Artist's commentary
Kadabra used Recover! + video
I was invited to take part in Game-Art-HQ's community collaboration. It was arranged as a celebration for Pokemon's 20th anniversary, which is on June 20th. The idea was to draw one Kanto Pokemon of choice using a move or ability of choice.
Now, I almost forgot about this but I managed to finish it anyway - and just in time, too! The anniversary is tomorrow so for once I'm kinda early even though my assigned deadline passed, haha.
I didn't have all that much to choose from when I joined, but there were - and still are - some really neat Pokemon to be drawn. I chose Kadabra because I just happen to like it a lot. I had actually wanted to draw a Kadabra again so this was just perfect. Kadabra is one of the Pokemon that frequented my gen 1 and 2 teams. I never had the chance to evolve it into Alakazam but frankly, I didn't mind. Kadabra is a great Pokemon and I actually like its design more than that of its evolution.
I chose to draw the Kadabra using Recover because I thought it would be more interesting and also something that you might not see often. Usually "Pokemon using a move" means an assault of some kind, but from my perspective Recover and certain defensive measures are a part of Kadabra's concept.
A little bit about my ideas on Kadabra. I vastly based it on Bulbapedia's information, according to which Kadabra's design is based on goats and foxes, animals that are strongly associated with magic. It made sense to me as a thought and I could see those aspects in Kadabra so I was set. I also pick-and-chose some other animals that had qualities I thought would work on Kadabra as well. It's really a chimera but I guess that just fits here.
This time I recorded a video of the full process. And I mean full. Process. Usually I skip the sketching because I often find it a bit awkward, but here you can actually see the sketching and the references I used. I hope it's interesting for you!
I'm so behind in commissions. I promise I will continue working on those now.
I hope you like it!
I absolutely hate how it looks against dA's green but no can do.
Media Wacom Intuos4 M | PaintToolSAI | Photoshop CS6
Time taken 5 hours
Pokemon © Nintendo Game Freak
Art © ShadeofShinon