Spread the love

My name is Chey, or you can call me Endifi/Frosty. I am a freelance artist born with a bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, which impairs my bones, so I cannot walk far, jump, or run, and I’m wheelchair-bound. But despite me being impaired, I LOVE to draw. I’ve been drawing since I was practically a baby.

Do you know what else I really love? Pokémon. This franchise that been with me since I was a child, like most, and I’ve grown to appreciate its creativity, innovation, and its willingness to give us a friend to travel with us. I remember when I was a kid watching TV and a certain advertisement came on about Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. It was a commercial where they had people cosplaying as the Pokémon that were next to them—one was cosplaying as a Pikachu and one was a Torchic, etc. That commercial really convinced me to buy Pokémon Sapphire. And around 2009, I got more into Pokémon “gijinkas” by an artist (I, unfortunately, don’t remember their name). But that “Pokégijinka” artist inspired me to start drawing my own gijinkas. By the way, for those who don’t know, gijinka means giving humanizing traits to an animal, planet, item, etc.

#1 Yuejing The Umbreon

In 2013, I loved Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire so much, I created some gijinkas based upon that generation. I created stories about my characters and my friends really loved it so much. In 2013, I even got a special reward on Deviantart for a Pokémon gijinka I drew.

So that inspired me to do a challenge where I draw every single Pokémon in the National Dex, humanized. Unfortunately, I started college to pursue a degree in Media and Animation. But in 2018, it was time for me to challenge myself in character designing because I personally felt my art needed adjustment. So I started my Pokémon gijinka project.

#2 Eifiryu The Espeon

#3 Sumasa The Yamask

My goals for this project are to be diverse, tell stories with these characters, not to limit myself on ideas, and just have fun. Most of my gijinkas tend to be different people because I want to build and manufacture a creative world for them even if I’m just drawing a character. I even give them personal names just to humanize them more because when I was a kid, I always nicknamed my Pokémon. I’ve already completed the Kanto Dex and I’m almost done with the Johto Dex. And committing to this has not only improved my character designing skills, but myself as a person. So I would love to present you the starter gijinkas from both gens I’ve done and some other Poké gijinkas I’ve worked on.

I don’t own Pokémon, obviously, but the fanart is mine.