Arcanine (kaichi)

New illustration of the day, a commission for MrShadowbox (again yes, he had asked me for the Hisuian Typhlosion already).
Arcanine, Ho-Oh and the landscape behind takes Japanese and Chinese inspirations. First, Arcanine is inspired by both komainu 狛犬 and Kaichi 獬豸, its Chinese version.
Ho-Oh is inspired by the creature Hōō 鳳凰, itself comes from Fenghuang 鳳凰 the Chinese phoenix.
In terms of the landscape, we find the famous Yellow Mountains of China, Huangshan 黄山 in Chinese.
The pose, the landscape and the colors are also inspired by the Arcanine card from the TCG EX Sandstorm extension (n°15/100, year 2004)