Zoroark Gamemat

I like orange sky's, just saying.

Perhaps I should back up a bit, so when this request came in it was actually part of a pair, not literally connected (although that may still happen) but two people who wanted Pokemon mats at the same time both featuring Zoroark although from there the details diverged. Anyway I haven't had a chance to do the companion piece yet so this one will have to stand on its own for a while.

Which it does quite nicely, with its bold, bright, rich colours.

If you look back thought the game mat posts you will notice that the quantity of white in the designs has been steadily decreasing, at the beginning with the twilight mat things are quite washed out as I leave plenty of white space as highlighting, as I have improved and found new techniques that style has gradually been replaced by more complex lighting and stronger colours. 

A bunch of new types of inks helped things along as well.

In any case I did go a bit over the top on this one, it probably wasn't necessary to lay down a ground layer then render every blade of grass individually (decreasing in size as they moved back). As for the sky well I did briefly contemplate a blue one but these was just something about that colour choice that bugged me and wouldn't let me do it, then add in that around where I live on a clear sunny evening (on those few occasions when its not damp and overcast)  the sky will  generally be a blaze of pinks and oranges, well they do say write what you know.

Though this is slightly out of sequence, there was a mat produced before this one that started me down the path of orange sky's and you will start to notice that trend over the coming posts. 

As for the characters I really wanted an action shot, Pokemon should be doing stuff. Getting the angle right took some considerable time, the body was always fine, but the number of head designs I went though was quite high. Theres some slight optical trickery involving the back legs but without them he looked as though he was flying and that wouldn't do either.

Lets end today with a making of video of the mat, similar to the Inzector mat I go though the varaios stages that lead from blank mat to finished design.