also affected my decision to shade with brown instead of my usual blue or purple shading.
In the end, it does kind of look like Lucario is posing at sunset, does it not? Next time I post here, I will have something that honestly does not usually fit in my style.
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