Consistency problems

Hey guys, when I was drawing my storyboards the other day a thought occurred to me. What about generation differences? I'm not just talking about gender differences, I'm talking about difference in DESIGN. Compare a generation 1 pic of Pikachu for instance with a gen 4 one. Bit less chubby wouldn't you say? I know we want to stay as true to Mato's style as possible and it probably would be better if we did it like she's drawn it, but what about other Pikachu that appear later in the manga? (Not that I can remember save for Chuchu and Pika but that's beside the point). I'm thinking mainly in groups of Pokemon here. Surely a Pikachu would be welcome occasionally. Even though we shouldn't worry about it now, I was just giving food for thought. However, there is a more immediate problem.

Take Ivysaur, a Pokemon that changes in design, but not as drastically as some others. (especially compared to the original Japanese version). In generation 1, it has two leaves on its back, but in all future generations, it has four. Which should we go by? These kinds of problems should really be addressed. SURE we want to go by Mato's style and stay as close to it as possible, but accuracy is just as important. Ken Sugimori - the main designer behind the critters - and his art changes with technology. So should it be two leaves or four? I think it's really important to have some level of consistency here.

Which brings me to my other query. Some of the characters' eye colour changes with time/age, something which is not biologically natural. Red's eyes go from brown to red, Green's are varying shades of green, Blue's go from black to blue and Yellow's go from black to yellowish. In the later arcs fortunately the new characters' eye colours are consistent, so no need to worry about them for now.

So...thoughts?

I think we should stick with what is most iconic, at least in the character(human) design sense. I think Red with red eyes, makes the most sense, as well as Blue with blue eyes and Yellow with yellow-ish eyes. I mean, yes it is cliche, but it also makes the most sense. As for the Pokemon, at least, it might depend if we're trying to be unique or not.

I know that sounds a little contradictory, but the characters from this story are original to the story whereas the Pokemon are not. Therefore, we should maybe stick with the iconic designs for the human characters, and maybe try to branch out a little for the Pokemon, just to insure our viewers know that this is a whole different beast.

....if that makes any sense

What Dirksies said. I did bort up somethink like this before.
https://pokespeanime.forumotion.com/problems-and-issues-f3/there-something-that-animators-and-illustrators-guidlines-didsn-t-mention-t400.htm

For me I don't really care if we use the Design in the gen 1 games style, up to date pokemon design, more animal like design, or Mato's style for pokemon. As long as the pokemon look like the pokemon there srupost to be I be just happy will them.

The human characters have to be in Mato's style. Ken Sugimori style look's like Akira Toriyama style and we don't want Red to look like Ash. We cloud try to add a little of Satoshi Yamamoto style in but only for the opening and ending and maybe some minor characters or just for professor oak.

I'd say keep the human designs, they look younger, but improve the Pokémon designs.

So that they're up to date? I agree with dirksies on the character eye colour and such, since it just seems logical, but the Pokemon designs are what really miffed me. Think about it, the Pokemon are the true star of the show really. I guess we can do different designs...so we can tell the difference between the Pokemon...but supposedly they're identical.