Charmander (Pokemon) Pancake Art Tutorial

Introduction

Here’s a guide to making Charmander Pancake Art; Gotta fry ’em all!

Batter Colors:

Black
Red
Orange
Dark Orange (Add one drop brown dye to Orange)
Yellow
Blue-Green (One drop green, one drop blue)
Purple
Light Purple (One drop purple)
Light Brown (one drop brown dye)
White
Plain

Note: You can simplify this design by doing a solid orange for the body, plain batter for the tummy, and solid purple for the mouth.

Remember, feel free to customize any part as we go; this is simply a straightforward tutorial. Be as creative as you want!

This charming lizard will capture your heart! From the pokedex: "The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when Charmander is enjoying itself. If the Pokémon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely."

Step 1

With your griddle/pan off, begin by drawing the outline of Charmander with your black pancake batter. We recommend starting with the eyes, and keeping them fairly small. Remember, you don’t want to make the pancake too big to flip! The bigger they are, the more chance of breakage and burning. If you are worried about yours being too big as you go or don’t want to do so much detail, feel free to just make Charmander’s face! Just use the reference image, and take your time! You can use paper towels or Q-tips to wipe up or “erase” any mistakes you may make during the outline process.

Step 2

Grab your white batter and color in ovals at the center of Charmander's eyes. One of the eyes has a little white at the edge, too.
Grab your black batter again and color in a rounded shape in each eye - these are charmander's pupils.
For the rest of Charmander's irises, use your blue-green and fill that area.

Once you have your outline, we’ll start by filling in Charmander’s eyes. Draw a big white circle for the highlight near the top of the eyes. You can fill the space around the highlight with black, minding to keep that bottom half empty. Then you can fill in that bottom space with blue-green!

Step 3

Then you’ll fill in the mouth. Fill in the teeth with white, the tongue/lower half with purple, and fill in the back of the mouth with dark purple.

Step 4

With your plain batter, begin to add highlights in certain places on Charmander's body t indicate the 'light' hitting the character.
Continue to add highlights in important places, such as Charmander's knees and arms.
There are some smaller highlights accenting some of Charmander's facial features. Try not to miss these.

Now you’ll add in highlights. Remember that these are where the light hits Charmander most! It looks like the light on Charmander is coming from the left in this picture. So we’ll use plain batter to draw a small circle on the top of Charmander’s head, on the top of their legs, and on the top of their snout.

Step 5

Using your darker orange batter, draw shapes to establish the areas of shading on Charmander.
Continue to fill shading on the sides of Charmander's arms, legs and tail.
For Charmander's belly and the underside of the tail, switch to your tan/light brown batter, to create contrast between Charmander's body and underside.

Next you’ll add shadows. Remember, these are where the light can’t reach. Use dark orange to fill in the space under their chin, behind their head, under their arms, and on most of their tail. You’ll use the light brown to fill in the underside of their tummy and the underside of their tail.

Step 6

With your bold orange batter, begin filling in the rest of Charmander's face, arms, legs, and the top of Charmander's tail.
At this point, your pancake should look something like this. We're almost there!
Using your plain batter, fill Charmander's belly and any area on the tail underside you missed.

Now we’ll fill in the rest of the body, minus the flame at the end of their tail. Use plain batter to fill the tummy, and fill the rest of their body with orange. Be careful to stay within the lines!

Step 7

Time to fill in some final details. Using your white batter, color in Charmander's claws.
Using the white batter you have in hand, go ahead and fill in a bright core for Charmander's tail flame.
With a mix of red, orange, and yellow batters (you can have fun with this part) fill in the rest of Charmander's tail flame!

Now all that’s left to fill in is Charmander’s toes and tail flame. Use white to fill in the toes (claws) and then the core of the tail flame. When you fill the rest of the flame, you can be extra creative here if you’d like! You can use red, orange, and yellow batter to fill it in, in any way you want. It’s up to you, have fun with it!

Step 8

Begin outlining your pancake with plain batter - this will give it more body and hold some of the flimsy pieces (like Charmander's tail) together when it's time to flip.
You'll want to fill all around the outside edge. It can be a very soothing process.
At the end I like to go back over the rest of the pancake and add a little bit of extra batter to any places where I might've missed a spot; that way there aren't any holes on the front.

Create an outline around your entire Charmander with batter. You can use any color (or colors) you’d like! Then cover the back of your pancake with a zig zag as well. For extra precautions (like say, if your pancake is looking paper thin) you can cover the whole backside in plain batter to give it more thickness. This’ll help make it stronger for the flip! Once you’ve filled every last part of Charmander, you can turn on the griddle to around 225°.

Step 9

Once you're done drawing and filling your design, set the griddle to approximately 225 degrees fahrenheit. As your pancake cooks, you'll see bubbles appear like in this image.
You want the whole back of the pancake to have popped bubbles, and for the surface to look like it isn't shiny anymore.
When the pancake seems cooked through, begin to 'carve' it, by gently loosening it from the griddle surface with the edge of your spatula. Work your way around the outside edge until the pancake releases from the griddle.

While it’s cooking slowly, don’t panic! These pancakes are cooking at a much slower temperature than typical pancakes. They will take a very long time to burn.

Once bubbles begin to cover the surface of your pancake, and the pancake starts to look more like a solid than a liquid, you can work the spatula gently around the edges to separate the pancake from the griddle. This is a process we call “carving.”

Be patient, you shouldn’t need to carve the pancake off forcefully; it’ll separate more and more as it cooks.

Step 10

When your pancake is loose from the griddle, it's time to flip! With confidence, slide your spatula under the pancake...
...turn the pancake over all at once...
...And reveal your pokemon pancake masterpiece! Let this charming Charmander cook on its other side for a moment, then remember to turn off your griddle.

Once the pancake is unstuck and can freely move around the griddle, it’s about time to flip. It’s very important to slide the spatula under the pancake in one smooth motion, quickly and confidently. You also can’t be hesitant while flipping it. The more confidently you do this step, the more likely your pancake will be fine. Take a breath, have faith… and give it a flip!

Conclusion

Congrats! I’m sure you did great. Even if you don’t think so, remember,

Mistakes Are Delicious!

You’ll do even better next time!

Plate your Charmander pancake, and enjoy! Great work, everyone - you'll be the very best in no time at all!