Mailbag Archive

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This week’s newsletter is from a familiar contributor known as Corylus, with more great artwork to share!

Cubone art and sprite by Corylus

Corylus, Germany

I'd like to share some fanart with you: A custom Carddass of Cubone + pixel art. I already created a few custom Carddass cards, but pixel art is something new for me. I directly used the sprite of Cubone from Pocket Monsters Red & Green as a reference and modeled the sprite after my illustration. Ken Sugimori had the opposite situation, where he modeled his illustrations after the sprite work. While I am not sure if I captured the style of the original Game Boy games convincingly, I think I did a decent job for my first time.

It’s a pleasure to hear from you again, Corylus! Thanks for sharing your awesome Cubone artwork. If I wasn’t already familiar with Carddass design I would have thought this was official! You did a wonderful job on both the art and sprite. Please continue to keep up the great work you’re doing.

Want to be a part of our newsletter? You’re welcome to submit content including (but not limited to) questions, fanart, short stories, memories, photographs of your collection, or even Pokémon tattoos! We will happily publish them in our mailbag and share them in future issues of our newsletter.

We have another new addition to our mailbag this week from a familiar face! Desja, an artist from the United States who got in touch with us during December of last year, is back with more artwork! The title of this piece is “One Thing Not Like the Other”, and you can view it for yourself and see what Desja has to say about it below!

Desja has drawn a wonderful piece of Easter-themed Pokémon artwork, featuring Buneary, Scorbunny, and an honorary bunny: Snom!

Desja, United States

My friends and I [have] been in [a] Snom mood as of late. I decided to make a quick sketch at work only to add color once [I got] home. I admit rush[ing] since Easter [was] coming. I had fun though!

It’s lovely to hear from you again, Desja! Thank you for sharing more of your great artwork with us, and I’m sorry I couldn’t squeeze it into the previous issue in time for Easter! I’m a big Snom fan, so it’s always great to see it represented and admire the different interpretations the talented artists within our community take with it. I think we can allow Snom to be an honorary bunny for this Easter occasion. As always, please keep up the great work; you’re a wonderful artist!

We have received another contribution to our mailbag this week from a reader called TubaGuyChris, who drew some pixel art of Ecruteak’s Bell Tower! Chris also provided some words to describe the setting for this image.

Pixel art of Ecruteak City and featuring its Bell Tower, by TubaGuyChris

TubaGuyChris, Pittsburgh, United States

The sun gently sets on Ecruteak City. The Bell Tower rises above the clouds and is a beacon to the townsfolk and travelers afar. Natu nestle[s] down for the night on the lower levels, just as the sleepy flock of Hoothoot awaken[s] from their slumber above.

Thank you so much for sending over this pixel artwork to us! You did a brilliant job at capturing the Bell Tower, and I love the little details on the windows and bells you made. I also really like the clouds. You detailed them effectively and considered the lighting. You’ve certainly inspired me to develop my own skills when it comes to pixel art! Please keep up the great work!

We received a new letter in our mailbag this week from an artist called CoolKaius, who shared this awesome collage of artwork drawn in Pokémon Art Academy on the 3DS!

CoolKaius has drawn many Pokémon in a variety of different styles! Featuring Voltorb, Totodile, Poliwhirl, Arceus, Pikachu and more!

CoolKaius, United States

A collage of my favorite pieces I did from my completed playthrough of Pokemon Art Academy. I used many different kinds of weird art techniques.

Hey, CoolKaius, it’s great to hear from you! I really liked the many art styles you used in this one image; I think my favourites are the ones featuring Arceus and Poliwhirl. I never got Pokémon Art Academy for the 3DS, mostly because I didn’t have a 3DS XL, and I believe the larger screen would help when it comes to drawing. Your art has certainly made me reconsider that idea, though. Keep up the fantastic work!

Well no, there’s no mailbag for this week, or for the rest of the year actually! But we’ve got to fill this space with something, so as we enter the holiday season, we’ve decided to put together a couple of fun events! We are currently running a poll to see which starter Pokémon is the fan favourite. This poll will run from November 22nd, 2024 at 18:00 UTC until December 31st, 2024 at 18:00 UTC. The winner will be announced via the Johto Times newsletter and our social media pages on January 9th, 2025! You can cast your vote here.

Can you find all of these fansite names in our word search?

We received some great feedback last year on our word search, so we have decided to make another one for this year! This time around, we want you to try and find the names of Pokémon fansites, many of which we have interviewed in our newsletter since we began in February 2023! If you are able to find them all, send us a picture of your result along with your name via email before December 19th, 2024, and we will publish the results in our 100th issue on December 26th, 2024!

We are nearing the end of our mailbag for the year, but we still have a couple of great pieces of artwork to share before we are done for the year! Today, we are sharing another from Desja, featuring the ghost-type Pokémon Sinistea, Polteageist, Poltchageist, and Sinistcha!

This charming artwork featuring Sinistea, Polteageist, Poltchageist, and Sinistcha, was created by Desja

Desja, United States

Cultural Exchange, another birthday art for Agent Compass. I remember we saw the Teal Mask DLC and [received a suggestion to do] a crossover of the ghost tea Pokémon coming together for a tea party.

Thank you once again for sharing your art with us, Desja! This is a very cute art piece, and I especially love the Pokey Pocky that Sinistcha is holding! As always, keep up the fantastic work!

A couple of weeks ago, we shared a fantastic piece of artwork by a reader called Desja, who shared their stunning artwork of Greavard, which was perfect for Halloween! Desja is back with more artwork, this time paying tribute to the late Rachael Lillis.

This incredible artistic tribute to Rachael Lillis, was drawn by Desja

Desja, United States

Queen of Crime: I received the news very late one day at work on Rachael Lillis. I was inspired to draw this. I was both sad and shocked about this. I figure [if] I keep the memories, she [is] always alive to me.

Thanks once again for sharing some great art with us, Desja! Rachael’s passing was incredibly sad, and the contribution she gave to Pokémon as the voices of Misty, Jessie and Jigglypuff will be appreciated and celebrated by fans forever. I think it’s great that you were able to use your artistic talent to pay tribute to her memory. Well done!

It’s always great to receive more items in our mailbag and it’s always a pleasure to feature all kinds of submissions, including your questions, stories, and artwork. For this issue, mailbag regular Corylus has sent over another awesome piece of Pokémon artwork I am sure you’re going to love!

Bulbasaur, in the style of Ken Sugimori’s original watercolour art, by Corylus

Corylus, Germany

Bulbasaur is directly based on the Sugimori artwork from Aka & Midori [Red & Green]. It was a bit sturdier back then and slimmed down over the years, but [the change is] not as drastic as Pikachu though. My reference of course was a toad, as they are one of the inspirations for our lovely grass starter. [Out of] just the starters alone, without any evolutions, I think Bulbasaur is the best one from Kanto. What do you think?

Greetings once again, Corylus! Thank you for sharing this amazing artwork of Bulbasaur with us! While I have always been a huge fan of Charmander, I accept that Bulbasaur deserves much more love. As I have said previously, you capture Ken Sugimori’s watercolour art style beautifully. I am happy to see that you have kept working hard on your art, and I hope you’ll consider sending more of it across in the future!