PKMN Character Design: Cassandra (Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs)

For this piece, I decided to take a radical departure from my previous Pokémon character illustrations and work in the style of a spin-off title - Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs. The illustrator I decided to imitate the style of, Kouki Saitou, draws their characters very differently compared to the mainline games, especially when it comes to lighting - Mr. Kouki is very generous with his highlights, almost giving his characters a glossy feel.
With the recently leaked design documents for Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version, I thought making one of my own for the character would help me get into the headspace of designing a Pokémon character - even an unofficial one for a spin-off game. It also helped me nail down some personality traits and design pieces early on, such as her "ojou ringlets," a design trope used to denote wealthiness or royalty.
After going through four initial iterations, I initially settled on a mixture between all four. However, after returning to the project almost a year later, I decided to create a fifth, and final, iteration of the character - one which I felt looked exponentially better. I then got to work on the tricky part: mimicking Mr. Kouki's distinct art style to the best of my ability. Based on the results below, I believe I did a good job of mimicking Mr. Kouki's style!