Should you draw fakemon in the Sugimori style? ft.  

I love your essay, interview, research, experiment type videos!

As a art newbie this was really interesting. I will say whenever I draw Pokemon and show em off, I do try to emulate the style because of views, and because it's recognizable, and because attention feels good. But also, since I'm a beginner, it's also good for me to just study styles I like, so I can learn from em and eventually use what combinations I like to make my own style in a few years.

"what makes a starter pokemon" "is pokemon a good anime" "Should you draw fakemon in the Sugimori style?" Umbreon libris out here answering the biggest questions.

The Gen3 Sugimori Artstyle is the only one in which we have a consistent picture of every Pokémon in a good quality. It is something I always appreciated, regardless of how bad the generations become, because this way we have a canon version of how Pokémon look and to me, it is really a core quality feature of the franchise. I think you people underestimate how big a part these images play in keeping the world building consistent. They also are a big reason that databases like Bulbapedia feel clean and not like a stitched together website from the late 90s. Just look at Digimon. The pictures only show the Pokémon itself, no background, no environment. Everything else is given by Pokédex entries, in game appearances, the anime or basic expectation based on real world counterparts the Pokémon is based on. And with this information people can create derivative artworks, which are used on cards or promotional material and such. But at the core, we always have one true, clean picture. There is a strict hierarchy. It does not matter, if it is a pre evolution, final evolution, legendary, first gen, latest gen, every Pokémon has such a picture. Yes, naturally some Pokémon have more external art than others, but at least you can count on this picture regardless of how unpopular a Pokémon is.

Incredible video on this topic. Numerous times in the past, I've felt demotivated about continuing to work on bigger Fakemon projects, specifically cause I felt that I couldn't get the style to look "official" enough or that it took too much effort to try, effort which I would've rather spent on the actual design part, or even the stats aspects! Eventually I just stopped trying to get the style even halfway right and started (the rare times when I still do) making fakemon designs in a clean vector style (simply because I feel comfortable with the process and like being able to resize them), but even that was a step I only took because I sort of convinced myself that it's similar to the Global Link artwork style, which we've seen used in a number of different kinds of marketing every now and then since Gen5. Which in retrospect sounds so odd... like why did I need to come up with a justification for a way to deviate from the official style? I'm pretty sure your guests are spot on, and that I was in part subconsciously following the same (flawed) logic, and partially being pushed by feedback from commentators into feeling like the official style was a crucial part to focus on. And I don't like that that was or still is the case for probably a lot of us.

I love how Subjectively listed two videos I have done 😂 love the discussion of this topic! Great work!

I never really thought about this much, as a non-artist, but it makes sense. Lots of designs could work as any sort of magical creature, but the Sugimori style really helps to ground a design with the idea of "this could be a real pokemon," and I'm sure that helps engagement a lot. That being said, I love the designs you made, and I think the style works great!

I think what’s so interesting about your Fakemon designs is how you mentioned what you were inspired by - I could understand that your art style isn’t the typical Gen 3 Sugimori style, but I still felt comfortable with thinking, “yeah, this design is cool.” I believe this is because you specifically mentioned how it was also inspired by Gen 2 sprites. Once I heard that, my eyes glowed and had a newfound appreciation for the art style you had created. I believe an important part in drawing a fakemon in your own art style is acknowledging that it isn’t the official style and in fact sharing where your own style is inspired by. This provides perspective for the viewer and allows for a deeper understanding of the material in front of them in my opinion. No, I don’t believe that my idea enough would allow you to get enough traction as fakemon done in official art, but I definitely feel like it’d greatly reduce the same type of copy-paste comment of “this doesn’t look like official”

Lol I fell for the trap (over here thanks to Subjectively) but to be fair I said it'd be nice to see in the branded style, I still liked the way you rendered them too. You do you man!

I'm rather thankful that people don't see any creature in any style as a Pokemon as that's a sign of that franchise's stranglehold on creature design overall. I've been making fakemon for some time, and I've come to look into why there are some trends artists and the Pokemon Company makes. The "Sugimori" style is rather just a simple thin-lined rendition of a creature to accurately portray the design. Nothing too fancy or expressive in the art piece, just a standard that tells what the creature's features are like and how they might appear in a relatively idle pose. In a technical point of view, there are weird shading patterns and line weight changes, but most people don't recognize those details and rather just look at the thin lines and presence of sensible shading. Artists should definitely feel free to draw in the style they prefer; in fact, they should do so even more if they aim to distinguish their designs from the pokemon franchise, like Temtem or Ooblets. However, if one's goal is to make their designs feel like they are part of the pokemon world or something similar, it is easier to imagine a similar style to interact with that kind of a world. What I've done before is that I drew both my fakemon and canon pokemons in a different style to see if they fit there. It was a neat experiment that also helped me notice some changes I wanted to make on my own fakemon. But yeah, those are my two cents that fakemon are often not recognized as pokemon-like creatures in different styles (without any accompanying pokemon) but that's a good thing as it's a tool to use if you want to distinguish your designs from pokemon.

I primarily render in sugimori or tcg artists stiles to get the nostalgia feel when the product is finished, it gives the art that kind of 'impersonal' style. Impersonal as in "I did not make it, it was there, it is official". In my case to pretend that 2009 style cards are not finite and I can endlessly replenish the supply if I feel like I've seen them all.

Was waiting for this :3 Loved Helping out come up with the names of Beggear and Nauxble. :D Seeing Beggear and Nauxble in the official style is weird! I like your stye.

9:54 I got that kind of comment once. I made a cerberus fakemon and someone commented saying that the eyes didn't look like Pokemon eyes and didn't elaborate at all when I asked. I felt that the eyes worked for that particular design, especially since eyes vary a lot between different Pokemon

I really agree that even it is not the only style used for making the franchise, but it is iconic enough to make it cohesive even it is not part of the official or in other words, it is more immersive than other styles specially that it is a long running series and teens/adults grew with it. I also noticed that if it not fakemons, having the existing pokemon and spin it in your style is an effective to showcase it in a more unique "fakemon" and almost more of a fan art. Examples for me is Arvalis, Cosmopoliturtle and Da7ed_x. Arvalis is of course known for making realistic pokemon as if they are coexisting with human. Cosmopoliturtle redesigned pokemon in a more totem-esque or tattoo which is really interesting in which he utilize patterns and solid colors than shadows that makes his redesigning more 2d than 3d but still impressive nonetheless. Da7ed_x style is taking a pokemon into a monster hunter style and colliding evolution paths of pokemon relevant to each other based on what they are likely to be in a really exaggerating manner with the features, lore, moves or abilities. If there is something that pokemon artists emphasize is there love for the craft and the franchise itself and it is just fcking beautiful.

It just comes down to making your creation fit in with the rest of the already existing cast and other fakemons.

Here after SV is released I’m looking forward to your video discussing the new designs since the art style in this Gen is all over the place

I never really gave this much thought. To me it was as simple as it made it easier to understand that it was meant to be a fakemon instead of any funky little critter, and made it easier to measure the believability of it when compared to official Pokemon. I never considered that people would outright reject a design if it wasn't in the Sugimori style especially when this standard doesn't seem to be held for other custom Pokemon art like fusions and the original fanmade versions of variants.

I can say probably that a reason some of the people said your designs "didn't look like pokemon" was due to an unfamiliarity with your work or art style. I mean, I thought the somewhat the same too when I commented (although I did not just critique art style with my comments). You mentioned your art style for your fakemon had some pokemon elements, and I assume some people latched onto that notion and thought you were trying to emulate the style. This video also made me think about the pokemon videos on Subjectively in a new light. When I see the designs, I don't really recognize them as a pokemon design, I recognize them as a Subjectively Pokemon design. And I'd like to think this is because I've gotten used to seeing his designs for pokemon and have grown onto them. Or at least that's what I think on the matter Also, seeing your designs in the sugimori style really made me appreciate your initial style, as I in all honesty liked the design better when it was in your own style.

i feel the same as you and vergolophus. while i see the value in being able to mimic an art style, the designs will feel so much more personal to me when i render them how i want. and character design is pretty personal for me, so doing so i see a lot of value in doing so. i’m the same as vergolophus in that fakemon aren’t my job and i just kind of do them whenever i get a cool idea. from elesteva or jack’s perspective, mimicking the style is a part of the grind, and that’s totally respectable too.

"it doesn't really fit the Pokémon style it's a bit too stylistic" Style is just a buzzword that deviantart lurkers throw around with no meaning I think one thing none of your guests really hit on was the power of nostalgia. Sugimori's style brings up a pretty powerful sense of it and I think that's what people (myself included) respond to. It's like we're looking at the official guidebook for the first time all over again

I can say that I followed you BECAUSE of your more unique take on the Fakemon style; I tend to like folks that put more of their own twist on the style than someone who can emulate the sugimori style to technical perfection. Like my ramble in your twitter post, thank you very much for talking about this! Hopefully this sparks folks branching out with their own styles more.

honestly the fakemon art that always looked the most convincing to me weren't sugimori style art, but sprites and 3D models. those always seem more fleshed out to me.

This is a really interesting topic. I am by no means an artist but if I was and drew Fakemon, I'd want it to be in the Sugumori style. Not only fr growth and for people to look at it and say "that's a Pokemon, I know cause of the artstyle" but also because it's how I would want to see the Pokemon. I've grown attached to Sugumori's style so I feel like I'd want to emulate it as close as possible so that my Fakemon feels that bit more like a Pokemon to not only others eyes but my own. Still, more power to anyone who draws Fakemon in their own style. I'd say I'd still find it cool either way. Like with Beggear and Nauxble. Really great Pokemon concepts and designs even without the Sugumori style.

With how good the editing is in this video i'm surprise this channel isn't more popular!

This video makes a lot of good points! I always felt bad I couldn't recreate the style as well as others could..and this is why; because no one would see my art as pokemon just random fluffy animals. It's crazy how the fans of pokemon only acknowledge this singular art-style when pokemon has so many! Change the style even slightly and people will say it doesn't look like a pokemon. you can proportion your fakemon just like the Sugimori style but do the lighting a bit different and it'll be called not a pokemon, you can do everything right but not include the correct looking body highlights and it'll still be called "off" or "not convincing enough"..which I think is utterly crazy, how does slightly different shading make or break a design? It's still the same design in the same art style just a bit different.

Dope video

I've been drawing Pokemon for years now and done some fakemon. I sometimes do post things online, but I never feel like I have to make it like the official art style. I do mainly pen and marker drawings, so while the line art could look official, the coloring wouldn't be the same. It's fine if people try to make their designs look like official artwork, but I don't think it's necessary for every fakemon to look like Pokemon. At the end of the day, they are not. They are just creature concept art. I think people should do whatever style makes them most comfortable.

12:33 they said the style is charming

I agree with everyone, the art style is mostly a recognition thing. Think about a general person who might not know about pokemon that much, but they probably DO know the pikachu or charizard official art, partially because it's literally EVERYWHERE. It's an art style, not just a rendering style, it depends on proportions, design conventions and the way that you draw the character's anatomy too. Even with the context of seeing that your fakemons shown in this video are pokemon designs, I find that I can still probably mistake that for a general dog / anthro character design LMAO | It doesn't really matter though if you're presenting it in a video and someone has the direct context of "this is a pokemon design" regardless of art style, just considering if they DIDN'T have the context, like if they googled it and happened to see the artwork someplace that doesn't give them the context instantly. Art style definitely plays into character designs and how a specific artist designs a character, obviously! Further than just pokemon, but any artist out there that designs characters- If you're going to be making it in your style it's less so the artist's style that you were going for and it's more your own design, but if you're using their art style you're making something that's supposed to be THEIR design instead of your own (even if it is your own, just metaphorically speaking). Do whatever makes you feel best designing though, just know that it's more your design rather than one that might pass as an official one! Art is subjective, if you really wanted to you could probably use whatever art style you're using as a pokemon card design instead LMAO

This was a really interesting debate :D

While you get this purism with fakemon, you have SO MANY artstyle variations for existing Pokemon. Especially the 151 have been done in so many different styles. And I usually follow those pages that post those. Often, these shifts come with a slight reimagining or new angle for some Pokemon designs, that, I would say, might actually have in some cases been restricted by the original style. Just like we have fake shinies that would be cool but are considered "unrealistic" compared to the actual design philosophy for shinies. But can you expect change at this point? Can you expect reinventions outside of systemic things like regional variants? I would love to see designs be enhanced by slight interpretations and tweaks, but can we expect designs to change from game to game? It is a question of legacy at this point, the principle that the statement has been made and you cannot go back and retcon the universe and lore (as if that hasn't happened more than once, often on the pretence that it was because of software or hardware implementations and implications). But that is where we stand. We have this aging franchise that is dragging along, not doing anything radical to reinvent itself or willing to compromise much, or make tweaks. I think I am actually at a point where I need a lot of fanservice to continue to enjoy Pokemon. I feel it is needed. Top to bottom overhaul of some philosophies, like dialogue, lore implementation, gameplay additions and - relevant to the video's topic - animations and artstyle - to some capacity - so that we can breathe some life into this franchise and try to communicate some ideas better.

Ah, Mr. Libris. Nice to see you. This was a intriguing video to watch. And it really does make you think about Fakemon art. A lot of people in the Fakemon community now replicate the art created by the likes of Sugimori, Turner, and Ohmura to name a few. However there are other artists out there who don't use this style, or are very inexperienced with it. It's a tough endeavor, especially since everyone else is doing it. I don't think it's completely necessary to replicate the exact rendering style of Pokemon, rather invoke the philosophy of designing one. While I'm not super comfortable with replicating this style, I have applied elements from this philosophy to my Fakemon. (proportions, colors, eyes, etc.) While drawing in the exact art style does help, I don't think it's wholly necessary. Draw Fakemon how you want to draw them. If you want to replicate the official art style, then that's fine. If not, then that's also fine. For me, if I can picture the Fakemon in my head working well in the official art style, then that's what makes it believable.

I share my art online because it's one of the better ways to get seen as an illustrator. I like designing creatures, fakemon or otherwise, and I like to think my design sensibilities are closer to Pokemon than many other franchises' creatures. But just by not copying another artist's style, my creature art is automatically stunted for reach. From an artist's perspective, I can't help but feel it's a bit depressing.

I disagree with the notion that Pokémon are recognizable by design alone- while there are consistent elements like coloring and proportions, I feel like the idea only applies if you already knew the Pokémon in question, which is usually true simply because the brand precedes the creature. There is a reason why design has always been a very common point of (needlessly unpleasant) discourse among fans; Pokémon design itself *has* changed with time, and what may feel normal to someone who has lived and breathed the franchise for years may not to those less invested, hence the arbitrary, knee-jerk criticism of "[X] doesn't look like a Pokémon" that tends to rear its head when a new one is revealed. The above is important because the Sugimori style works very well as something that "unifies" even the most disconnected characters while still remaining pleasing, distinct and sufficiently detailed. Most other visual styles in official media are either dramatically different due to being part of a 'gimmicky' aesthetic (i.e. Rumble or Quest), or not actually that different and still derivative or 'Sugi-adjacent' in a sense (i.e. mainline sprites/models and most animated works). I feel that's why Fakemon artists gravitate towards it: I really don't think it's just "what gets the most clicks", but a strong, reliable and even just *fun*-to-draw baseline that lets you easily convey everything you want about the character you're drawing. It's perfect for creatures as varied as Pokémon, and basically just as good for Trainers and items. That might also explain why it's often done by artists who actually intend to make, or at least envision their Fakemon and other works, as part of a fangame (real or hypothetical); at that point, the uniformity is definitely not just to draw in an audience, but to maintain actual authenticity. Of course, I'm definitely not *opposed* to drawing Pokémon differently; it's just drawing after all, but I honestly appreciate the effort of emulating the product specifically out of love for the product.

Thanks 4 this video :))

Omg collab

Como puedo mandar un dibujo yo dibujo diferente fakemons

if the only thing that makes a design "look like a pokémon" is the art style, why do people think designs from swsh for instance don't feel like pokémon? what's stopping me from taking a digimon, drawing it in this style and trying to pass it off as a pokémon? literally what about any pokémon that's ever been drawn in a different style? it's about using a certain design philosophy make the creaures feel like they belong in the same world, not drawing them in a very specific way. i think the reason people think this way is just the fact that using the Sugimori style makes it feel more official and recognizable, and it does help unify all of them, but again you can literally take any design from anything and try to translate it into a different style, that doesn't make it any more or less of the original, at least if the design is solid and translated well enough.

I assume it's partially a nostalgia thing, but that just my guess. The fakemon you put up are pretty cute though.

I disagree that Pokémon are artstyle agnostic. Different Pokémon have been rendered in different styles in different places, but the only artstyles that encompass ALL of them are the Sugimori style and the dream world style. Those two are about as close as you can get to official franchise style. And the Sugimori art specifically is used as basically stock images, such as in guidebooks. I'd venture to guess that every fan has seen the Sugimori art for any given Pokémon far more often than they've seen any other rendition. I do however agree with you that artstyle drives engagement. I myself am likelier to pass over a fakémon when browsing Instagram, Deviantart or wherever if it's too stylized. I enjoy other artstyles, but not all, whereas the Sugimori style is one that I already know and enjoy. I'm guessing that anyone who is a big enough Pokémon fan to seek out fakémon also likely already enjoys the Sugimori style. But the difference in the comments you got via different venues is probably down to how you each garnered your audience in the first place: what made a channel like Subjectively big were their fakémon videos, whereas people were drawn to your channel for other stuff initially, and the fakémon are just a more recent bonus.

I'm here from subjectivity

Honestly I feel like anything goes now. With Black and White giving us Digimon Legendaries. Sun and moon decided Stakataka and and Blacephalon were fair game. Now we Have a pastel Lady Gaga Ostrich and Minecraft Salt man. But I can’t lie when the new Pokémon hit that Pokémon aesthetic just right like Mimikyu or Snom it scratches the nostalgia itch.

Yes or they’re not pokemon

Super enjoyable chat, was thinking about this yesterday too and I think it really is just the nature of creating something that is fake in a fandom, but is supposed to be believable I used to do it with dragon ball fake characters/transformations back in the day, if I didn't draw it in the dragon ball style then it wasn't believable to people, because the point of the creation is kinda for it is to be believable, yet the style doesn't match how youd see it presented in the world. So it definitely makes sense that that's how people would critique them, and isn't just specific to the Pokemon community interestingly Was really happy to see this vid pop up, always enjoy the way you present your videos!

I'd argue that it's due to conditioning. It's been six whole generations since Gen 3. More than enough time for people to consider the Sugimori artstyle as the "one true" or "official" style.

Honestly, I was never really that into replicating the Sugimori style.

Yep, pretty much. You don't have to draw in the 'official' artstyle if you don't want to. You can work in whatever style you wish, because, as you said, Pokemon has a plethora of art styles from the cards, to the spinoffs, to the anime. However, when it comes down to it, people still believe that Sugimori is the only one doing the official art, so they associate him with the "true" Pokemon artstyle, so to speak. Even though Gens 7 and 8 had different artists at the helm for majority of the official Pokemon art, people still link the artstyle to Sugimori since he's the only one they truly know art-wise. To them Sugimori = Pokemon. So, I say do whatever you want and draw in whatever style you want. Pokemon has a multitude of different styles. Yes, Sugimori is the one people think of the most, but he really isn't the only one and shouldn't be treated like he's the only one.

I feel like this question falls nicely into the concept of ratio of familiar to new. Something too familiar would be plain boring - like drawing Pikachu in the Sugimori style. Something entirely new would just not engage with fans as well - breaking all of the conventions and then just slapping on the label of Pokemon will at best leave people scratching their heads. But drawing familiar Pokemon in some very distinct style (like realistic Pokemon, or Jack's pokemon armor) or coming up with fakemon and sticking to design and style conventions just hits that right spot. So maybe it's just a tradeoff, the more you want to innovate the concept/design, the more you have to stick to art conventions for it to be engaging to fanbase.

Around the 13 minute mark when you show your fakemon versus the more official style, the fakemon just seem to lose a lot of personality? Like, your style is great and you seem to have it down, but seeing it in the more official style just seems more…generic

fakemon not made in the style isn’t bad art but to most they don’t “feel like” Pokémon 1:54 exactly it’s what people think a Pokémon should look like even though most of the time they dont

For me, as someone who dpes the accasional fakemon design, I use the style as a check to see if its really feasible in the universe. I don't use the shading since I'm not great digitally. It implies a cohesiveness and attention to how it would fit in. But I also count the "style" as "the level of detail....or the eye shape" to quote the above video.

Oh wow, I've been following Vergo for a while and had no idea she had more name

Actually pretty interesting for me as I really recently started posting fakemon on instagram and have been experimenting with my style. I think personally I don't notice the art style as much as the concept, and I think some fakemon artists draw some quite un-pokemon like designs despite using the pokemon art style, but I have noticed a lot more interactions on posts with more traditional art style, by a significant amount.

As a fellow Fakemon artist here on RU-vid, this amazing video was like a you held up a mirror to my face and said, "This is why you're doing what you're doing the way you're doing it, nerd." Thank you for this video!

the comments community posts on subjectivelys channel when they showed this design from you was "you should use the pokemon style if you dont it isnt a pokemon" thats basically what the top comment was solidifying your point my chap

I want to eventually make my own monster taming games and I want to learn how to draw in his style since I find it to be so appealing.

Not to be a person with a negative thing to say, but it appears you accidentally mixed up the links to Elesteva and Vergo in the video description. Loved the video, especially as a person that also makes fakemon!

To the question your title poses: Depends Yes, it looks more official when you draw i the sugimori art style, but it also makes your mons look less individual to you. I often prefer mons made to fit the style of the artist than I do one of the 100 or so Fakemon dexes that have all pseudo-Sugimori art style. Like I can easily identify work from some Fakemon artists because their art style isn't pseudo-Sugimori. For example, I was more inspired by the Dreamworld/Global Link artwork than I was the official artwork

Interesting topic, as in the last month, I have drawn my first two Fakemon ! For the first one, I didn't try to emulate the art style, I just tried to respect the design philosophies of what makes a Pokémon. The design seems pretty popular so far ! I've gotten at least two comments on how they wished it was real ! The second design, I tried to replicate the style more. I just posted the design, so there isn't much engagement so far (plus, it wasn't created for a Scarlet and Violet Fakemon contest, so that's one less good tag for visibility). Still, I'm excited to see what people will think of it. Especially since that design will appear in a future Tam Valley video ! ;D

i never really sticked too much in it because my intention was never to be a copy of pokémon, because of that, i have to hear things like: "not too much pokemon like", "fakemon that are not too much like pokemon". but it depends on your intention, if you wanna create a copy of pokémon like your own region, sticked to the schedule like: first route bug, bird, starters, legendary, pikaclone, rodent and all, maybe you are putting yourself in that line of fire that people say, okay, he is trying to resemble pokémon as much as he can, but his art style does not fit in it, maybe i should say it to him for he to undestand that he can make it better to reach a 100% harmonic region. but in my case, i never heard things about my style because, besides i create characters based on pokémon, i present a total different vibe to it like, other types, no legendaries and other stuff that goes off the topic. in my vision, people don't dislike other styles, it just cause confusion and makes them unconfortable that it makes them extern it in words. still, i've been followed by fakemon artists, and pages that share fakemon asked to share my work, and i got also included on the.fakemon.critique weel to be shared and gain more views. so they are pretty receptive, what i think it happens, is that it causes confusion and people try to help. my instagram is @Apocaliption_Battle_Monsters. you can check and see for yourself what my art looks like.

There are fakemon artstyles that we could say looks better than others, even if the difference between the artist's and the official is big. Usually while I enjoy looking at different artist's different artstyles, I look more into the fakemon's concept since I personally think that it is what defines a fakemon from an actual pokemon, "anything that we don't have yet officially". On the contrary, I sometimes look for fakemons that has a significant difference in artstyle than what I recently saw. It's fun to conceptualize fakemon designs either it's based on an existing pokemon or designing a completely new one. Hopefully other fans won't get held back on enjoying fakemons just because of certain standards. There's nothing wrong about that but there are so many awesome designs and concepts that are completely different from one another that would make you think that it might actually work as a pokemon.

In regards to fakemon drawn in different artstyles,i feel like there could be a distinction made between fakemon drawn like they could be fanart of actual pokemon and fakemon drawn with no regards to the sugimori artstyle. Like when I see fanart of existing pokemon, they're very clearly based on them but still feel like the artist put their own spin to them, even if they're not employing the sugimori artstyle

i wish elesteva's comments were added to the closed captions, theyre a bit hard to read on the switch screen regardless, good video! its interesting to see how different artists end up at the same place for different reasons

You literally just made Dio Brando into a Pokémon and I’m here for it! Also I rather like the style you made for it, ironically it’s a extra way for me to pick it apart from other fakemon And I actually like it more than if you did it in the normal Pokémon style. Somehow it’s more generic to me personally if not in the style you chosen for it

Quite a cool video, some really good points where made for both sides of the argument. I do think that the last say goes to the artist and what makes them more passionate when creating art. However as you said you can use different stylistic features to design a convincing pocket monster concept wise.

This is what I tend to see Drawing official Pokémon in a different art style: Cool if art is well done Drawing Fakemon in the official art style: Cool if well done Drawing Fakemon in a different art style: Sus unless it’s really well drawn

When people are trying to draw fake cats, why do they always copy the style of real cats? Why not give them, I don't know, maybe a beak, and some feathers? There's nothing saying that it even has to have four legs, maybe just two skinny legs and two wings. If you're making a fake cat, why follow that convention? Well, because you want it to look like a cat, and for people to recognize it as a cat.