>>12374681>>12374696Æsthetically, just look at Sugimori's art and the visual designs of the existing Pokémon – there is a given approach to colouring, linework, and how details are included that would be easier to intuite based on observation and experimentation then explain; avoid a design that comes across as visually cluttered.
But, more important, is *concept*; so many fakemons fail at the conceptual level, regardless of execution. A good concept can either be a visual pun (
>>12369467 - parrots are associated with pirates,
>>12369203- toucans/hornbills have been associated with fruit in some pop cultural depictions, and are tropical with birds,
>>12372295 - takes the cliché fish skeleton eaten by cartoon cats, turns it into a skeletal theme and molds it with a black cat to produce a Dark-type Pokémon), linguistic pun (Helioptile's Japanese name is "Erikiteru," a combination of the Japanese name for a frilled lizard and "erekiteru," the Japanese word for a static electricity generator, pulled together by the frill-as-solar-panel image), a single brilliant visual stroke (Vullaby's "egg diaper" is an upside-down human skull, the nose of which also produces a "cute" heart), or, even more satisfyingly in my opinion, derives from multi-layered mythological references (Bulbagarden's "On the Origin of Species").
