Syclar - Part 7 - Art Submissions

[Birkal*]

Hello everyone, welcome to Art Submissions! This is one of the final stages for our Syclar pre-evolution process. Honestly, this is a bit different from normal CAP art submissions because the design for Syclar already exists. What we're looking for is some artwork to put on site officially for Syclar. That means that we will value high quality artwork that matches our other CAP designs (look at Syclant's art for an example of the kind of quality we're searching for).

Naturally, artists still have a bit of artistic liberty. However, please know that the sprite is the absolute authority when it comes to the design, so please use that as your main point of reference. If you have some incredibly minor and almost unnoticeable changes to make, then you should probably be alright. Just try to stick to the guidelines as much as possible.

Each submission consists of the main design and (optional) supporting material. Obviously, plagiarism is not allowed, and you should submit your own original artwork. Remember that the pre-evo art design should be based on the existing evolution, Syclant. It should not be too difficult at all to get slated as long as your submission obeys the rules below.

For reference, here the only picture that we currently have of Syclar (by CyzirVisheen):

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Also, please refer to the sprites that are below when making your art. CzirVisheen's post in that thread (here) has some generally helpful thoughts and supplementary pictures that are great to use as guidance as well.

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Here's all the rules for CAP art submissions. If you're a long-time CAP art submitter, you know what to do here. If you are new to the game, however, I recommend you give this a good read through; it's important information.

Main Design

The main design is intended to follow the same general posing and layout as the "Official Art" for existing in-game Pokemon. The main design is the definitive design for a given Pokemon and should be suitable for display in the CAP PokeDex section of the CAP Website and any other CAP propaganda where a picture of the Pokemon is needed. The comparison to 'Official Pokemon Art' is only applicable to the basic content of the main design; it does not imply any standards or guidelines regarding artistic style or rendering technique.

The following rules of content must be followed for the main design:

• It must consist of a single Pokemon on a plain white background with no parts of the Pokemon cut off by the canvas.
• No props, action effects, move effects, or additional objects can be rendered on or around the Pokemon. If a prop is part of the Pokemon's basic design (ie. Conkeldurr's pillars), then it is acceptable.
• Any 2D digital or scanned traditional drawing may be used. It must be in full color. 3D media and photos are not allowed.
• It must have a distinguishable outline on the entire subject in contrast to the background. No part of the design can be blurred into the background or blended into the background in any way.
• The maximum allowed size is 640x640 and the minimum allowed size of 320x320.
• It must be in a compressed digital format such as .png or .jpg.

The rules for main designs will be strictly enforced. Do not make comparisons to in-game Pokemon designs or to past CAP designs to determine if your design is in compliance with these rules. Some in-game Pokemon designs and past CAP designs do not conform with the current CAP art submission rules, and emulating those designs is not an acceptable excuse for breaking the strict interpretation of the current rules.

Supporting Material

While the rules for the main design are somewhat rigid, there are almost no rules when it comes to supporting material. Action scenes, movement studies, interaction with other Pokemon, animations, sculptures, and cartoon strips are all allowed. Virtually any supporting material you can think of is allowed, though keep it tasteful. Non-art supporting material is also allowed. This includes detailed descriptions of the art, background data, stories, etc. All supporting art and information must be related to the main design in some way. This rule is intended to prevent artists from posting unrelated art in an effort to gain more attention or promote other designs or artworks.

In Syclar's case, you are more than welcome to draw supporting material. However, understand that it is probably better to focus on your main submission, as that will be the one that truly matters in the long run, since that will be the only image hosted on site. You don't need to convince people of your design this time around, but rather, your artistic talent.

Final Submission Post

All artists must make a final submission post in order to be considered for the art poll. The post must be titled "Final Submission". The post should have the Main Design at the top, and supporting material (if applicable) below it. All supporting art must be included as links or as linked thumbnails no larger than 150x150. Do not include full images of supporting art in the final submission. Only make one (1) final submission post. Artists are welcome to work on multiple designs and get feedback from the community, but only one design can be submitted for final consideration. If you wish to alter any aspect of your final submission, then edit your post. Do not make a new one, even if you delete your original post. Any deleting and reposting will be treated as bumping and is subject to moderation.

General Posting Rules

• Artists can post any work-in-progress (WIP) artwork in order to solicit feedback or to help develop ideas. WIP artwork does not need to conform to the standards of a Main Design. It can be in any medium or stage of completion, but it must be related to an original art by the poster.
• Do not spam the thread with excessive amounts of artwork over a short period of time. Apparently, some artists think they will improve their chances in the poll if they overload the submission thread with their artwork. Doing so will result in your posts being moderated.
• Do not post inconsequential "updates" to previously posted art. Only if you have made a significant change and have not posted art recently can you post an update in the thread.
• No post can contain more than 800x800 pixels of included art, and no single picture can be larger than 640x640. Past those limits, artists should post links to the additional art or use linking thumbnails. Each thumbnail can be no larger than 150x150. Any number of thumbnails can be included in a post, even if it passes the limit. All art must be in a compressed digital format.
• No bumping or begging, especially for feedback. If your art is any good, people will comment on it. If your art gets no feedback, then your art is not very good. Consider the silence to be your feedback.
• Do not declare any artwork as "the winner" or say that anything "is clearly going to win". It's fine to post praise or support for an artwork, but don't make a statement indicating the results of a poll that has not been conducted. Such posts are insulting to all the other competing artists.
• Do not ask when this thread will close. CAP threads do not follow a set timetable. If you want to know the overall sequence of events in a CAP then go to the CAP website and read the process guide.
• Do not post questions asking for help in making art. This isn't a tutorial thread.

Art Polls

All art polls will contain the main design and, if applicable, a link below it titled "Supporting Material". This will link to the artists final submission post. If the final submission contains no significant supporting material, then no link will be included in the poll below the main design. Art submissions for the art poll will be selected in a manner to be determined by the topic leader. There is no process for overturning the topic leader's decision. If you are not comfortable with this stipulation, then do not make an art submission. Do not post any complaints here or in later threads.

[bugmaniacbob]

FIRST



It won't win, but it's a very cuddly standard to go by.

[CBMeadow]

[Massive edit, this is what the original post looked like, for those who are curious to the original, or if it's frowned upon to redo posts; not sure, I lurk a lot but am definitely not a seasoned Smogonite.]

Okay overhaul of post here. I didn't like the submission that was in the first post very much so I decided to retry after seeing everyone's below me, which definitely helped me to see what Syclar is supposed to look like. Here's my better, not terrible WIP:



Much better in my opinion, actually LOOKS like the bug now. I don't really like the cheekspike things but all in due time. I'll digitally fix this up if it looks good enough to the general populace, and perhaps even if it isn't.

Commentary (and please don't take the critiques as harsh, only helpful, and take 'em with a grain of salt, I'm not the best artist):

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bugmaniacbob - He's definitely affable looking, isn't he? I'll point out that I like the shading on the ice parts; it's cell shading, but still looks like ice. As for critique, your lines aren't smooth, but I would assume this was done on Paint and smooth lines are really hard to get on Paint. :P

Cyzir - I love this sketch, it seems like you did it effortlessly. If I had to find something I see wrong, the icewings bother me slightly- not entirely sure why, and it isn't major, but they seem to kind of stick up at an odd angle. Something about the pose and their position makes them look raised and tense when they should be relaxed. It's kinda hard to explain.
As for praise- It is adorable. That the teeth are rounded and the body pudgy and squooshed makes it quite appealing to the eye, at least in my opinion. Keep it up!

Quanyails - Ooh, he's spritey. I like the style of this one. The eyes are in a different style, but I love the effect regardless- especially the little highlight you did, it looks like it was tedious to do. You also did a good job really making the ice look like ice.
As for critique- hmm. I think it's supposed to go along with the somewhat more realistic drawing style you've done, but the teeth look precarious. They're simultaneously in the right and the wrong spot, in that they look extra buck toothed. He's supposed to look buck toothed of course, but I mean the unhealthy, this-poor-bug-needs-braces kind of buck toothed. I did have to search for it though, it just bugs me now that I've seen it (no pun intended). The reason's probably because they look like they're just slightly higher up on the face than they're supposed to be. Again, not a huge issue, and maybe it's stylistic choice.

Mos-Quixote - This is one of those things where it looks so just raw, pure, unadulterated herp that you can't help but love it. I'm tempted to ask to make his eyes askew, but I doubt Sugimori art would follow that precedent. :P
Anyway, I'm going to point out my liking of the black things around the eyes. Yours look more like stylized stripes, but at the same time you could still see them as furrows, depending on how you look at it. I also like his torpedoey body and just generally how he looks like he lost his road map and has to find his way back to Grass Patch #347.
Critique.. Huh, it's kind of hard to actually point out any here, best thing I can say is that the black markings in the ice MAYBE should be a dark green of the same hue of the shading on them. I can't tell if that would be better or worse, since the whole thing's outlined in black, but as of now it makes the lines look more like stripes than edges. Too defined-lookin', I suppose?

[CyzirVisheen]

Quick sketch, Syclar's a cutie with its lil stubs

[Quanyails]

Final Submission



Despite the one comment saying otherwise on it, I switched eyes to the buggy, closer-to-the-sprite ones. Hope it's not derpy, which is the reason I focused the eyes inwards rather than out like the other ones. (Oh, and edited in some nit-picky fixes.)

Here's the original drawing in case anyone wants to persuade me to use that one back.

Comments:

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• bugmaniacbob: The tail should be facing backwards in that position, unless it's turning around. If that's so, then the far front leg should be obscured more so. The ice does look icy, I'll give you that. And of course, those outlines, my, you're unique in making those.
• CBMeadow: Ooh, nice sketch. It captures the bugginess of the design as well as a bit of its scrawniness. I'm unsure if the face should be directly looking head-on at the viewer, as that flows awkwardly to the body, which is at an angle. Turning one or the other should make it more natural. Are my drawing's teeth more natural now?
• CyzirVisheen: Cool. :D As the original artist, you do have an advantage in keeping Syclar true to its original intent. Makes my time spent on my drawing, all two hours of it in MS Paint, feel insignificant.
• Mos-Quitoxe: Very unique way or portraying the ice, the second thing I noticed was. The first thing I noticed was the texture used (which we already discussed before). One non-shading related thing I'll point out is the orientation and shape of those legs; they have no depth to them--or perhaps, they look larger as they recede. You're not putting too much time into that drawing, I know, so you can just ignore that comment I just made.
• CBMeadow Redux: The outlines should be fine, as most art programs have a little anti-aliasing in lines. The head's perspective isn't really fixed; take a look at those lines around Syclar's eyes. You see how the left bands are thicker and longer than the right ones? That provides a false perspective that the left side of the face is closer to the viewer than the right side. The fact that the face is quite symmetrical in general provides that illusion. If it's not too late to change it, skew the face so the left side is smaller. Other than that face, I love the pose with those claws sitting Syclar up like that. :D

[Mos-Quitoxe]

Final Submission

!000x better than the old one!

[Birkal*]

Just a heads up, the Pokedex Entry Poll just went up! Once that is done, we'll be moving into the art poll. Consider this a tentative 48 hour warning on art. That is a minimum number; I won't cut it off before then. It might extend longer than that though, so we'll just have to see how the Dex Polls go. Let's get 'em finished up!

[CBMeadow]

Final Submission

Edited to include final submission.

Changes from the original posted include: Adding a dash of texture, giving him a more blueish hue, compressing the face slightly to look more true to the sprite, and giving small highlights to the eyes. And general refinement, the rest of which is pixels of difference and negligible.



Did I fix the body / head perspective, Quanyails? (fix'd!)
Yours' teeth do look better, even though when comparing the new to the old, I don't see any changes. Changing the eyes made the teeth look more natural, I suppose, probably since the sillier style of Syclar's eyes works better with sillier teeth.
That said, I do think that your old one, with its teeth tweaked, would be a cool picture in its own right. I do, however, think that the one you recently updated with is more true to the design, so you probably should stick with it for this project unless others object.
The eyes don't look derpy, but intensely focused. Your other one looked more relaxed. Both work well for their respective style.

(I hope this doesn't count as 'blending into the background', it's only blended internally. Here's the unblended version for comparison.)

Anyway, onto mine: I decided to go the icy-eyed route for a little more contrast with the body. I also made the claws shaded with blue, like the ice, rather than grey, like the eyes and teeth, just for flavour and personal preference.
Not much else to say on the matter, really.

[Birkal*]

Since we're not in a huge rush, I'm going to extend the deadline so artists can get their work together. Expect me to post an official 24 hour warning sometime this weekend. However, I am willing to extend the deadline even further if the artists would like me to. Just post a WIP in this thread if you like and request more time. I will be pretty lenient about granting more time; we are not on a schedule.

[paintseagull]

Final Submission



!!!
edit: planning to fix some things before the deadline
edit2: fixed! thanks all who helped

[Yarnus of Bethany]

Paintseagull, the cheek spikes are asymmetrical; I think that should be fixed. Also, I'm not sure why, but yhe top of the head looks a little strange. (I can't do art; but I think I can give my impressions anyway)

[Birkal*]

Things are winding down, so consider this a 48 hour warning. If you're an artist out there and you're really like some more time, I'd be willing to extend that deadline; we are in no rush. Just send me a message and we'll arrange something!

[CyzirVisheen]

FINAL SUBMISSION

[srk1214]

Beautiful, cyzir. That is all.

[Doran Dragon]

WIP.

Id like to know what you think of this pose, and if you think im moving in the right direction

[Birkal*]

Let's do this thing.