Jirachi the Wishmaker

Howdie howdie to another session of Chard's critiques, in which strangely I love doing on Eievui's work more than anything else. This particular deviation features Jirachi, one of the more phenomenally cute Legendary that joins the ranks of Mew, Celebi and Shaymin. The question is how wonderful is this piece of digital art compared to so many others? To make this work, let's forget about this picture for a moment, and all the past works Eievui put into this picture, so as to remove all biased opinions based on past works.

First off is the visual appeal. At the very first glance, before even registering it as a Pokemon, one can tell that the character in question is something beautiful, something that does not look as if it is of this world (And there is no pun intended when I say it looks out of this world). To a non-fan, it's eye candy, but to any true blue Pokemon fans out there, the knowledge of Jirachi is a sight to behold compared to the pokedex graphics and even the movie DVD versions. The fact that the background color of space offsets the yellowish golden color of its starry design just dark enough not to ruin its own sky blue ribbon and lace is reason enough why vision deserves a near perfect score (99%)

Okay, so what am I thinking for giving this Jirachi a high score despite the fact that it is a Pokemon? It may not be obvious at first, but originality is determined by how much of a modification is made to make the subject a unique character compared to everything else. Take her previous character like the Vaporeon that I reviewed and critiqued, for example. Very little thought has been given to make that Vaporeon any different from the rest of the pack, and the only salvo is a little fur and swirly design here and there... but that's where the difference end. Take this Jirachi to light now. Instead of following a standard Jirachi design like so many other artists, Eievui made some modifications: a big blue ribbon on the top with blue lace trailing down rather than the white rectangular wishing tags hanging down its head like some silly ornament. In fact, this design is a lot better than the game version for that reason (And I apologise for all the male Jirachis who may be emotionally scarred if this design ever comes out in the games). Originality is very high for the fact that this particular Jirachi has become an original character of its own, all thanks to Eievui's customisation. (93%)

Technique continues to be a concern, although not as much in this picture. It is very easy to see that compared to a lot of other previous works that the lineart has gotten smoother, there is much much less.... correction.... NO color leaks or left-out white spots in the art, which is the best thing! And the shading! That is something you don't see every day. Although it is cel shaded with a degree of parallel hatching, the shadows cast on this Jirachi is interesting, and if you look carefully and imagine, it is as though they appear to be the tail of some shooting star or comet. Given Jirachi's celestial nature, that theme fits well. And the final thing to note are its eyes, which are the defining touches of Eievui's work. Notice that the eyes, too, have a celestic design: a crescent moon shape on all eyes, and a nice white star on its "third" eye. Even there, one can feel the shades of blue glowing life into Jirachi's eyes, more so on its "third" eye. Technique gets a top notch score. (95%)

Finally it's impact. Given its fanbase origins an anime style is the best way to portray it, and this picture shines in this particular field. The effort to put down Japanese kanji is well worth the trouble to learn it (Even though I can't read Japanese) and as such perfectly suits the anime theme. Feel free to give out an "Awwww" because Jirachi deserves more than just a simple <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/p/p…" width="15" height="16" alt="" title="+fav" /> (99%)

Overall this picture can be considered one of the crowning glories to Eievui's work. Despite all her remarks that it is "phail" everybody shall be convinced that she is quite a terrible liar, and she can't lie her way out of a paper bag. Yes, Eievui, I'm complimenting your cute little "kink" in nature and I hope you do well in all your future works. This is Chard saying:

"Until then... Goodnight!"