Last week, the first trailer for Pokémon Detective Pikachu nearly broke the internet. On YouTube, it’s garnered more than 46 million views, overshadowing Disney’s Toy Story 4 trailer released that same day and spawning meme after meme after meme. Some fans responded with adoration, stunned to see the world of Pokémon brought to life, while others gaped in horror at their new photorealistic designs. But it wasn’t the first time we’ve seen realistic Pokémon.
For anyone who lurked on Deviantart around the turn of the decade, Detective Pikachu’s trailer brought the illustrations of RJ Palmer, now a concept artist at Ubisoft San Francisco, immediately to mind. Though only 22 at the time, his realistic reimaginings of fan favorites like Charizard and Arcanine jettisoned what was then a budding freelance career as a concept artist and illustrator out of California. While other artists may have attempted to represent Pokémon in the real world, none had done so with such meticulous attention to detail and dedication to incorporating real-life biological traits as Palmer.
His work instantly went viral and caught the attention of many future employers, including a production designer at Legendary Pictures, the studio behind Detective Pikachu. The designer searched the internet for realistic Pokémon, Palmer @arvalis told the Daily Dot, and after finding his name offered him a job working on the movie. His reaction? “Holy shit yes, of course,” Palmer said, and he began work in a brand new city within the next week.
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