The Evolution Begins: Pokémon #002 Ivysaur

Well, Bulbasaur didn’t stay lonely for long!

Following on from my last post where I kicked off my massive “Pokémon 151 Book Folding Challenge” with #001, I’m thrilled to say that entry number two is already complete. It feels good to keep the momentum going so early in this long-term project.

Next up on the Pokédex list is, of course, the evolved form of Bulbasaur: #002 Ivysaur.

Meeting Ivysaur

If you aren’t familiar with how Pokémon work, many of them “evolve” into bigger, stronger forms as they gain experience.

Ivysaur is the next step up from Bulbasaur. The noticeable difference here is that the bulb on its back has grown significantly and has started to open into a pink flower bud. Apparently, the more sunlight it gets, the more the bud grows. He’s looking a bit tougher and ready for action!

The design approach

To make sure these books look like a cohesive set when sitting together on a shelf, I decided to stick strictly to the same style I used for Bulbasaur.

Once again, I chose a clean line-art pattern and used the standard cut-and-fold technique. Just like before, I inserted black cardstock into the folds to create those crisp, dark outlines, giving it that “colouring book page” vibe that I really love. Unfortunatly I completely forgot to take a photo before I coloured the book!

Bringing in the colour

It’s interesting how these characters evolve; even their colours shift slightly! I knew from studying reference images before starting that Ivysaur’s skin tone is actually a different shade than Bulbasaur’s, so I made sure to select just the right distinct colours from my Promarker collection before putting pen to paper.

To ensure the best possible finish, I stuck to the same rigorous technique I used on the first book. I didn’t just colour the front edge of the pages; I also painstakingly coloured in the insides of the folds too. This definitely takes longer, but it gives such great, deep coverage and makes the final result look so much better. It was also lovely to introduce a brand new colour to the palette with that deep pink for the flowering bud on his back.

A late-stage wobble

However, I have to be honest, it wasn’t entirely plain sailing right up to the finish line. Towards the very end of the project, I ran into a familiar and very frustrating problem: the pages started to crease slightly near the end of the design as I was manipulating them.

This is an issue I have battled with in the past on other books, and it always makes my heart sink a little when it happens! It made those final few folds a little more stressful than I’d planned, trying to manage the paper tension carefully, but I managed to work through it and got there in the end.

Two down!

I am so pleased with how Ivysaur turned out. It’s a strange but very satisfying feeling seeing the two books sitting next to each other; you can really see the clear progression and growth between the two characters even in folded paper form.

That’s two down, only 149 to go! Next up, we complete this specific evolution family with the big guy: #003 Venusaur.

Clare x