Summary
- Porygon fan artwork impresses thousands with unique digital glitch effect, sparking tattoo requests.
- Porygon, a controversial Pokemon, receives attention through fan art and potential anime reboot.
An artistically talented Pokemon fan is receiving plenty of attention after posting their remarkable artwork of the classic character Porygon. The unique drawing, which appears to have been created entirely by hand, leans into Porygon's uniquely digital nature, resulting in a visually striking image which is impressing thousands of fellow Pokemon fans.
Introduced as part of Pokemon's very first generation of creatures, Porygon is unique in that it's a human-made Pokemon composed entirely of programming code. Featuring a teal and pink polyhedral body, the Normal-type is infamously tied to controversy, unfortunately. The episode of the Pokemon anime, "Electric Soldier Porygon," caused around 700 children to be taken to hospitals when the episode first aired in Japan in 1997, causing widespread concern. This resulted in, what many fans may now say unfairly, Porygon effectively being shunned from the Pokemon anime series.
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The distinctive artwork of Porygon comes from Reddit, in which aptly-named user zigzagoon09 posted to one of the site's main Pokemon forum pages. Seemingly created with nothing but a few different art markers, the Porygon sketch appears like it started with Porygon's original drawing - matching the angles - with black. What really sets this drawing apart is the technique used with the red and blue markers, with red pointing left and blue pointing right. This creates a visually distinct digital glitch effect, potentially a reference to Porygon's controversial Pokemon episode, resulting in dozens of compliments from other fans of the franchise.
Upon further inspection, it appears that white-out or a white marker was also used, helping to break up the black lines and really sell the digital glitching effect. With roughly 3,700 upvotes at the time of writing, it's safe to say that the artwork is a hit with Pokemon fans, with many wanting to use the piece as a new tattoo. While the Porygon drawing is certainly impressive, one of the most recent other pieces of Porygon fan art features an entirely opposite motif. Rather than lean into its digital nature, one Pokemon fan drew Porygon as a human, a fan art niche known as Gijinka.
A Possible Reboot for Porygon
Despite Porygon being virtually nonexistent within the Pokemon anime series, the Pokemon has remained a favorite of longtime fans of the series. Fortunately, the character is being given attention through Pokemon TCG, by way of the first piece of Pokemon Day 2025 merch being a Porygon playmat. The mat features the Pokemon along with its evolved forms, Porygon2 and Porygon-Z, with a computer chip background. This could serve as a sign that the Pokemon franchise is willing to put Porygon back in the spotlight, at least a bit.
- Created by
- Satoshi Tajiri
Pokemon is a franchise that needs no introduction. One of the most successful media empires in history, Pokemon spans games, television, films, manga, merchandise, music, and more.