Pokemon: Clefable

Back in April, I tried to sell some prints of my Pokemon artwork at PAX East, some of which I had uploaded to the blog, others I had not.  One print I had involved two Pokemon from the original games which enjoy competitive popularity today: Clefable and Dragonite.  To be honest, I drew the Clefable as part of a different image and had planned Dragonite as an additional element for that image.  For now, I want to talk a bit about the Clefable I drew.

First off, why even draw Clefable?  Weirdly, its previous form Clefairy is unironically one of my favorite Pokemon from the original games.  Back in Pokemon Red and Blue, Clefairy was essentially to Pokemon what the Red Mage is to Final Fantasy: a Jack of all trades but a master of none.  Clefairy and Clefable were Normal-type Pokemon with average stats across the board, so statistically, they did not necessarily emphasize any particular style.  However, they have one of the widest move pools of any Gen 1 Pokemon: learning many Normal attacks (to match the type they had back then), various defensive and support moves like Stealth Rock and Calm Mind, and a wide array of elemental attacks (pretty sure they could learn the best of everything except Ground attacks).  Due to their balanced stats and massive pool, Clefairy and Clefable are Pokemon you could customize to fill whatever role you need.  While Red Mages / Bards / Mario from Super Mario RPG may not be the best at anything, being pretty good at anything they try is admirable to me.

About this picture in particular, like the Sakura color tests I posted last week, this is me testing Copic colors on the computer.  I keep using the Copic colors lately since their numbering system makes it easy to pick separate colors I can use to shade, rather than use Multiply layers again and again like I used to do.  In this particular case, I think the shading worked well, but I also started from a really light color and worked completely down from there.  For example, on Clefable's body, I colored the entire body with R00 first, then duplicated the layer, changed the color of the new layer to R20, and erased whatever parts of the R20 layer would be lit, leaving the R20 layer as the shadow.  For a light-colored creature like Clefable, this method works well, but I may need practice figuring it out for a darker-colored creature.

I also wanted to showcase Clefable's versatility in some way, so I thought to add some "special effects" somehow, resulting in the weird halo around Clefable's right hand.  Each segment of this halo would be a different special attack Clefable could learn: Thunderbolt (the spark), Blizzard (the snowflakes and wind), and Psychic (the purple ripples).  These are some of the best special attacks from the Gen 1 Pokemon games, and Clefable can not just learn all of these, but this would also leave one more move slot open.

You may also notice details on this drawing which you normally would not see on official artwork for Clefable.  When I showed this image of Clefable to people at PAX, the most common question I received about it was "Is this supposed to be a Mega Evolution for Clefable?"  To clarify, no, this is NOT Mega Clefable.  I had this idea recently of Pokemon having slight variations in their appearance if their father was a different species than the mother, and here is a possible interpretation.  This Clefable's family includes two other Pokemon: Togekiss and Spritzee (both other Fairies).  The red eyes and triangular spots on this Clefable were inherited from the Togekiss grandfather, and the fluffy pink wings came from Spritzee's winglike forelimbs.  I chose these two in particular for certain Egg moves which Clefable may appreciate: Wish from Togekiss, Aromatherapy and Misty Terrain from Spritzee.  Maybe the larger wings made others think this was a Mega Clefable, but it was just me taking some artistic license with a Pokemon.

Looking at the image now, if I had to critique it, I do think I made Clefable's legs kind of weird.  With round creatures like this, it can be tricky to figure out where exactly to place limbs, and here, I may have placed Clefable's legs / hips a little too high.  Then again, that may also be the result of the leaning pose she has.  Honestly, though, that is my biggest issue with this image.

Clefable was a solid Pokemon long ago who seemed to be dragging behind by the power creep of the series, even if it gained the excellent Magic Guard ability (unaffected by indirect sources of damage such as poison or entry hazards) later.  Pokemon XY, however, breathed new life into a Pokemon with amazing potential by changing it from the Normal-type to the Fairy-type, giving it many more useful resistances.  Now, it stands as one of the most versatile and obnoxious Pokemon in competitive play.  Even if it did not change, though, Clefable and its younger form Clefairy would still be Pokemon I like for their association with the moon and overall flexibility, and I am glad to share this image of one of my favorite Pokemon.