65. Wedding
So, to be honest, I had a terrible time trying to figure out how I wanted to do this theme. Whether to go full digital color or stay black-and-white gradient or something else in-between, what kind of style to go for in terms of the formal attire (Western or Japanese traditional?), and then there was the framing to be thought over. Ugh, it was such a mess and my initial sketches didn't even come out as well as I'd hoped. The proportions just came out wrong to me, like their heads were too big in comparison to their bodies, and then there's the fact that when I tried my hand at drawing traditional Japanese wedding attire, I had little to no idea what I was drawing. I swear, if I had the money, I would buy myself a walk-in closet's worth of traditional Japanese clothes just so I could learn how the folds, creases, and shapes worked. I don't even care if I might be making a social faux pas by buying men's only clothes, I can't learn through just pictures alone gaddangit! D: Which is why I had to take a break from drawing these the first time around. Came back to them (after a long break time), redrew everything from scratch, and came out with better sketches and executions I was more comfortable with.
But enough about my moaning, groaning, and hair-pulling... Let's talk about the actual themes at hand, shall we? So, like I said at the start, I had a tough time choosing between the two different styles of wedding attire for Ash and Misty. (Sidenote: it should come as no surprise that I aged them up to adults. Ain't nothing kosher about having 10-year-olds marry each other.) I could have easily gone for just the Western look, seeing as I call them Ash and Misty and not Satoshi and Kasumi majority of the time. However, I always like to incorporate the whole Japanese factor when drawing out these themes since this series is an anime and not technically a Western cartoon (discussions about the semantics of either words will be held elsewhere, thank you). Especially if you focus on just the first season of the show. I mean, we have a whole episode about the Japanese-only holiday, Children's Day, for crying out loud! And the dolls that Misty talks about therein are way different from the barbies and babydolls I grew up with as a Westerner. (For one, depending on your family, you wouldn't be allowed to play with your Children's Day dolls.)
Thus, I went with both. From an artistic perspective, you can just say I drew both to satiate my selfish desire of having my cake and eat it too (though, since I'm the one doing all the work, does it really count?). But if you want an in-universe perspective, you could just say that Delia (Hanako, in the original Japanese) wanted something more traditional and thus Ash and Misty had to do two photoshoots in their wedding attire(s). Whether or not they had to do two different ceremonies is up to your own imagination. I will say, though, that even with a traditional Japanese wedding, they can still hold a reception afterward. So, hey! Maybe Ash and Misty wore their Western wedding clothes then? I'll leave it for you to decide. 8D (It's not at all because I'm an indecisive, rambling butthead.)
Also, I just want to make an aside that the design on Misty's shiromuku is supposed to be swanna flying through the clouds and above the ocean waves. I ended up researching a bit about the embroidered designs commonly seen on Japanese female wedding kimono (shiromuku) and found out that they're cranes; the bird is a symbol of longevity and good luck. So, I looked into what kind of bird pokemon is the most similar to cranes and while skarmory could've been a choice, I felt it more appropriate to go with swanna due to its proportions (despite swanna being inspired from swans but y'know). Also also, swanna are dual water/flying and since Misty is a water trainer... Yeah, I just really liked the idea. Besides, swans mate for life and I can only assume swanna do as well. So, yay~
(By the way, the coloring for Misty's skin wasn't an accident. I just didn't have the colors to make it look like she was wearing pantyhose in the Western wedding and pale makeup in the Japanese wedding.)
Anyway, that's all I have to say for this one. Onto the next theme (that hopefully isn't a two-for)!
Art © Hakui-Kitsune
Ash & Misty Ketchum, & Pikachu © Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo, Gamefreak Inc, OLM Inc, The Pokemon Company & International
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