With just a few months left until the upcoming launch of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, fans are already flooding the internet with original artwork. Some have even shared their Pokemon Legends fan theories and expected changes in high anticipation for the video game. Now, another excited player has married the upcoming title with the Pokemon TCG, creating a physical artwork of the game's Hisuian Growlithe using the franchise's trading cards.
It seems that there has been a rise in Pokemon fanart using the trading card game. Recently, a popular artist on Reddit showcased their custom Pokemon TCG pieces of Abra and Beedrill in all their 3D glory. With Pokemon Legends: Arceus being an unreleased new game, no TCG artwork of the recently announced variant Pokemon seem to have been shared online yet. However, a trend may likely follow once the game has been officially launched into the market, and The Pokemon Company has created a specific card line just for Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
In their excitement for the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Redditor betawolferz was inspired to create original fan art of the game's Hisuian Growlithe. They used a number of Pokemon TCG energy cards to create the whole piece, likely cutting up several pieces to build the entire artwork. Upon inspection of the artwork, the Redditor likely used mainly Fire Pokemon TCG energy cards to create most of the Hisuian Growlithe's body, with Metal energy cards for its mane and tail, while Water energy cards were pieced together to create the background.
I made a Hisuian Growlithe out of TCG energy cards! So excited for Legends Arceus to come out. from pokemon
Given that the variant Pokemon Hisuian Growlithe will be a Fire and Rock-type in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, some comments on the Reddit thread asked why the artist chose Water energy cards as the artwork's background. With the Pokemon TCG Fire and Fighting energy card colors being red and orange, betawolferz explained that they chose to use Water energy cards to provide contrast to the fan art, allowing the Hisuian Growlithe to stand out. Other replies on Reddit complimented the artist's piece, and even requested for art of other Pokemon such as Skuntank. As of the moment, the artist did mention that they are open to doing commission work for custom pieces.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be launched on the Nintendo Switch this January 2022, however, only a couple of variant Pokemon have been announced for the game. Fans are likely hopeful that more will be revealed leading up to the game's release, and will serve as fuel for unique fan art such as this Hisuian Growlithe Pokemon TCG piece.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be launched this January 28, 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.