It's like being the nerdiest fashion designer.

As you can see from RTQ's header, gijinka pokemon are sort of a guilty pleasure of mine. I totally fell in love with the idea of designing a look based on the endlessly different pokemon designs, though it wasn't until last halloween that I actually took a swing at it.

I'd had to throw a costume together at the last minute and found a pair of long white gloves that I didn't know I owned. That's when it hit me -- Gijinka Lugia. I had a white sweater, pants, scarf, and a blue tanktop. So I threw it all together, made some blue bows for Lugia's back and tail and got my blue wig from my Simon cosplay and put it all together.



It came out pretty nicely I think, and I enjoy running around pretending to be a Lugia since it's one of my favorite pokemon. I had told a friend about the costume, but didn't have pictures at the time, so I drew a picture for him. And then I ended up drawing a couple more just for fun... And then she sort of developed a life of her own.



I began planning a comic based around the plot of the second Pokemon movie, except more Lugia-centric. For a movie originally titled "Revelation Lugia", that movie did not have a whole lot of Lugia actually in it. But the longer I've kept her around, the more I've thought about her "storyline" from beginning to end and I think there's the potential for something more than that in there, specifically with the possible relationship between Lugia and Ho-Oh.



So I've been kind of working out plot and I think if I do a pokemon gijinka comic, I'd focus it post-movie and around the "feud" and estrangement between she and Ho-Oh. that way I could also include the other legendary birds AND the legendary dogs. Becuase they would all be incredibly fun to do designs for.

While Lugia and Ho-Oh are my favorites, I have taken a swing at Absol and Raichu.



Suri and I have a bit of an ongoing story about my Raichu and Absol, Amphy and Marsche, and they are kind of an item. Because it's cute. Marsche ended up looking kind of "90's Bishonen", but it only serves to emphasize the fact that he is a total dork. I've since hatched their egg, and need to come up with a good name for their Pichu, but what I'm really glad about is that I only had to draw Amphy pregnant once. That was way more difficult than I'd assumed it would be.

I'm part of The Gijinka Club (Which accpets gijinkas for all things, not just pokemon!) and Pokemon Gijinkas on DeviantART, and I've had fun submitting to both of those since I started this. Pokemon Gijinkas is still very small, so I've enjoyed that club a bit more, but both have been great to be a part of.

So if you're an artistically inclined pokemon fan, give it a shot. Even if you're not into pokemon, maybe try applying the concept to something else you're into. It's a fun way to stretch your creative muscles a bit. Especially since there's not really any rules.

You can take liberties and still give your gijinkas wings, tails, or animal ears if you want, or if you'd rather not you can find some other way around it. I like keeping my gijinkas as human as possible and turning their other apendages into articls of clothing or part of their hairstyle, or anything else I might be able to think of. (Like Lugia's scarf-tail, or Amphy's rat-tail haircut!)

So take a swing at it if you're so inclined. You might find you like it.