Stunning, Realistic Pokemon Art And An Interview With Artist Joshua Dunlop
Joshua Dunlop is a concept artist from London that got into 3D sculpting in 2016. After one of his realistic Pokemon went viral, he has been on a journey to recreate all the first 151 Pokémon in 3D sculptures and has accumulated quite the following! He is also working on a video game, other projects, and tutorials. He has a Patreon and YouTube page with a lot of his information, art, history, and a podcast! If you want more information or want to get to know this incredible artist, even more, check him out in the links at the bottom. But now, onto our interview:
Which is your favorite Pokémon?
It has to be Raichu. I always felt sorry for it because it was always in Pikachu's shadow. Plus, it's a cool design 🙂
Which is your least favorite Pokémon?
I can't pick one really, but generally, the ones that are artificial, like ice cream or keys.
Which has been your favorite Pokémon to paint and why?
I always refer back to the first one I ever did, Bulbasaur. It'll always have a place in my heart because it was the one that proved to myself that I could do it. It set me on this awesome journey.
Which has been your least favorite Pokémon to paint and why?
Anything with feathers or long fur! lol, nightmares, especially feathers. Light passes through them in a very specific way that hard to replicate in 3D.
Out of all the other Pokémon, what would be the Pokémon you’d want to paint the most?
Ohh... that's tough. Maybe Tyrantrum 😄
Who are some artists that inspire you to keep working, or that leave you in awe (like many of your pieces do for us)?
Anything by James Gurney. His work is breath-taking, it's what inspired me to be an artist 🙂
You had mentioned possibly doing a Kickstarter book, would it feature more than just the paintings from your Pokémon Zoology series? If it did, what else would you like to be in it?
Well, I plan to do a Pokemon Zoology book for sure, if I do any others they will probably revolve around a theme or some of my personal canon like Prehistorica (a functioning Jurassic Park-like theme park).
When the live-action Pikachu Detective movie came out, were there any live-action Pokémon from the movie that you liked more or less than your own versions?
I think they did a great job, I would have liked to have seen them in a more naturalistic sense, but I understood why they weren't in a more stylized direction, they have a huge fanbase to appease, so you have to be careful.
Last Pokémon question, lately on your Instagram you’ve been posting Fakemon, do you have any solid plans for them like submitting them to Nintendo or making a knock-off game? Or is it all just for fun?
Sadly no, it's just a fun exercise that helps me relax. I know a lot of people want me to create a ROM hack but I just don't think it's realistic 🙂
Along with the Pokemon art, you have been working for a couple of months on your new game Pangea: The Game. Aside from providing a lot (or all) of the art, what other aspects are you involved with and how is it going?
Well, I'm the Creative Director, so I have the final say on the direction of the game goes, along with story and art. I have an incredibly talented team, truly wonderful people. We want to make a visually exciting game where humans and dinosaurs live alongside each other. If you'd like to see more, check out our social media @pangeathegame 🙂
You’ve shown a lot of work with very natural looking things like animals, dinosaurs, and humans wearing animal skins. What other styles or things are you interested in working on?
I think creatures have always been my forte and always will. I'd like to push myself in terms of environments, but things like hard surface are a challenge for me 😉
As a concept artist, what film or video game franchise (or both) would you want to work on?
I'd love to work on something like the next Witcher game, it's got such a rich story, and creatures, I think it would be a lot of fun 🙂
Last question, which I am sure you get all the time: After finishing the 151, your book and game, would you start work on the 2nd generation of Pokémon or move into other areas?
Sorry, no plans right now, I would like to try and put my energy into my own IP but I'm always happy to do commissions 😉
We want to thank Dunlop for his time and for sharing his great art! Check out his various pages below: