Pokémon Art Appreciation, Day 3: Loudred 136/185
This post is part of a series for WeblogPoMo 2024. Each day in May, I’m sharing my appreciation for my favorite Pokémon card art. View all of the posts in this series.
Today’s card is Loudred 136/185 from Vivid Voltage, released in 2020, and illustrated by miki kudo. It’s a bit different from the prior two that I’ve covered so far in that it’s not a “full art” card, but is instead one in the typical format. Here’s the card:
kudo has illustrated more than 50 Pokémon cards since 2016, and each one is a pure delight. Her style is soft and clean, often geometric, and always employs thoughtful color and a pleasing texture. She’s one of my favorite Pokémon artists.
Loudred sits atop a flat rock-like surface, set against a mountainous backdrop, with some trees visible in the distance below. His mouth is in the usual fully-open position, its pink hues mirrored in the sky above. It’s clear to the viewer that Loudred is doing his signature move, unleashing a mighty shout—we can tell from the sharp yellow lines emanating at the lower left and right, as well as the complementary yellow arcs flanking him above, which show a visible disruption in the space around him. The bleached-out mountains in the distance behind him might lack visible detail owing to the shock wave distortion from the shout; regardless, the bright whites contrast nicely with Loudred’s blue body. The dabs of texture on the pads of his feet might suggest dirt, possibly from his journey to the peak of this particular mountain.
The most striking visual feature of this art might be its symmetry. Not all of kudo’s pieces are symmetrical, but it’s certainly a common theme in her art, and she always uses it in a way that preserves the simplicity of the subject in an elegant way. In this case, the circular elements in Loudred’s ears complement the rings of his palate and throat (which remind me very much of the Looney Tunes backdrop that I watched often as a kid).
This card, like all of kudo’s others, brings joy whenever I come across one. I look forward to more of kudo’s Pokémon pieces, hopefully for many years to come. (Her latest card is a beautiful, texture-rich Farfetch’d that was just released in Japan last week.)
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