Once near-universally thought of as unwelcome graffiti, street art and the artists who create it have come to be viewed in a much more positive light in recent years. One such artist is now going viral across multiple platforms for their rendition of the Legendary Electric-typePokemon,Zapdos.
2021 continues to be a massive year for the long-runningPokemonfranchise. In addition to seeing the release of the highly anticipatedPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearllater this year,Pokemonas a whole is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Additionally, the ultra popularPokemon GOis celebrating its fifth anniversaryright now, offering players an assortment of challenges, research tasks, and rewards.
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Reposted onto the r/oddlysatisfying Reddit page from TikTok, the roughly minute-long video shows the artist’s entire spray painting process. Under the handle @fatcapsprays, the street artist begins thePokemonartwork by laying down an orange layer tracing an initial outline, followed by a few broader sprays. Zapdos' signature yellow color comes next, with the painter employing the same technique used with the orange layer.
They then trace over everything very closely with a can of white paint, which creates a vivid neon effect to the entire work. Finally, the artist adds pixel-like squares and lines in and around Zapdos, zooming out to reveal an incredible piece of street art.
The artwork is clearly a big hit withPokemonfans, racking up an incredible 13.6 million views on TikTok and nearly 16,000 upvotes on the Reddit repost. However, this isn’t the only TikTok artist to have gone viral on the platform for their fan art. Back in January, artist Leo Mahalo made headlines for their custom paint job, which turned aMacBook into the original Charizard Pokemon card. While the Charizard card art utilizes actual brushes to add finer details, both works use spray paint techniques to get a shimmery base layer.
One-third of the Legendary bird trio, Zapdos, along with counterparts Articuno and Moltres, continue to be some of the most popularPokemonto date. So much so, in fact, that newly discoveredAustralian Beetles have been named after the Legendary creatures. A new species of rare Binburrum beetles, the PhD student who discovered them named them as such to reflect the insect’s real-world rarity. Plus he’s just a hugePokemonfan.
The incredible Zapdos street art will certainly continue to get more attention in the immediate future. Fans will get their shot at capturing Zapdos again whenBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearllaunch this November.
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