CAP 19 CAP 19 - Sprite Submissions

[paintseagull]

We've chosen the art to represent our poisonous, electrically charged, water-loving, sleep-hating CAP 19, now we need a sprite! We're going to start a 3D model contest for CAP 19 too, but sprites are needed sooner (same timeline as usual) and so sprite artists still have artistic license with respect to details and shiny colouring. Let's get started!

Sprite Rules

• Sprites should be inspired by the winning design from the Art Poll. It does not need to be an exact rendition of every detail of the design; "artistic license" is granted to all spriters. However, drastic deviation from the selected art design is discouraged.
• All sprites (front and back) can have a maximum size of 96x96.
• All sprites (front and back) must have a complete, unbroken, distinguishable outline. It does not need to be a black outline, but it must be clearly distinguishable from the adjacent interior colors of the sprite
• No action effects, move effects, environment effects or additional objects can be rendered on or around the pokemon.
• Sprites must be in PNG format.
• Use 8-bit truecolor (aka 8-bit RGB) or less. This does NOT mean 256 color mode.
• Use transparent backgrounds.
• All sprites must be scratch sprites that are completely original works by the spriter. Fusions of other sprites or pixel-overs of other artist's lineart are not allowed.
• Do not alter, fuse, recolor or otherwise modify another spriter's submission unless the original artist explicitly gives permission.
• All sprites (front and back) must use roughly the same size and pose when compared to each other.

Final Submission Post

All spriters must make a final submission post conforming to the sprite rules (listed above) and the following:

• The post must have "Final Submission" (in bold) as the first line, with the sprites at the top, and any additional description or comments (if applicable) below them.
• Final submissions must contain a minimum of 4 sprites - Front Normal, Front Shiny, Back Normal, Back Shiny. If spriters choose to include gender differences (Male and Female versions of each) then 8 sprites must be submitted. Gender differences are NOT required.
• Only submit ONE PNG that contains all the submitted sprites. Please do not submit separate images for every sprite. One "cutsheet" makes it easier for mods to track submissions and ensure each complete set of sprites stay intact.
• Only make one (1) final submission post.

All legal final submissions will be included in the sprite poll.

Advice for Spriters

There are 8 possible sprites:

• Front Normal Male
• Front Normal Female
• Front Shiny Male
• Front Shiny Female
• Back Normal Male
• Back Normal Female
• Back Shiny Male
• Back Shiny Female

In most cases, spriters post a Front Normal sprite first. Once feedback comes in and the poll nears, they make the other sprites. You do not have to make different Male and Female sprites. Typically there are only minute differences between male and female sprites, but some spriters make noticeable changes between genders, which is also fine. Shiny coloring is completely up to the spriter to choose, even if the design artist posted suggested shiny coloring with their art design submission. Please look at your transparent sprites against different colored backgrounds, not just white. In Pokémon Showdown, the sprite will be displayed on multiple background colors in battle.

Main Design

Additional supporting material by the design artist (Magistrum) can be found here. Spriters are NOT obligated to use any design elements of artwork not represented in the Main Design. This includes details shown only in back views or other action poses by the design artist. The only official reference artwork for this project is the Main Design and all other artwork is provided to be referenced at spriters' discretion.

--------------------

Concept:

Name: Einherjar ~Acta Est Fabula~

Description: A Pokemon that dissuades your opponent from fainting it, or can even leave it's presence on the field felt even after it faints.

Justification: When a Pokemon faints, it's usually thought of as the battle having gotten down to a 5-6. However, we've yet to discover if a Pokemon can leave a lasting impression on the battle even after having fainted; be it through moves like Healing Wish and Destiny Bond, placing hazards that the opponent can't remove as their removal has been taken care of, or by leaving an opponent's key member weakened and/or taken out.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How can a Pokemon leave a long-lasting effect on the rest of the battle with just it's moves?
• How the hell is it different from simply ramming a sacrificial martyr into your opponent's team and hoping it punches holes in it?
• Building on the previous question, is it possible to build this Pokemon as a defensive threat rather than a "Glass Cannon"?
• Is it even possible for a Pokemon to leave a lasting effect on on the battle, even after it faints?
• Could changing your opponent's way of thinking even be plausible? From, "I need to take CAP X out!", to, "Damn, if I take CAP X out, I'll be in trouble...!"

Type: Electric/Poison
Abilities: Storm Drain / (Insomnia/Vital Spirit)
Stats: 60 HP / 57 Atk / 119 Def / 131 SpA / 98 SpD / 100 Spe

Leadership Team:

Pwnemon- Topic Leader
ginganinja - Ability Leader
srk1214 - Typing Leader
alexwolf - Movepool Leader
Deck Knight - Stats Leader

 

[Quanyails]

Here's a first and rather rough draft from me. I'm thinking of moving the tail to a different position, and I'm not too fond of the dorsal fin's yellow ring on the back sprite. Whenever I have time I'll try to edit those around.

 

[HeaLnDeaL]

Here's my super rough WIP that I made a few days ago. I've been wanting to make a new version with more of the back showing for a while now, so I'll try to do that over the coming days.

Quany, I really like your sprite so far, but I agree moving the tail might be a good idea. I love the head and the ring details! My main critique is that Magistrum intended the Pokemon to be quite.. well, giant, and your sprite looks more like a mid-size to large mon.

 

[Typhlito]

Like last time, when the time comes when you need an animation done, let me know!

edit: you guys may want to consider making it in a similar pose as mantine/mantyke since it shares a similar body structure.

 

[Emerald Master]

Here's my super rough WIP that I made a few days ago. I've been wanting to make a new version with more of the back showing for a while now, so I'll try to do that over the coming days.

Quany, I really like your sprite so far, but I agree moving the tail might be a good idea. I love the head and the ring details! My main critique is that Magistrum intended the Pokemon to be quite.. well, giant, and your sprite looks more like a mid-size to large mon.

I like the angle you took with it. It really looks like it's ready to fight with that pose

 

[Skybluejay]

Like last time, when the time comes when you need an animation done, let me know!

edit: you guys may want to consider making it in a similar pose as mantine/mantyke since it shares a similar body structure.

I need to disagree on your mantine idea for the frontal animation. the top half of cap 19's body is where all the fun is at as far as the design and animation goes. those yellow polka-dots, yellow tipped dorsal fin and the two shades of purple(one on the main body and the other on the claw things) and the head spikes/head dots continue the trend of natural eye candy. To show the underside for most of the time cap 19 is on the field would be a huge blob of boring yellow for the opponent.

To everyone!!!
get cap 19's good side in the spotlight at all costs.

 

[DougJustDoug]

Here are two outlines of poses I have been playing around with:

I'm not in love with either of these. The first one is a little too boring for my taste as an "attacking pose". The second is very dynamic, but requires me to take some artistic license with the position of the "barbs" on the fins to pull off the pose. Maybe too much artistic license... But this gives you an idea of the kinda thing I'm trying to do with this sprite. Feedback welcome.

 

[Bughouse]

The biggest thing I'd be careful with, and this is to everyone, is to not make the sprite look too much like a bird/pterodactyl thing. The action poses I've seen thus far at least very much make me think of Yveltal. I'm not sure how you get around that when doing an action pose. The flexing of the fins and the verticality just suggests something avian so strongly. Something more along the lines of what Quanyails has done, while perhaps more boring in directly translating Magistrum's winning design, avoids that whole mess of confusing the viewer. Or at least confusing me. I don't know if other people share this opinion.

 

[EpicUmbreon29]

HeaLnDeaL
I think the sprite could be improved if the yellow was lighter (like in Magistrum's art), but other than that it's a great WIP!

 

[HeaLnDeaL]

WIP

So, over the past week I've been sketching out some new poses and I guess this is where I've been going. I tried to make sure the head was visible in the back sprite, which led to the outline of the head going outside of the outline of the body. I also tried to keep a better balance of yellow and purple than in my previous version. And, responding to Umbreon's comment, and went and made the yellows lighter.

I think I'm struggling with the circles on the back, as some of them look odd/skewed incorrectly. And suggestions and comments on anything you guys think could be done better would be greatly appreciated :D

I'm also a bit worried if the pose is too bird-like, but at the same time trying to emphasize this isn't a water-type might be good too... It's a tricky balance, and I'm not sure I'm there yet.

DougJustDoug, I like your second pose a lot, and I also think you made a good decision on the general size of your sprites :)

 

[Tsaeb XIII]

As a general comment, a stingray's body tends to sit in either a flat plane (as in the sketches Magistrum provided in the 3D modelling thread) or, if there is any curvature at all, the tail arcs up, the body arcs down, and the head is raised relative to the body . I think part of the reason the current sprites are coming out rather bird-like is that they are all arcing the tail around under the body, which is a relatively rare position to find a ray in, but is very reminiscent of poses like Archeops. Magistrum's original art does have the tail below the plane of the body but, importantly, the body is flat, and the tail is isn't in an arc, avoiding bird connotations. The original WIP posted by HeaLnDeaL is the only one that has really followed this style, and is the least bird-like because of it. I would personally really like to see a revision of Quanyails' design with the arc of the body and tail inverted (so that the tail is in a more scorpion style pose), bringing it more in line with the natural pose of a stingray.

 

[Jaret]

Very VERY rough wip here. I like the pose, but the stylistic approach doesn't really fit unfortunately, and the design doesn't have much on the belly-side either, which is the majority of this sprite. Feel free to use it if you see another way to enhance it because I will probably scratch it.

EDIT:

"Stole" the original author's pose and pretty happy with how it's turning out. Will probably try to cut down on the belly and add some back to it as the belly is empty and the back is wonderfully detailed.

EDIT:

Worked further on the colors and shading and whatnot.

EDIT:

Went ahead and colored how i envision a shiny version. Took a look at the finished versions of the other CAP pokemon and i have to say, i am pretty intimidated (pun absolutely intended). It's amazing to what extremes you guys take these sprites.

 

[HeaLnDeaL]

Alright, since Tsaeb brought it up, I thought I'd share some of my own thoughts regarding poses for CAP19.

As a general comment, a stingray's body tends to sit in either a flat plane (as in the sketches Magistrum provided in the 3D modelling thread) or, if there is any curvature at all, the tail arcs up, the body arcs down, and the head is raised relative to the body .

Alright, first of all, the sketches Magistrum provided in the 3D thread are suppose to be extremely flat because that's what orthography generally is. When people make 3D models, they generally do so in an extremely flat, static pose and then "bend" the pose when animating it. The 3D model that I saw for Malaconda that was made by a skilled modeler is just a long, straight "log" of a snake. This pose would never *actually* be used in a sprite or animated model, but it's helpful to see when you make the model.

I think part of the reason the current sprites are coming out rather bird-like is that they are all arcing the tail around under the body, which is a relatively rare position to find a ray in, but is very reminiscent of poses like Archeops. Magistrum's original art does have the tail below the plane of the body but, importantly, the body is flat, and the tail is isn't in an arc, avoiding bird connotations. The original WIP posted by HeaLnDeaL is the only one that has really followed this style, and is the least bird-like because of it. I would personally really like to see a revision of Quanyails' design with the arc of the body and tail inverted (so that the tail is in a more scorpion style pose), bringing it more in line with the natural pose of a stingray.

Part of the reason why it is "relatively rare" to see a stingray with its tail below it is due to the photographer's/cameraman's angle in relation to the creature while photographing/filming it. If you google stingrays, a lot of the pictures you find are with the ray just above the seafloor, in which it is impossible for the camera to get anything other than a top-view shot. Furthermore, when just above the seafloor, the stingray itself has to stay relatively flat because it doesn't have the space to curve it's wings downward at all. Once you start looking at photos that are more of in an open-ocean scene, you start to see the wings and tail moving around more because the stingray has the space to do so and the photographer has the space to capture different angles.

The problem with trying to do a relatively "flat" angle is that in a sprite, we are working with a square, and the best way to portray a flat angle is with a horizontal rectangle, something which is very rare in Pokemon sprites. Even Wailord, which is a horizontal rectangle in basic shape, is portrayed at an angle that puts it in more of a square. Essentially, in order to avoid a rectangle and get a more balanced, square-like composition, spriters are going to have to play around with the tail and curve it in ways to fit the square OR to make the tail at an angle that recedes back in space. Mantine's tail somewhat does this recession, but Mantine's tail is so much less ornate/important to the design that it can get away with it. CAP19's tail is somewhat larger and I think it would be a shame to overly obscure it just to show a flat angle.

In my sketching stage I really did consider poses in which the tail would appear above the body in order to make CAP19 less bird-like. The main problem with this is to have the tail above, it pushes the stingray at an angle that I found unflattering for a backsprite... Anyway, I made a ton of super rough pose sketches during my earlier stages, most of them by hand and a few of them with paint scribbles digitally. I might as well link to my really, really bad art so that others can sort of see the problems with certain poses. <Some of HeaL's rough pose sketches>

Hopefully, by having more discussions about what people want in a pose we can better figure out a balance between showing a good, square-like composition and not being too bird-like. Shortly after winning the Art Polls, Magistrum PMed me on Showdown and asked me if his design was hard to sprite. The answer that came back was a fairly straightforward yes. We're dealing with a long, flat animal but have to conform it to a square, and there seem to be multiple important elements that all vie for attention when spriting. The fortunate thing is, this design is meant to be rather large, so we do have more space than usual to cram in details. A long tailed stingray, however, makes posing an interesting journey... More or less, this reply is meant to talk about CAP19's posing in general and hopefully it can possibly generate some other pose solutions. In the end, we all want a great CAP19 sprite to have on the server, and talking about pose expectations for this particular sprite might not be a bad idea.

 

[SomeDude01]

Still trying to sketch out a pose for it. I'm considering of increasing the angle so that the head points more upwards with the tail down.
Perhaps the wings should flap downwards? Which would show off more of the back. with curling the tail downwards to remove the unflattering angle.

 

[Jaret]

I find the problem with this "back shot" is that when the need to animate the sprite comes, because the tail's twisted to fit the square it would be really hard to make the animation believable and not bad. It really is a hassle. I was thinking that the Gen 5 Kyogre pose might fit the body style, let's see if it does...

 

[DougJustDoug]

Jaret - Your second pose is illegal. If you read the OP of this thread, it is very clear:

• All sprites must be scratch sprites that are completely original works by the spriter. Fusions of other sprites or pixel-overs of other artist's lineart are not allowed.

You can use a similar pose as the original design art, but you cannot pixel-over Magistrum's art. Only Magistrum can do that. Go with your first pose. It's a great pose, and it is completely your own original work.

HeaLnDeaL - I totally agree this design is a real bitch to sprite. Not just because of the high amount of detail (which happens on every CAP, so we're pretty much used to it), but because of the difficulty in coming up with a pose that utilizes the square space effectively and remains true to the anatomical constraints of the stingray-based design. I'm having a hard time with that myself. For those of you out there that want to see a "normal" stingray pose (like you see in most pictures of stingrays), be aware this is VERY DIFFICULT to pull off in sprite form, for all the reasons HeaLnDeaL mentioned in his post.

I'm trying to make a "flat" pose that works, and I'll post my current WIP soon. But I'm not very happy with how it is turning out. Mainly because doing a flat pose that really shows the key elements of the design that is interesting from both the back and the front --- well... it's just damn hard to do!

 

[Jaret]

Jaret - Your second pose is illegal. If you read the OP of this thread, it is very clear:



You can use a similar pose as the original design art, but you cannot pixel-over Magistrum's art. Only Magistrum can do that. Go with your first pose. It's a great pose, and it is completely your own original work.

HeaLnDeaL - I totally agree this design is a real bitch to sprite. Not just because of the high amount of detail (which happens on every CAP, so we're pretty much used to it), but because of the difficulty in coming up with a pose that utilizes the square space effectively and remains true to the anatomical constraints of the stingray-based design. I'm having a hard time with that myself. For those of you out there that want to see a "normal" stingray pose (like you see in most pictures of stingrays), be aware this is VERY DIFFICULT to pull off in sprite form, for all the reasons HeaLnDeaL mentioned in his post.

I'm trying to make a "flat" pose that works, and I'll post my current WIP soon. But I'm not very happy with how it is turning out. Mainly because doing a flat pose that really shows the key elements of the design that is interesting from both the back and the front --- well... it's just damn hard to do!

It wasn't pixeling over, i just looked at it and said "that's a cool pose, might draw it like that". However, I actually took it later and via Photoshop put it over and it really fitted the original pose, which led me to scratch it and start a new one. I will do as you suggest, though, as you do have a nice point and I'll get back to the original.

Here's two additional poses i did just now with the "whole body" look. Second one is the Kyogre inspired pose, and the first one was another pose I imagined.

Also, another question: Are we allowed to animate these? Because it states that we need to make 8 different sprites (or 4, depending on the shiny form or w/e).

EDIT: Thank you, Dogfish44, for alerting me that my original sprite is too big. Oops.

EDIT:

Took the head of my second idea, size it down a bit, and took the first body, sized it down considerably and am going with this from now on. Did some texturing on the belly side, don't know if i like it or not or if it even fits Pokemon...

EDIT:

This is really starting to be tedious. It is not just the pose that's hard, the details and stuff are extremely annoying. It's a great design, but seriously difficult to sprite, i have to agree.

EDIT:

Any criticism, any suggestions? I don't really know where to go from here anymore, will start working on the backside now...

EDIT:

Pretty happy with how the backside is turning out... Also applied additional shading on the purple parts, which I will transfer to the front side right now...

EDIT:

Before you ask, yes - I do have a lot of time on my hands...

 

[Typhlito]

I need to disagree on your mantine idea for the frontal animation. the top half of cap 19's body is where all the fun is at as far as the design and animation goes. those yellow polka-dots, yellow tipped dorsal fin and the two shades of purple(one on the main body and the other on the claw things) and the head spikes/head dots continue the trend of natural eye candy. To show the underside for most of the time cap 19 is on the field would be a huge blob of boring yellow for the opponent.

To everyone!!!
get cap 19's good side in the spotlight at all costs.

That makes sense however when I mentioned that, Im going along the lines that a pose like mantine or mantyke works and fits well when compared to other gen 5 sprites. The biggest thing to keep in mind when making the sprite is not its pose necessarily; but if put next to a bunch of gen 5 sprites, will it look like it fits in or will it stand out. That is why more dynamic poses should be avoided. Its also probably a good idea to use colors off of other sprites instead of choosing random shades since a good amount of pokemon do share the same shades when you take a closer look.

It may not be the flashiest pose but its probably for the best for consistency's sake.

 

[Jaret]

Took Gigalith shiny's colors for the purples and Zaptos shiny's colors for the yellows. It's surprising how light Gengar and Gliscor's colors are...

EDIT:

Blargh...

EDIT:

 

[HeaLnDeaL]

That makes sense however when I mentioned that, Im going along the lines that a pose like mantine or mantyke works and fits well when compared to other gen 5 sprites. The biggest thing to keep in mind when making the sprite is not its pose necessarily; but if put next to a bunch of gen 5 sprites, will it look like it fits in or will it stand out. That is why more dynamic poses should be avoided. Its also probably a good idea to use colors off of other sprites instead of choosing random shades since a good amount of pokemon do share the same shades when you take a closer look.

It may not be the flashiest pose but its probably for the best for consistency's sake.

So I just did another batch of 20 or so pose sketches, and I'm still not finding a Mantine pose the works because of the long tail that needs to be accounted for. Mantine has a really short tail, whereas CAP19 has a quite long one. Cramming that extra tail in that same space is not really working out too well... Maybe this is just me, or maybe the lack of Mantine-like poses submitted means others are having the same problem too. Yes, Mantine and CAP19 are both based on types of rays, but they do have notable design differences that makes it hard to use the same pose.

Also, I'm fairly certain CAP19 is based on the Eagle Ray, as it seems to have the same type of frontal, distinct head. Eagle Rays are named so for their bird-like heads, but also for their wings and swimming patterns that can mimic the flight of birds... In this respect, I'm somewhat less worried about having CAP19 be in a bird-like pose... But only somewhat :S

Jaret, I think I like your overall pose. However, I'm not fond of the horizontal lines you added to the yellow underside of the wings, as I think they make the wings look ruffled. Other than that, I think your spikes near the head should be longer on the front sprite, since they don't go over the back's outline on the front but do on the back. Good job so far though :)

 

[Jaret]

So I just did another batch of 20 or so pose sketches, and I'm still not finding a Mantine pose the works because of the long tail that needs to be accounted for. Mantine has a really short tail, whereas CAP19 has a quite long one. Cramming that extra tail in that same space is not really working out too well... Maybe this is just me, or maybe the lack of Mantine-like poses submitted means others are having the same problem too. Yes, Mantine and CAP19 are both based on types of rays, but they do have notable design differences that makes it hard to use the same pose.

Also, I'm fairly certain CAP19 is based on the Eagle Ray, as it seems to have the same type of frontal, distinct head. Eagle Rays are named so for their bird-like heads, but also for their wings and swimming patterns that can mimic the flight of birds... In this respect, I'm somewhat less worried about having CAP19 be in a bird-like pose... But only somewhat :S

Jaret, I think I like your overall pose. However, I'm not fond of the horizontal lines you added to the yellow underside of the wings, as I think they make the wings look ruffled. Other than that, I think your spikes near the head should be longer on the front sprite, since they don't go over the back's outline on the front but do on the back. Good job so far though :)

Thanks for the insight! It is very well appreciated!

Instead of making the front-ish spikes longer i just made them cover a bigger part of the wings, making them longer kind of didn't look good. Besides, the sprite itself is 94 pixels wide as it is, so adding anymore than 2 pixels would break the 96x96 pixel box.

EDIT: Again, fiddled with the colors. I think I might be done as far as the colors go... maybe the claws? I dunno... Actually looking at the old version I'll probably revert. Argh. Never did i work with a more tedious color combination... Here's a comparison with other pokemon. The other CAP stands out the most probably because of the soft-colored outline...

 

[noobiess]

Here is my WIP so far:

I also wanted to add a cool process-video:

Comments on the other entries will come later, but they are looking great so far :) Especially because CAP19 is a really difficult one to sprite.

 

[HeaLnDeaL]

noobiess, you have the best stingray pose by far at this point. However, I think you ran into exactly the same problem I described in one of my earlier posts/rants: your sprite is rectangular rather than fitting in a more equal square. As a result, this makes your sprite quite small in comparison to the others. Probably the best way to remedy this would be to make the tail taller and have the wings/talons of the wings a bit bigger and extend down a bit further.

Great job so far though, and I like your process video; I follow the same basic process :)

 

[noobiess]

Thanks for the comment HeaLnDeal.
I think I will just resize the sprite in general and then I might make the tail taller, ....

Here are some comments:
Quanyails As always as very clean sprite. I especially love the rings. They looks amazing. I'm not very fond of the pose though, the curling of the back looks a bit weird to me. For the tail, I think you should try to put it above the body, so that the body+tail forms some kind of S-curve.
DJD Looks like a start of something great! The proportions look right to me. I would go with the second pose. I would tilt the lower body a bit so that is doesn't go straight down.
HeaLnDeal I like the vibe that it gives. But like you said, I also think it looks a bit bird-like. I think you can prevent it by making the transition from the head to the 'wings' smoother. I also think the the tail should be repositioned so that it comes behind the body. I also think you should remove the lightest shade of purple on the body. It doesn't really contribute to giving the sprite a 3D shape.
SomeDude01 Nice beginning :) I think the 'angle of the camera' is a bit too high in your sprite. But I'm curious of the colored in version of your sprite.
Jaret So many edits!! I like your current pose but I actually like the other one more (the one next to the kyogre pose). Other then that, I think your shading style isn't really like the B/W shading style. There are too many shades and too much dithering.

 

[Jaret]

Thanks for the comment HeaLnDeal.
I think I will just resize the sprite in general and then I might make the tail taller, ....

Here are some comments:
Quanyails As always as very clean sprite. I especially love the rings. They looks amazing. I'm not very fond of the pose though, the curling of the back looks a bit weird to me. For the tail, I think you should try to put it above the body, so that the body+tail forms some kind of S-curve.
DJD Looks like a start of something great! The proportions look right to me. I would go with the second pose. I would tilt the lower body a bit so that is doesn't go straight down.
HeaLnDeal I like the vibe that it gives. But like you said, I also think it looks a bit bird-like. I think you can prevent it by making the transition from the head to the 'wings' smoother. I also think the the tail should be repositioned so that it comes behind the body. I also think you should remove the lightest shade of purple on the body. It doesn't really contribute to giving the sprite a 3D shape.
SomeDude01 Nice beginning :) I think the 'angle of the camera' is a bit too high in your sprite. But I'm curious of the colored in version of your sprite.
Jaret So many edits!! I like your current pose but I actually like the other one more (the one next to the kyogre pose). Other then that, I think your shading style isn't really like the B/W shading style. There are too many shades and too much dithering.

Here's the thing about that sprite: It shows CAP19 turning to the left, and it's very dynamic. Once the need to animate a sprite comes, it would be hell to do so and make it look like an idle animation (which is probably why visually gen 5 was the worst in my opinion (In favor of an idle animation they dropped the extreme poses)). Not too fond of the way pokemon handles shading either, so I am on very unfriendly territory as far as shading and colors go.

Will probably just drop this pose as well, since I've come to realize (looking at other sprites from gen 5) that the best thing is to have as much space filled as possible; meaning, a big portion should be just flat colors. In a 5 pixel diameter, for example, you can't find just one color in my sprite (aka it looks clustered).