#mariontech

Some of the old takes and previous redesigns of Moure and Sokpig. Both of these designs are around ten years old. Although they weren’t initially related. Moure was just a little doodle while taking notes. It’s in there somewhere.

And Sokpig looked completely differently. Apparently, I made it in 2011 (thank you young me for actually writing a date on something). As you might tell from the scribbled-out bits, Sokpig almost got called HockHodge.

Art from 2013-2015. I felt the designs of these two were similar enough for them to be in the same evolution line. Sokpig got some changes, but still looks overall the same.

I changed Sokpig’s design earlier this year (2022), to give it a more original look over the vaguely dog shaped creature look that a lot of my old fakemon designs had. Although the “Sok” in its name is supposed to represent “shock”, it made me think of sock puppets, which fits in with the controlled/puppetry theme of the line, combine that with wire and you get a goofy proportioned friend. Just be careful giving it a hug, those spines are exposed wiring!

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Mariontech was an idea I came up with about two days ago while flipping through old files on my computer looking for stuff to redraw or redesign. I was thinking about Sokpig’s name, as mentioned above made me think of sock puppets. And a computer mouse is just a type of controller, putting the two together led to Mariontech’s initial conception.

Here are some of the concept sketches from this morning of me exploring ideas for Mariontech’s final design. Started out looking like a long sokpig with scifi marionette strings. I decided to move more simplistic towards the original concept that a computer mouse is a type of puppet and make it a sleek sci fi design. I also knew I wanted this final form to add the steel typing from the beginning, although during the process I almost considered experimenting with a psychic or ghost secondary typing.

Tried to push more for a tech look. This design kept making me think of turtles. I also felt it was a bit too long, even if it might be realistic of actual wiring. There was also a “wireless” version where I removed the wires, but I quickly scrapped that idea.

The antenna got removed when I started inking the final design. It didn’t fit in quite right and felt too antiquated next to the rest of the design (even if it makes it look really cute). Instead, I made one of the floaty bits longer to act as the receivers/strings of the design. I still feel like I could play with the concept behind Mariontech, and perhaps adjust some colors. But overall, I’m quite happy with it.