I always wanted to make a pokemon based on civets and genets, a very elusive arboreal critters of ambiguous stature, not quite cats, not quite weasels, not quite foxes. But I always struggled with designing a first stage for it, so for it specifically I decided to use another ambiguous looking mammal, a tanuki.
I also wanted to evoke a specific attribute of fire that is rarely being explored with pokemon designs, and it's smoke and smoldering fires. Usually when it comes to starters especially, it's about hot active fires, burning brighter than the sun, so I wanted to elicit a slow, low temperature, smoky fire. So reds and yellows that I used are bit less bright, and intentionally go in a gradient from the hot nose to the cool tail. And they use that feature do great use, as they disguise themselves in a cloud of smoke, that trails of their tail.
by Fedatu