>>53028219>if they come up with something that could work into an evolution that would actually be different, they just think "no need to change it when it evolves, I'll just make this into a new pokemon"First time I hear of this, but I'd believe it. I often see designs where all stages can be summarized by the same phrase (frog wearing lily hat, ape with rock armor, etc), but even though their appearances change slightly inbetween stages, there's rarely a new feature or expansion of the concept, thus making it all seem it just gets bigger even though they visually mature.
My rule of thumb is always that if a midstage doesn't bring much to the line, debate whether you can axe it entirely and then either make the base stage more complex or simplify the last stage to bridge the gap more easily if the evolution gets too drastic.
That said, drawing style isn't always everything. I'd rather see a bunch of nice concepts than polished final products, odds are they'll get that final treatment before finalized as sprites.
