Luke and His Charmander

Original character commissions are particularly fun to see come together as they involve a lot of creative input both from the artist and the commissioner. Unfortunately, these types of commissions have been rather rare on ArtCorgi!

For this reason, we were quite pleased when Luke came to us to have Joseph Lee illustrate his OC associated with the Pokemon universe.

To commission a work of your own in this style, check out Joseph Lee’s sketch portraits page.

Backstory Behind the Piece – Q&A with Luke

ArtCorgi (AC): Can you tell us more about this original character? How did he come to be?

Luke (L): The reason I made this OC the way he is came from allot of things. One, I knew many people making Pokemon OCs and roleplaying with them, so I really wanted to join in on the fun. The problem was, I could not draw at ALL while all my friends could, so there was no way I could create a visual for the character (then I found you guys as a Facebook advertisement!) I wanted my OC to be based off of me, for him to have a connection with myself, and I wanted him to capture my experience and feelings when playing Pokemon. This is one reason I asked Joseph Lee to make him 10 years old, which was the time I first experienced Pokemon. This is also why I wanted him drawn with my Charmander. The reason I gave him a hood was based on another character from a fantasy world my friends and I made a long time ago. This was, in a way, a younger, Pokemon reincarnation of him.

AC: What is your favorite thing about Team Flare?

L: Well this one is a funny story. My original favorite team was Team Rocket, being the Kanto lover I am. However, I recently got Pokemon Y, introducing me to Team Flare. Yah, I definitely did not take a liking to the (ahem) traditional uniform for the grunts, but I still thought the team was dam awesome! Then I joined a flare Facebook group, and learned to fall in love with the team! Kallos is such an awesome region, and I love fire, so naturally, the team told to my liking. Plus, as evil as this sounds, there plan is pretty cool to me XD. Evil, but interesting!

AC: Why did you choose to have your OC drawn with a Charmander? What do you like most about Charmanders?

L: Greet question! That Charmander is Steven, my first ever Pokemon. He was named when I first played Fire red. All of my friends were wanting to give it names like “flamey” or “ember” or stuff like that, when my best friend said…” well how about Steven?” It was such a normal name, and I loved it! Any Pokemon character has my beloved Charmander with him. Steven was my first Pokemon, and, as many trainers can relate to, he is my main companion. We have went through every Pokemon game together, and been through allot when it comes to the Pokemon world! He is to me that one Pokemon that has been with you during your whole adventure!