Heliolisk evolves from Helioptile, an Electric Pokemon revealed a few months after Pokemon X and Y were announced. When a new Pokemon game is announced, they reveal several of the new monsters who will appear in those games, and one Pokemon I often look forward to is the new Electric-type Pokemon who will probably appear early in the game. I usually hope one of these early Electric-types will be good at using physical attacks, mainly because all of the best Electric Pokemon focus on special attacks, with pretty much no good physical Electric-types (aside from the legendary thunder dragon Zekrom). Because Helioptile is also a Normal-type Pokemon (alongside Electric), and because I had heard he learns some good physical moves like Rock Slide, I held high hopes he would end up as the (not banned) physical Electric-type of my dreams. When I played X and Y, however, Heliolisk ended up being yet another Electric Pokemon who favored special attacks. My hopes about Heliolisk were broken.
However, even though Heliolisk was not what I wanted him to be, he is still (in my opinion) one of the most interesting and odd creatures in Pokemon X and Y. For one thing, Helioptile turns into Heliolisk when exposed to an item called a Sun Stone, an item which had previously only transformed certain species of Grass Pokemon. Since Heliolisk is a Normal-type Pokemon (a type which does not often have a clear focus), he ends up learning quite an odd variety of attacks of different types, such as Surf (a Water move), Grass Knot (a Grass move), Dark Pulse (a Dark attack), and Bulldoze (a Ground technique). Oddly, Heliolisk - a lizard with a This can potentially make him a bit more versatile than other Electric Pokemon like Ampharos or Manectric. Probably the most fascinating things about Heliolisk, though, are the passive abilities he can have: Dry Skin, Sand Veil, and Solar Power. Each of these abilities benefits from the presence of a certain weather condition: Dry Skin heals Heliolisk when it rains, Sand Veil lets Heliolisk dodge attacks more easily in a sandstorm, and Solar Power powers up his special attacks in bright sunshine. Electric Pokemon in rain may not be anything special, but an Electric creature in sunshine or sand is a strange sight. Overall, Heliolisk has many quirky little qualities which add up to one of my favorite Pokemon from Generation 6.
Heliolisk (or more accurately, Helioptile) can be found on a route with rough, rocky terrain and many Ground Pokemon, so I wanted to draw Heliolisk in a setting reminiscent of a desert or a canyon. I know I am not the greatest artist when it comes to backgrounds, so I wanted to make the setting about as important as the subject. I colored the rocks on the reddish side to give them a better sense of heat, which you may typically picture for a desert.
The heat of the terrain also contrasts with the cooler colors implemented for the sky and rain, but why did I add rain to this setting, anyway? I wanted to show Heliolisk utilizing one of his weather-based abilities, and I chose Dry Skin because it was (in my opinion) his best ability overall. If you looked at the picture of Heliolisk I linked to before, you might notice I have added random orange triangles where they typically are not. This was my attempt to portray Dry Skin as parts of Heliolisk's skin peeled off, revealing a more tender underside. The healing factor of Dry Skin only triggers whenever Heliolisk is exposed to water, whether it is a Water-type attack or simply the rain. Thus, I added rain to this setting, presumably summoned by the Politoed in the background.
This was a fairly fun drawing to play with, and I hope you enjoyed it. I would like to focus on other things besides Pokemon for a little bit, however, so next time, I will return with another electrifying piece.
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