Realistic Pokemon: Scyther

Ah, finally done! Scyther was difficult to design, and I tweaked it a little bit compared to my initial concept. Scyther has some reptilian aspects (face and feet) but everything else is insect-like. So, ultimately I class Scyther as the 'half bug, half reptile' type of creature, similar to Flygon and it probably exists in a taxonomic class all its own. The scythes probably have keratin reinforced with steel compounds or something like that to add strength and sharpness, but they're not flat out steel blades. Finding the balance between the two aspects is important. Fully Praying Mantid Scythers or full Dinosaur Scythers with a few insect bits going on doesn't appeal to me. I used various animals for reference, Boyd's Forest Dragon and some dinosaur-like aspects for the reptilian parts, and grasshoppers and mantids for the insect parts. I wanted the head to appear mantis like, with the small horns representing mantis eyes (here they would be pseudo-eyes) and the central horn being similar to a Devil Flower Mantis. During metamorphosis into Scizor, Scyther becomes a lot more insect-like in appearance. I even kept in little pseudo insectoid limbs in the middle of the torso as a kind of tribute to Hexapods.

Time to start Steel-Type.

Done in Photoshop CS5 + Wacom Cintiq 24 HD in about 7 hours or so.