RukBot
04-21-2023, 06:10 PM
https://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ft8hj05WwAQZbjC.jpg
This... This is artContent creator and self-styled Pok?mon archivist, Lewtwo, has announced that they?ve managed to obtain high-quality scans of the original Pok?mon artwork (https://www.destructoid.com/check-out-these-lil-lost-pokemon-from-ken-sugimori/) by Ken Sugimori. While the original Twitter thread (https://twitter.com/Lewchube/status/1648072834164432902?s=20) in which Lewtwo reveals these scans does a great job of explaining where they?re from and how they?re significant, here?s a quick rundown.
The scans themselves come from the Japan-exclusive Pok?mon Gold and Silver Pok?dex. In other words, this wasn?t something provided as a special case from Nintendo. The images washed out when they came West, but so many sources distributed them that they became ubiquitous. Speaking to Kotaku (https://kotaku.com/pokemon-ken-sugimori-original-art-red-blue-gold-silver-1850352781), Lewtwo clarified that it?s taken so long for the West to get better scans of the originals because we?re so used to seeing the low-quality copies of the artwork that we didn?t know better.
https://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ft8jdu2WAAMr8OJ.jpg Image via Lewtwo
In order to ensure that these scans depict the art in the way Ken Sugimori originally intended, Lewtwo and company cross-referenced against material released around the same time in Japan.
?You can literally see all of Sugimori?s imperfections with the tools he used, right down to the way the watercolor bleeds in and around the lineart, to the point we?re convinced that this is the closest we will ever get in being able to scan the original piece,? Lewtwo said to Kotaku.
https://twitter.com/Lewchube/status/1648072834164432902?s=20
Who's that Pokemon?The difference is intense. I?m very familiar with the artwork, and as Lewtwo suggests, I never really knew anything was wrong with it. I just kind of accepted that this was the classic Pok?mon art style. Back in the day, when I was an aspiring artist, I used them as a resource to inform my style. Unfortunately, some bad teachers and tutors obliterated my artistic trajectory by sucking the fun out of the process. I still have a lot of fondness for these images.
The intention is to meticulously cut out each image for transparency and disseminate them. Most prominently, Bulbapedia (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page) will be updating each of their articles for the 251 depicted Pok?mon to include the higher quality artwork.
Wild. This sort of thing is just so unlikely in today?s more connected workplace.
The post Better versions of the Ken Sugimori Pok?mon artwork getting disseminated in the West (https://www.destructoid.com/better-versions-of-the-ken-sugimori-pokemon-artwork-get-disseminated-in-the-west/) appeared first on Destructoid (https://www.destructoid.com).
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This... This is artContent creator and self-styled Pok?mon archivist, Lewtwo, has announced that they?ve managed to obtain high-quality scans of the original Pok?mon artwork (https://www.destructoid.com/check-out-these-lil-lost-pokemon-from-ken-sugimori/) by Ken Sugimori. While the original Twitter thread (https://twitter.com/Lewchube/status/1648072834164432902?s=20) in which Lewtwo reveals these scans does a great job of explaining where they?re from and how they?re significant, here?s a quick rundown.
The scans themselves come from the Japan-exclusive Pok?mon Gold and Silver Pok?dex. In other words, this wasn?t something provided as a special case from Nintendo. The images washed out when they came West, but so many sources distributed them that they became ubiquitous. Speaking to Kotaku (https://kotaku.com/pokemon-ken-sugimori-original-art-red-blue-gold-silver-1850352781), Lewtwo clarified that it?s taken so long for the West to get better scans of the originals because we?re so used to seeing the low-quality copies of the artwork that we didn?t know better.
https://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ft8jdu2WAAMr8OJ.jpg Image via Lewtwo
In order to ensure that these scans depict the art in the way Ken Sugimori originally intended, Lewtwo and company cross-referenced against material released around the same time in Japan.
?You can literally see all of Sugimori?s imperfections with the tools he used, right down to the way the watercolor bleeds in and around the lineart, to the point we?re convinced that this is the closest we will ever get in being able to scan the original piece,? Lewtwo said to Kotaku.
https://twitter.com/Lewchube/status/1648072834164432902?s=20
Who's that Pokemon?The difference is intense. I?m very familiar with the artwork, and as Lewtwo suggests, I never really knew anything was wrong with it. I just kind of accepted that this was the classic Pok?mon art style. Back in the day, when I was an aspiring artist, I used them as a resource to inform my style. Unfortunately, some bad teachers and tutors obliterated my artistic trajectory by sucking the fun out of the process. I still have a lot of fondness for these images.
The intention is to meticulously cut out each image for transparency and disseminate them. Most prominently, Bulbapedia (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page) will be updating each of their articles for the 251 depicted Pok?mon to include the higher quality artwork.
Wild. This sort of thing is just so unlikely in today?s more connected workplace.
The post Better versions of the Ken Sugimori Pok?mon artwork getting disseminated in the West (https://www.destructoid.com/better-versions-of-the-ken-sugimori-pokemon-artwork-get-disseminated-in-the-west/) appeared first on Destructoid (https://www.destructoid.com).
More...