Here’s the winner of last week’s vote, Raticate! It turned out pretty well if I say so myself.

I had a feeling that this pokemon would win against yungoos, but it only won by a few extra votes. I’m thinking it was either because it’s popular from a nostalgic point, or that some thought it would be a challenge to make; it was challenging for sure!

Much like Gyarados, Raticate’s face is hard to define from the official art alone; I practiced drawing it before I even posted the vote up – you can see the difference between my drawing from memory vs the practiced one. I couldn’t fully grasp where the mouth sat in its relatively potato-shaped body; the lower jaw seems to sink into the body without a trace.

Eventually, I drew the shape and added some grid lines to get a better idea about its body; once I figured out that the top of the face was a flat wedge forming into a potato, the rest of the body parts were easier to conceptualize. The only pieces that were not so straightforward were the hands, because the art hides its tiny arms; for the longest time, I thought the hands poke out directly from the body.

I reused some techniques from last week’s plush; I am still enjoying the combination of chaining and crocheting with an open magic ring, which is what I used for the hands. I still use double crochets to gently shape the body; the half-increase and half-decrease rounds are better suited to more intense shaping, like a hind leg.

One new thing I tried was when I was making the muzzle bit: it started off with 3 single crochets in a magic ring, then chaining, forming a large round out of the chain, and then finishing off with 3 double crochets in one crochet. The magic ring prevented the muzzle from looking too much like a pair of lips, while the last few double crochets created a nose. It even marked out where the teeth should sit.

I loved how the tufts came out! Actually, the yarn colour turned out to be more interesting when there’s a limited selection. I found a gradient yarn from reddish to greenish brown for its body, which added a nice textured look. Combined with chained triangle tufts, it emulates the scruffiness of the artwork.

Overall, raticate turned out to be more doable than I thought. With the key features figured out, here are the final results:

Thanks for reading!