More AniPoke fanart, now mostly Bashou & Buson (Hun & Attila), but still some Trip, Iris, Lillie, etc.

[QuietDragon]

(Image heavy...! Lots of large images, but under spoiler tags.)
It's been years since I last shared art here and given I've started roleplaying Buson (Attila) again with an old friend who plays Bashou (Hun), that's what most of my art's been focused on lately, so I figured I'd make a new thread! ^^ There's still some Trip, Lillie, Iris art too, but I'm mostly inspired by rp lately (some of them will have rather odd scenarios because the dreamwidth rp game we're playing them in an Okinawa-inspired fan region that's disconnected from all of the canon ones, in its own time and space, it seems, so no TR, so they're just working... ordinary jobs, after settling in. Buson's a sailor here and Bashou's a programmer. : D; Buson winds up befriending a very sweet Eevee that, initially, kicked his butt when he was trying to poach Electric type Pokemon, PFFT.)

Iris I drew in 2021, inspired by melty_chan's pastel art with cute touches. ^^

[Faraway Place RP-based] Bashou and Buson at a ryokan (traditional inn.)

Upon first arrival at Gukuru House, Bashou feels right at home because he grew up in a traditional home in Johto, whereas Buson's awkward and nervous about accidentally breaking/ripping stuff, feeling like the proverbial Bouffalant in a china shop, but he's over the fear in less than a day. The tasuki is solely because Buson refuses to wear anything that covers his arms (guns out is a way of life for Buson, okay), it serves no practical purpose here.

Scenery reference: Autumn in Brooklyn by Vivienne Gucwa.

I tend to forget I drew this! It's a bit lopsided, as I drew it leaning down and looking at the paper sideways. The setting is referenced from this photograph (Nuvema town is heavily based on Brooklyn, so it felt topical!) The paper is very thin, so a stenciled frame on the page underneath shows.

[Faraway Place RP-based] Very convincing argument to the captain of the cargo ship on why Evie the Eevee should board for free: she's so cute, though.

Spoiler:

[Faraway Place RP-based] Going on an adventure!

But first! Have Ash, Trip, and Iris in sailor suits and dresses! (I drew this one a long time before the whole Buson getting a job as a sailor in rp thing, unrelated--I think he was still helping out on rice terraces and working as a Miltank dairy farm hand at that point. :D;)

I got Copics and have been experimenting with them for a while, but only very recently got suitable paper for them! On regular paper...

On a Strathmore Bristol designed to handle art markers and such! This pose is referenced from a PokeSupe manga panel of Lt. Surge and Sabrina, since a friend of mine pointed out their dynamic reminded her of Bashou & Buson. :D

Chibi kitsune Bashou wants to snip-snip to teach some people a lesson, chibi tanuki Buson doesn't want him to be hasty. ^^;;

Spoiler:

A headcanon younger Buson! Happy and content… and then, he grew up to be a poacher and racketeer.
I assume, much like Musashi/Jessie, he was stuck in poverty and didn't have the grades, money, or connections for a better life, saw how hard work never got his parents anywhere, took several wrong turns trying to help out, then wound up too deeply involved to get out or even (in a stroke of bitter irony) ever see his family again in person without endangering them. ^^;;;;

Spoiler:

A headcanon younger Bashou, enjoying a quiet moment in nature. Alas...

Spoiler:

Alder lifting Trip up, based on the concept of that scene where Kyo's karate master/adoptive father Kazuma lifts him up in Fruits Basket. ;3;

"… there isn't enough time in the world to even begin to explain why that would not be a 'good idea,' actually."
(This isn't based on anything, come up with your own scenario, it's just a doodle near the end of the shift on the work computer.)
IMG]https://64.media.tumblr.com/e96672647786bc9d27940f22512da479/c66335965fffa101-3e/s1280x1920/3306551ef3e4eb61eede0f8a270bbf2e2a763a43.png[/IMG]


Buson without his spiky hairstyle and shades is just... some guy. Indistinguishable from the average surfer on the beach, PFFT.

A happy Trip. ;3;

Spoiler:

"… all of them? Where did you even get so many tiny sunglasses? Did you make them?"

Buson's Pokemon usually have the same eyes, so why not catch Tamatama/Exeggcute in a tropical region?

Spoiler:

Pixel art of Bashou with a Alolan Ninetales festival mask, because he's based on the kitsune archtype!


[Faraway Place RP-based] Ash and Trip post-ghost adventures, pfft, except only Ash was involved in the ghost stuff in the end, and didn't even know it until Trip pointed it out. Sweet dreams! Or not........

Spoiler:

Bashou & Buson went to Hoenn to capture Rayquaza and the TRio always catch/receive regional Pokemon when travelling, so I think Buson might catch a Mawile (he trains the more delicate Steel type, Skarmory, compared to Bashou's more fearsome Steelix.)
It's quiet, serious, and only seems to like training and tea. It's more like Bashou's Pokemon in personality… ^^;

Bashou lineart from quite some time ago.

Lillie in an uncharacteristic black dress with white accents--it's based on artwork from a Sanrio x Lafary collaboration.

Spoiler:

A sad Iris in a polka-dot dress.

Spoiler:

Smile, darn ya, smile!!! I just like Iris teasing Trip, fff.

This is only very loosely RP-related, but what-if scenario: Trip and Shamus in jail, PFFFT.

Trip, like Paul, is usually polite and formal when addressing his elders in the original (he even calls Dent [Cilan] "Dent-san"!)… Shamus, uh, is not.

I think they'd only be in for a night and a day because Trip's family bailed them out. I'm starting to think "bail money for Shamus" is set aside each month, just in case, but Trip's never gotten in trouble like this before!

Spoiler:

A dreamy Lillie on a Galarian Ponyta carousel.

Spoiler:

Iris and Cilan, based on that old Striaton triplets = Shadow Triad theory.

"This one loves you, you know. I could sense it clearly throughout our battle. Are you living up to this little one's feelings?"
"I think I am."

Spoiler:

Trip reaching out to some... blossoms of some sort, I really didn't plan this out, but I liked the hatching.

Spoiler:

[Faraway Place RP-based] Mayday! Played by a friend in the game, she's based on the player character in the Pokemon Topaz ROM hack.

Spoiler:

[Faraway Place RP-based] A happy and content Buson sitting with Bashou. They'd just been reunited and took up temporary residence in a Pokemon Center's lodgings! Initially, they're kind of suspicious and wary of each other, because they aren't sure of each other's identities, but they aren't suspicious anymore here.
My Buson was alone in game for nearly a half a year and was pretty directionless until another former crook took him under his wing and helped him get settled and Get An Actual Job, so by the time Bashou shows up in game, Buson's pretty functional and isn't just doing shady stuff or sleeping rough anymore, so good for Bashou! (Bashou does [em]not[/em] like the communal lodgings, they make him antsy and suspicious, and he probably terrifies the nurse lurking around at night, but anyway, they later move to the inn in that first drawing above on another island.)

Spoiler:

Putting the very rough doodles down here!

Who wants to hear about the Nimbasa City underground?! No one? Just me? Okay!

So, now that I've seen these pieces of official art, I know Bashou and Buson's intended height difference…

Buson's a head taller than Bashou!

Bashou just has a shorter torso and longer legs, similar body type to Shootie/Trip's, actually, just way more pronounced because Bashou'san adult–so their waists line up despite him being shorter than Buson.

So now, I can draw Buson being even more obnoxious.
(It seems like they were inconsistent about it in Legend of Thunder and sometimes, Bashou was up to Buson's sunglasses[!], but by the Manaphy movie, he's down to being a head shorter, so between that and the official art, looks like this is the closest to intended height difference... or Bashou sometimes wears elevator shoes, who knows, man.)

An old sketch while I was still learning to draw their designs (Buson's droopy cornered sanpaku eyes give me such trouble. Early Kanto Muk eyes, pfft.)

All done for now!

 

[QuietDragon]

Thank you!! ^_^

There were a few more drawings I didn't share last time + I fixed this one up a little more.

[RP-based, Faraway Place]
Buson and Evie the Eevee get caught out in the rain on the night he returns to Ultern, as it's monsoon season.

Spoiler:

A couple of drifters sleeping in shifts.
Basically a Faraway Place RP-based AU where Manzana (the reformed criminal ^^; ) doesn't take in Buson before Bashou arrives here and he just. Falls back on crime (TR doesn't exist here, so he's just a small-time crook), sleeping rough, and has no motivation to aim any higher because he's directionless without Bashou. … and then Bashou falls in with him when he arrives.
The good: Bashou's the external motivation for Buson to aim higher!
The bad: Buson's going to constantly worry about Bashou and if Bashou was doing badly in the Pokemon Center's lodgings (with a locked door!!) because it's communal, how bad is he going to take sleeping in alleyways and structurally unsound abandoned buildings???

Spoiler:

Based on a silly idea my rp partner had, on seeing a photograph of the Legendary Beasts carousel (probably an old PokePark attraction):
"I could'a been riding the real deal right now…"
(Cursed alternative: insert the saddest "yippee-ki-yay" here.)

Spoiler:

This one's based on a fic by my Bashou, Simone (kyohansha)! Specifically https://archiveofourown.org/works/46426579/chapters/116893015]This Place Called Home[/url], if you like Bashou & Buson's friendship and partnership (but mind the trigger/content warnings for each chapter, because it's bleak, heavy, and uncertain, before you get to the happy ending and stuff like the scene I drew down here–and even with the happy ending, these two are pretty unhealthily codependent/enmeshed with an unbalanced power dynamic that could so easily become a noose around the other's neck, so again, mind the warnings.)

All her fics are worth a read and very varied! Anyway, here's the little comic.
[CW inebriation / alcohol implied, for the off-panel Bashou gushing, fff.]

Spoiler:

Pastel Haruka (May)!

Spoiler:

Some original artwork too. The pinafore part is referenced from a sewing pattern's illustrations, but everything else like the pose and dress and girl are different!

Spoiler:

Girls and flowers. The little girl in the bottom right corner is inspired by the memory of a scene from Lady Lady!! [but not actually referenced, I drew this on the plane with no internet] and the girl looks a bit like her, but with a straighter fringe and frillier dress. The middle bottom row girl is also vaguely Haruka-inspired.

Spoiler:

Never have I seen someone so dedicated to Attila and Hun before, haha, but in the best way possible! You do them justice as the badass Rocket agents that most people know more for their infamous dub incarnations rather than on their own merits, while simultaneously going in such interesting directions with them on your own I never would've thought of myself. Your imagination is incredible! Do ignore any weird looks that some might give you for focusing on such obscure characters so hard… you've got a pretty great thing going on here!

This is such a sweet comment, thank you so much... I'm flattered and can't stop blushing, even though it really is equally split between my imagination and my rp partner (Simone/kyohansha) as she writes Bashou and a good chunk of my art is RP-based. ;///; But thank you so much!! I passed on your words to her too and she also said "That's so lovely"!

Yeah, I fixate on odd characters, pfft, before that, it was Shootie (Trip)! But I do love to write and draw.

You've encouraged me to share some of the even more oddly specific and niche ones I felt too shy to share before, so here.

RP-based and headcanon-heavy.
[CW bruises, implied solitary confinement]

Spoiler:

An unruly younger Buson repeatedly makes trouble until he's given a punishment by superiors that truly disturbs him, Bashou accommodates him, listens even if he stammers, even takes him camping for a change of scenery (so he won't wake up alone or feeling trapped, as he was kept confined in restraints, alone, as punishment)—and thus earns his loyalty. Being alone in silence is scarier to Buson than any pain or exhaustion (he doesn't like being alone with his thoughts!), but he's too embarrassed to talk to anyone else and doesn't wanna be a downer after the experience, since he's so shaken up… but Bashou is safe (to him), so that's who he goes to!
So think of this as Bashou and Buson's equivalent to the TRio's bread-sharing and campfire conversation—except Bashou's much more cagey about his own fears and bad experiences, he's not going to tell Buson what those are, even if he provides distractions and advice. Buson just knows he has nightmares a lot because he can hear him.
And yeah, Bashou manages to get an ego trip out of being kind to his partner too, but that's just how Bashou functions.

For a completely different change of pace, a roughly drawn silent comic based on the fact that my RP partner frequently has to remind herself Lt. Surge is not Buson when she's playing Pokemon Masters, which made me imagine Bashou alone in Pasio...

Spoiler:

Another friend (Spagonia) jokingly said he'll have Kojiro (James) and (Musashi) for comfort at least no....... but I think they might offer an odd sort of comfort exactly once! And then, he'd probably avoid them, because they're honestly too much, PFFT.

Spoiler:

Bashou: Those uniforms are completely non-standard. I can't recognize which division you're in.
Musashi (Jessie): We made them ourselves!
Kojiro (James): We're free spirits!
Bashou: ... that defeats the point of a uniform, but... I think I understand.

[CW guns / weapons (but nobody gets shot, just concussions and nosebleeds ^^;;; ), black & white blood (very mild)]

Buson hits a guy with his head, Bashou mimics him and successfully accidentally breaks a guy's nose in the attempt, but might've given himself a concussion. (He'll be okay!)

"He's taller than you, man, you could'a gone for the chin instead'a the temple! Hit it like a header!"
"… what's a header?"
"… 'least you got his nose, that'll knock him out."

I drew them in those uniforms by default, but if Bashou still doesn't know exactly what works for him in a fight, it's probably a younger, lower-ranking Bashou and Buson, pfft.

Spoiler:

[RP-based, Faraway Place]

Encounter with Morelull on Chichi Island!
I was either going to draw Bashou & Buson back-to-back while Bashou threatens the Morelull with Steel types unless they back down or the bit seconds before when Buson strikes a Morelull with his lantern and sends it flying like a baseball because it was going to drop on Bashou. ^^;
(This is from the same adventure with Evie the Eevee above... she was more diplomatic and kind, Buson was nice to the Morelull when they looked cute and harmless, but the second they attempt to leech energy off Bashou, Buson whacks 'em. Bashou's ready to use violence, Buson just falls in line with whatever Bashou wants to do. He's nothing if not loyal! : D;;; ... ultimately, Evie's gentler means wins out and they get a safer passage than they would've on their own, pfft.)
The red stuff is not blood, it's ink bleeding from the previous page. It's rough and sketchy, but the composition was really fun.

Spoiler:

... Buson was too shy to say what the whole adventure was for until the end, but it was for a flower that reputedly gave good dreams if you drink it as a tea, he wanted something that'd help Bashou ^^; It did help!

As for some new art I drew today, have two doodles, one to celebrate the one year (!!!) anniversary of Faraway Place (the dreamwidth roleplaying game [well, it has no application process, so more of a dressing room or sandbox!] I'm playing Buson as well as all of these other characters in):

View attachment 173612

Aaaand Lillie splashing around. ;3; (I just think the way she curls her hands like paws sometimes is cute and relatable since I did the same a lot as a kid and still do if my hands are wet or touched something dirty, fff It's like a very particular form of raptor hands.)
View attachment 173613

This comic is an older work and is very dark in its implcations, even if nothing is shown, so mind the warnings.
[CW suicidality / implied suicide, trauma, character death (nothing shown but an eye closeup and then the picking of bones from ashes), small scratches and minor injuries (unintentional, uncoloured)]

Spoiler:

Buson says goodbye to his Pokemon after taking an injured Bashou to be treated makes him lose trust in Buson (who was basically the only person Bashou did trust before this which he can't help but see as a betrayal due to trauma, even if it was only to save him...), he becomes even more paranoid, mistrustful, and unstable, and finally dies, which Buson will inevitably blame himself for and feel as though he were the one who killed him.

It just doesn't work out well for these two in this scenario.

(The implication on the last page is he sees Bashou's eyes (... and ashes) and any time he shuts his eyes, so he just can't rest. The guilt's eating him up.)

... it's a really depressing scenario and we discussed other, better ways it could turn out, but it wouldn't leave me until I drew it. ^^;;;
Interestingly, even while writing and drawing it, I didn't realize it concerned a very similar moral dilemma Kenta and Marina faced in taking Raikou to be treated when it feared humans and did not want them to approach or touch it. The dub conveyed it as a fear that Raikou's condition will detoriorate in captivity, too.... but primarily, Marina wondered if it was wrong to forcibly take Raikou to be treated, against its will (]but what about how Raikou feels?), but Kenta's insistent that he couldn't just ignore Raikou while it was in pain. So, even if it's against its will and they all know it's traumatized and cannot trust humans because of how they sought to subjugate and exploit its powers in the past...

This is your reminder to see The Legend of Thunder in Japanese if you haven't already.

On much lighter note, for the one year anniversary of the dreamwidth Pokemon roleplaying game, Faraway Place, I drew a bunch of the characters I play with frequently. ;3; So, here's a bunch of doodles.

Spoiler:

Gold drawn twice, because I'm biased, and because he's friends with both my Trip and my Ai/Amber.

Mayday Foreman, Carrie's character based on the protagonist of the Pokemon Topaz ROM hack. Frequent menace, but endearing. Sorry about your villain decay arc that's reduced you to being grade schoolers/primary students' test of courage!

Sweet, sunny, and brave little Evie the talking Eevee! Always a good friend. Pines for her trainer who she was separated from for years by Team Rocket. Has a sweet crush on him like Bayleef had on Ash. ;3;

Calla, scrunching up her nose in focus, her nose slightly sunburnt, with a sailor's neck kerchief for a makeshift bandana! Very seriously listening to advice on how to avoid being a sitting Ducklett for crooks from a self-confessed crook (reformed, kinda, here, anyway.)

Trip, who's starving and exhausted but Too Stubbornly Proud to Accept Help or Handouts (the problem with basically being the human equivalent of a Serperior, the Regal Pokemon), considering eating very clearly inedible figs. Ash making faces to silently tell him not to do that. Trip stubbornly does it anyway and immediately regrets it. (For further insult, a Pokemon tries to eat it, then promptly gives up... it's only palatable to Flying types, it seems.)