What if Professor Oak turns evil and reengineers Pokemon with Kaijins – the creatures from Kamen Rider? Enter Po-Kaijin – a computer technician’s personal art project seeking to explore this quirky concept of Nintendo’s globally received game.

What is a Kaijin you ask?

Derived from the Japanese word “Kaiju” which translates to monster, Kaijin on the other hand means “strange person”. It typically refers to a humanoid monster! Gasp!

To date, Chen Zhi Yong has created 36 Po-Kaijin. Each week, a brand new artwork is uploaded without fail after Zhi Yong painstakingly works on each art piece every night after coming home from his full time job.

“Much of the time is spent on researching and brainstorming before the actual drawing takes place,” Zhi Yong says.

He prefers choosing a fully evolved Pokemon because he loves the way they were designed.

The first impression of a Pokemon is the key in giving it a Kamen Rider-esque facelift. The objective is to surprise and awe its viewers.

There were times when his brainstorming process took days and some were just a matter of minutes.

Eksentrika was allowed a glimpse of what usually takes place in Zhi Yong’s mind and why the initial stage is crucial to the artist.

“Many have typically drawn Venusaur resembling a frog with a blooming bud on its back.

“But I take it to the next level. How would it appear if I turn it into a feminine monster?” says the 25-year-old. He creates several drafts before deciding the specific style for his creation.

Using a fairly-priced brush pen to ink, the Labuan-born colors using Faber-Castell’s twin tip markers on a 70gsm A4 paper.

It takes him 10 to 20-minutes to come up with a rough draft pencil sketch. What follows are two-straight hours of inking and coloring, each proccess taking as much amount of time it needs, almost equal to each other.

But why fuse Pokemon with Kaijin? Why not fuse it with something else?

I enjoy the designs of the Kaijin on the Kamen Rider show. They’re silly, absurd and yet I feel harmonious when looking at them. So, turning a cute figure into something unexpected is fun and challenging!

What do you expect from the creation of these Po-Kaijin?

There are days when I stare mindlessly into the empty piece of paper.

I only draw when there is an idea and there is no expectation from gaining anything from it. I just do it because I enjoy doing it. My hope is that more people enjoy my art and share it with their friends.

Last question and a very important one at that – are you a Pokemon fan?

I liked Pokemon when I was kid but was never a fan of it. I’ve never played Pokemon games to be honest. But I did collect some Pokemon cards and figurines when I was in primary school.

What? Not a Pokemon fan? Get out of here! Regardless, Zhi Yong’s work is unique and has the capacity to awe fans and non-fans alike.

For now, his focus is primarily on drawing the final evolution forms of the first generation Pokemon – those 151 Pokemon which debuted in the Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow games back in 1996 on Nintendo’s handheld gaming system, the Gameboy.

You know – the ones many are crazily hunting down these days using their phones.

Oh! Speaking of Pokemon art, check out this architect who created his own wacky Pokemon evolutionary line.

Architect creates his own Pokemon evolution, includes Najib

More images of Zhi Yong’s amazing Po-Kaijin can be viewed on Facebook and on Deviant Art. Are you an artist who draws for fun like Zhi Yong and wishes to share your art pieces with the world? Drop us an email along with samples of your artworks to [email protected] You will be credited!

Tags: Chen Zhi Yong