According to Pokémon illustrator Yusuke Ohmura, the Ultra Beasts' designs were created with the aim of making them look as little like traditional Pokémon as possible, making use of "combinations of motifs that could never realistically exist" as well as unused Pokémon designs that Ohmura had submitted but had been rejected by primary Pokémon character designer Ken Sugimori. The reasons why these designs were rejected were used as a basis for the designs of the Ultra Beasts.