Practicing New Artist Mediums and The 20th Pokemon Movie Trailer

You know there’s a question that’s been popping up in my head lately… Never thought much on it as a kid but now I gotta ask… Where do those Easter Eggs even come from?

Welcome to the blog before Easter everyone! Easter isn’t an actual blog posting day so today will serve as the main blog for that. This weekend serves as Easter weekend and Easter egg hunts are already happening all over. I would get you guys in on an Easter Egg hunt but I’m not exactly sure how to go about that through the internet.

Before I dive in i'm going to put this out there that I actually recently got a new smartphone, it's larger and has a much better camera on it so I should be more active on Instagram now. This phone will actually help the blog and Youtube channel out quite a bit as the photos and videos are pretty damn good. The photos you'll be seeing in today's blog were all taken on my new phone so here's to a step in the journey of ZAK Entertainment!

I’ve been in quite the artsy mood lately and I’ve been doing quite a bit related to that. For the most part I’ve been creating digital art (With my Wacom tablet.) and colored pencils but I’ve been diving into some other mediums such as Watercolor and Acrylic paints. (Though I only have a Watercolor piece to show today.) Basically this blog is going to be an art dump of sorts, though a warning 90% of what you’re about to see is just practice so let’s dive in!

As its Easter I’m going to go ahead and show you guys this.

Yes that is indeed a drawing of a rabbit and while it may seem shocking that a newbie like me drew this I assure you, I did not trace this. I did this using circles and ovals and adding all the fine details afterwards. Sadly I didn’t get to color this before showing you all, actually I don’t even know how I’m going to go about coloring this yet, I’ve already inked the outline in black so maybe I’ve limited myself in that regards. Rabbits are some of my favorite animals so being able to draw them is a plus for me. I'll be sure to let you guys see the finished product!

I’ve wanted to dive into this for a while and while I wasn’t very successful I’ve been attempting some watercolor and acrylic paint practice.

Be surprised I’m even showing you all this, because it’s not great by any means. No real art pieces have come out of this but I’ve been getting the feel for how Watercolor work. I really need to persist with these mediums, I’m sure I can get at least decent. I need to work on actually blending colors when it comes to watercolor…

Another medium I decided to try out is a medium I didn’t know much about as well as one I don’t see used quite often, Oil Pastels. These look similar to chalks and might even feel like chalks but they create art in a much different way. You use them similarly to chalks but these oil pastels have, well, oil in them. I’m no expert but this medium is like if Oil Paints and Chalk had a lovechild. I’ve been testing these out and to my surprise I actually like the way these pastels work. You’re able to blend colors quite easily and what was simply color practice turned into something quite pretty.

Yeah this was just practice but I love how I managed to blend the colors. There are a couple of ways of blending, I tried q-tips and paper towels but for the most part I found my finger works the best. I was able to create, using four different colors, this awesome sky like color mixture and some cool green and blue mixtures but I have learned that certain colors do not mix what so ever. Which colors you ask? Well apparently Oranges and Yellows mixed with Greens creates a messy unappealing brown, luckily adding some normal brown seems to have made it look better.

Anyway yeah this turned out really good for just being a tester. Now let’s dive into some much needed Pokemon!

Pokemon since July 18^th, 1998 has had 20 total movies made, all including awesome adventures of Ash, Pikachu and Company as they encounter awesome legendary Pokemon. I have to admit I’m so much of a Pokemon nerd that these movies are actually on my top favorite movies list. The Pokemon movies have made just as much of an impact on my life as the TV show and Games and this year, after the recent Volcanion movie release marks the 20^th Pokemon movie. Yeah 20 movies, it’s crazy to think 20 years has gone right by, I myself am in my 20s so it’s crazy to think how many Pokemon movies I lived through. I swear it was only yesterday I was sitting in front of the TV watching Pokemon The First Movie, 2000 or Pokemon the movie 3. Eventually Cartoon Network would start airing the movies as they released so once again I would be glued to my TV screen whenever they played them.

In celebration of the 20^th movie and the 20^th anniversary of the Anime itself Pokemon seems to be going backwards, to Ash’s first adventure in the form of the reboot of sorts. Pokemon Movie 20: I Choose You seems to be a recreation of Ash’s very first Indigo League journey with some twists and turns adding in. Can’t really explain these twists without you watching the first official trailer so let’s take a look inside! This is completely in Japanese and I apologize at not being fluent in Japanese but it’s worth watching visually.

When I said twist I really meant twist. The base plot is still there it seems but the rest of it seems to be an original story. Three new characters seem to be making their appearance and also appear to be replacing Brock, Misty and Gary as Ash’s Traveling Companions and Rival. I wasn’t exactly sure and still am not really sure how to feel about this but then I think, these movies have never been canon with the main series. This is supposed to be a retelling, a celebration of the original series without copy and pasting the original show, which to be honest is better anyway. I just feel like the lack of Brock, Misty and Gary is disappointing considering they were major parts of the original series and should be celebrated just as much as Ash and Pikachu… Oh yeah Team Rocket is in it! Replacing Jessie and James would have been too much change so thank goodness those goofballs are still In it. Who knows maybe Brock and Misty will be making an appearance, at least as Gym Leaders. As this is only a trailer they could be holding out surprises on us. I can already see Gym Leaders are going to be in it considering Pikachu seems to be fighting in a Grass Type gym in one scene. (Hello Erika.)

Is this finally the HO-OH movie we’ve been waiting for? It sure seems like it! HO-OH has always been shirked in regards to movies with Lugia getting the most attention so I think now is a great time to finally give my favorite Gold and Silver Pokemon his own movie. (I like HO-OH better then Lugia… Don’t kill me I love Lugia.) It also seems like they’re including elements from generations other then 1 and 2 into this movie as one of Ash’s Companions has a Piplup… Hmmm… Why Piplup though? Is this perhaps, a hint towards a Diamond and Pearl remake? Maybe? Maybe I’m just spinning my wheels on that one. Marshadow, a yet to be released Pokemon Sun and Moon Pokemon seems to be following Ash around and his, what I’m assuming to be Ash’s new rival has an Incineroar so Sun and Moon is getting represented quite well despite this being a reboot of the first series. (Though I do hope we get an actual Sun and Moon based movie next year.)

One last big detail that’s wracking my brain is that old man… He has Red’s hat from the first Red and Blue games (Who Ash was based on.) and he has similar hair to be Ash and Red. At first I was thinking that this was obviously Ash’s Dad but wouldn’t he be a bit too old for that? Maybe Ash’s Grand Dad? Or perhaps this is Ash as an old man retelling this story.

Despite the lack of Brock, Misty and Gary I’m really looking forward to how this movie plays out. Just don’t view it as a retcon of the original series because it’s really not anything of the sort. These movies, except for the first few were never canon to the show anyway. This is simply a celebratory retelling twisted in a way that finally gives HO-OH his time to shine. Man I feel like replaying Pokemon Gold just because of this now. The movie releases later this summer in Japan and I only assume later on this year on Cart… I mean Disney XD. Yeah how is Disney and America going to distribute this movie? Has anyone noticed how the anime hasn’t aired at all over here in America yet? I’ve attempted to find an explanation why but with no luck.

I’ve had this pattern in my library for a while but now I finally get to feature this awesome knitting pattern. Today’s knitting pattern feature is the “Pokemon Poke Ball Knit Hat” by Vicki Mann!

Photos Provided by Vicki Mann on Ravelry

This is a normal beanie, with Red, Black and White coloring but it’s stylized with the added knitted Pokeball button to make it look, well like a Pokeball. Knitting it seems easy enough, it’s a simple beanie as long as you got the right colors. Though I can see It possible to use any color, I mean Pokeballs come in quite a few different colors.

Photos Provided by Vicki Mann on Ravelry

The Pokeball button is done completely separate using short rows (I’m familiar with them.) and then sewn on. This seems like a great hat for any Pokemon fan, which probably means you’ll be knitting this for yourself as I will be. I mean come on all knitters are Pokemon Trainers, right? You can check out this pattern on Ravelry but also don’t forget to check out Vicki on Ravelry and her Etsy store! She has a very yummy looking Cupcake hat pattern there…

That’s a wrap folks!