Pokémon Amethyst -~- A Sprite Resource Project

[Alchemator]

I've decided not to completely sever my ties with Smogon - it's too hard to leave, and I've made some real friends here, in this project included.

I definitely won't be reseizing the project, as I don't have time for responsibility. However I'll probably be here to lend a helping hand if necessary!

[Energy Storm]

Mamoswine's shading really bothers me. No offense, but it doesn't seem quite up to par with the rest of Scepty's epic sprites. Claydol kinda bothers me too, whether it's the shading or disproportionally small head. There's a few others I could mention as well, like Groudon being too "geometric", Machop being somewhat out of proportion, and Dodrio's outlines being a bit off.

And here's a list of the sprites that need to be redone since they're too small:

Caterpie
Weedle (?)
Diglett
Mew
Igglybuff (?)
Togepi
Hoppip
Sunkern (?)
Treecko
Torchic
Ralts
Surskit (?)
Swablu
Bagon
Turtwig (?)
Cherubi (?)
Uxie (?)
Mesprit (?)
Azelf (?)
Manaphy
Shaymin

The ones marked with a (?) are the ones that I'm not sure of whether are too small or not.

Happy New Years everyone and yay for Alch not leaving (completely)!

[chocolate-kipp]

Haha, I was hoping you wouldn't entirely leave, Alch. Good to have you back(?). :P

Right now I'm tweaking with Golbat's shading and wing outline, but I'm not sure how I should change the right (our right) wing. So far I have two out of three segments of the left wing done, as well as some outline tweaking on the tongue and shading differences on the head. Picture to see if you guys think it's okay so far. (Also, I dunno what to do with the light on the tongue, so I just got rid of it, haha).

[Scepticallistic]

ALCH <3 lmao. Permanently leaving people you've grown close to is foolishness. ;D

chocolate-kipp the Golbat is looking better. Good job! Show us what you have when you think you're finished and we'll see if there's anything to fix.

I also think we should stop posting criticism and saying NO OFFENSE LULZ

Of course no one means offense. Some people just need to not be utterly defensive about their work and take criticism with an open mind. It's hard to find errors in your own work, which is why the community is here to help.

I agree on the Mamoswine issues. I'm just unsure how to fix it, although I think I might have an idea. We'll see.

Yeah, there are some more finished sprites that I'm not quite happy with but I didn't want to make it seem like I'm overturning everything we've done. Some things off the top of my head include the Claydol (which just seems really muted [HELLO BLACK OUTLINE I LOVE YOU] and disproportionate) and the Raichu, a really early relic. Now as I check again, the Psyduck's face is ick. Miltank could use some more shading work (and maybe a palette change). Unfortunately, as a really early sprite, Ludicolo is a bit too large (aside from the muted color scheme). The Jirachi that I tried to QC a long time ago I'm still unhappy with.

Really sorry guys I didn't mean to launch into a tirade about this again. These sprites would be like second-tier "need to work" ons.

[Sleet]

I brought it up, so the team leader has failed the community already ... and it's only day 2.

GREAT START SLEET.

Anyway, I wanted to bring it up because I would like to go over the existing sprites so I know exactly what we think needs doing and what doesn't. I don't want to look back when we're 'done' and think that we should have done this earlier.

Several which do NOT require major outline tweaks (Mamoswine seems to come up a lot here, Claydol, etc) have been mentioned, and I think that for people such as Chocolate-kipp, who do not like/want to make a sprite from scratch, they can work on the ones that need shading/palette swaps. And if we do not like the current Ludicolo, several current users who might not be around in half a year's time can work on them now (if you know what I mean). Some of the stuff that 1 person has a problem with, many people have a problem with, and at that point, I feel we need to re do the sprite. We have several people around now who can offer a good opinion and I feel like we should take advantage of that...

I want to get everything lined up for what needs doing regardless of importance order, and from there I/we can sort out the order in which we continue this project.

SORRY EVERYONE.

of course i'm open to ideas because i'm not very good at this.

[Alchemator]

Originally Posted by Fat Sleet

I brought it up, so the team leader has failed the community already ... and it's only day 2.

GREAT START SLEET.

SORRY EVERYONE.

...i'm not very good at this.

I'm not seeing any problems here at all, it's just a strive for better quality sprites. Don't be so harsh on yourself.

[Scepticallistic]

-------------------->

Time to play SPOT THE CHANGES.

HOW ABOUT DEM PUPPIES EH EH?


Sleet you're not allowed to apologize. If people are unhappy with how you're running things that's too bad for them, because you have the administrative powers now, not them. :A

Simple Ludicolo recolor:


CLASS REMIX THE SECOND

[Energy Storm]

Mamo and Ludicolo both look a ton better now.

Mektar, thanks for the edit. Otamaro's eyes look a lot better now, but I want to keep the comma shaped eyebrows, so I mixed our two versions together to form a Mega-Otamaro (well it's not quite as "ohoho" as "Mega-roco" isn't it Sleet?).

[DjGopher]

No fair Scepty!
I wanted to point out that one!
Urrgh..

Sprites with problems

---

Some are less severe than others, some are very very small changes, like more dithering, stronger colors, smoother lineart, etc. and some are more major, like too dynamic etc.
I have a lot of sprites listed since some of the fixes are so minor.. Please don't be offended if yours is on here!
(face/arms seem anatomically disproportionate.. The face looks squished, and the arm [specifically our left] seems to protrude from nowhere..)
(shading should be less emphasized.. Maybe just some dithering?)
(head shape seems a little awkward..)
(eyes? they should look less circular, like these )
(shading [mouth/tongue] looks off to me. :/ )
(vileplume)
(All eyes but this are open, it looks like a part 2 sprite, if anything)
(seaking)
(Excellent sprite, but needs more saturated coloring?)
(Excellent sprite, but needs more saturated coloring?)
(choppy lineart)
(bad transitions, I guess you could say? like the head flame & our right arm)
(Another great sprite that could benefit from stronger colors..)
(head shape?)
(too dynamic.. I'd vote for a revamp :( )
(I hate to complain about this because it's so epic.. But it would need an anim2 sprite resembling more balance..)
(I've always hated the face on this one..)
(I feel like this one should have lighter, bolder colors to match those of it's pre/post-evolution sprites.
(my own sprite.. Somethings off, maybe it's the coloring, or maybe the lineart, but it looks.. cluttered to me.)
(Like grovyle, I think it needs it's coloring to match that of the pre-evo's better..)
(gardevoir)
(A small fix, I think the eye should be much darker since they are in the shadow of his face. The light blues reduced to black, but the eye is still the lightest blue..)
(altaria)
(the mouth sort of looks like it's been censored out.. Too jagged, I guess)
(Needs more saturation)
(I think his body is a lot longer, no? I'd have to vote for a revamp.. :( )
(I believe it was credited wrong, I think Alch did this one.. Anyway, the face needs to be completely redone. The original image was from SSBB or something of the like, and that's exactly how it looks.. Like bad 3d graphics ported to 2d.. The body looks fine, though.)
(Great sprite, but I think the pupil should be higher.. so he looks at the opponent, not his hand hitting the ground.)
(Shellos east/west)
(I feel like the lineart is a bit jagged, even for a spirit.)
(too small when considering the new rule..)

Sorry to take the lazy way out!
This is my list, you can disagree or agree or whatever you want.. I probably won't end up doing all of them so if anyone else wants to, or point out where I may be wrong, please do so :)
Dj.

Edit:
@Alch, Oh.. :P

[Alchemator]

I didn't do Groudon or touch it at all.

[Energy Storm]

Claydol bugs me so much I decided to redo it.

First off, is this a good pose?

[Scepticallistic]

Thank you DjGopher. You now win the title of Nickpick King, usurping the previous holder: me.

Also, I think Spiritomb is really quite okay. I'm not following you on the Lunatone; I can't really figure out what to fix.

[Energy Storm]

I just realized that Aerodactyl and Crobat have too dark outlines for their eyes. And it's interesting how Grovyle and Infernape have such similar poses. XD

On another note, I'll get to work on Claydol.

Oh, and Scepty, I wanted to ask you a question. When you draw fires (like Infernape's head or Charizard's tail or whatever), do you have to outline them?

[Scepticallistic]

I'm feeling absolutely not interested in fixing the eyes and re-uploading everything at the moment. I'll get to it later. @_@

As for the fires question, I'm not exactly good at drawing fire with pixels, but I'd say that you should at least provide a darker outline for the lightest part of the fires.

[DjGopher]

Spiritomb can stay as is, it was a more causal nitpick..
Lunatone Censor:

may be inappropriate, not safe for work

---

Probably my most nitpickiest nitpick..
Most of the things I pointed out are small little QC fixes, but I think they are (almost) all important :P
I like my new tittle by the way..
:D
Dj.

Edit:
Possible fix?

[Aniodia]

Is Aniodia a member of the Amethyst team?

Oh gosh. :3 Seriously, while I like what you guys do, and while I've done something kinda similar (except different) for personal use, I just wouldn't have the time nor the patience to do anything like this. I've just read through the entire topic over the course of yesterday and figured I'd bring up a couple of small points, which are completely invalidated by...

As Alch mentioned, Wichu planned on taking over the formal gallery duties on the official Amethyst website. I'll probably shut down the free site I threw together for fun since I still am not a fan of how it looks and Wichu will obviously whip up something more amazing.

...this. I do like the site having a majority of finished work posted, but I also see where there's room for improvement. And considering you're saying it was just for the S&Gs, I think I can deal. =p

As for the .jpg issue, I brought this up reeeaaaallly early, and it just seems like Tinypic likes changing the file type to .jpg but there is no quality loss so that's kind of unimportant.

Like I said, I read through the topic, I've done adequate sprite work in the past, and I know that the .jpg is the bane of many a sprite-based artist's existence, so I wanted to bring it to your attention in case it was an unnoticed problem (as I don't recall seeing it in the topic, but there are 111 pages of wangst and sprites to pore through). =D

[Energy Storm]

Here we go. Tweaked the right (our left) foot a bit, added colored outlines to the eye, and attempted to shade the tongue without bypassing the color limit.

[Charmander]

This is really amazing. How do you guys draw this stuff? It would take me hours and hours....

[Scepticallistic]

Seeing as it is a new year (have a happy one guys) I just decided to update the amethyst gallery site, since we don't have the official one from Wichu yet. I need help figuring the authors and such though, since I'm lazy. Feel free to go through the website, look for unlabeled sprites, and tell me what it is. Hehehehe.... SEE EDIT6

Also, adding 5th gen is going to be a huge inconvenience, not even including the fact that like 90% of the names will be changed when the English versions are officially released (pah).

I also need to recount the total number of sprites (including forms and such) to recalculate our completion meter. :A

Edit: Wow look at Genosect that jerk taking up an entire row all by itself. Jerk.

Edit2: The website gallery has been updated with all the 5th gen Pokemon, including forms.

Edit3: Apparently, the grand total of sprites to be done for this project is now: 709 sprites. I think we need to get cracking. LOL

Edit4: Oh right, I just remembered. I still am not completely satisfied with Latias and Latios, although they're passable, seeing as lots of people skipped over them on the Great Cleanse.

Edit5: SLEEEET. :D Although the album is now in a presentable format on its own, this is much harder for me when you pass a mass number of sprites since I can't immediately see which ones you just added. >_>

Edit6: Applicable for everyone: I am considering removing the artist/QC labeling on the website, since maintaining it is a hassle and it's sort of detracting. Right now it's pretty much just for pride. LOL. It can be documented somewhere else, if people want it. Otherwise, it will probably go. Please voice any objections as soon as possible.

[chocolate-kipp]

aaaah so many new replies I skimmed through and read a bit

Sleet quit being so hard on yourself. D: You're doing a perfectly fine job. Also, you pretty much just started managing the project, so of course a few kinks need to be worked out.

So, from my understanding, we're not doing peer edits anymore? Should I just stick to finding poses and editing old sprites that need fixes? Regardless, I'll continue working on fixing up Golbat. Thanks for the compliment, Scepti. :> Also, I really love new Mamoswine. Coloring and shading is a lot better.

EDIT: You're removing your status as a QCer or you're saying that there will be no QC step? I assume the former, but yeah. >_> Also, I think I'll be done with editing Golbat now. Can someone fix this up a bit more for me?



I'll try to work on finding poses now.

EDIT2: I was looking through the gallery and listed sprites that also have errors but I accidentally hit refresh and lost all of them aaaaa. I'll try to find them again.

One of the antennae looks more like a line in between the eyes, One of the legs is also misshapen and the needles are very different sizes. Plus the shading on the wings is weird.
The shading isn't very Pokemon-like...plus, the outline looks a bit more of a rounded square than a circle imo.
(no offense, Alch) The shading is off on a lot of the right (our right) star points, and the dark part of the jewel.
(I know this was one of your first sprites, Sleet, so please don't be offended D:) The outline shading is a bit off in some places, mostly the mouth. Also, I think the eyes should be outlines...and the left boob (lol I can't believe I'm saying this about a Pokemon) has odd shading.
It looks like the legs are out of place, the antennae are asymmetrical and the arms are quite different sizes.
Abdomen and legs are oddly shaped, and the "face" looks weird.
I don't see any black outlining on this...
The pupils are VERY large, and the bag looks more like a tail if I'm looking at it properly. O_o
Too small, I think.
Also too small, I think, and the shading/coloring style is very different compared to its evolution's sprite.
I see NOTHING wrong with this sprite (actually, it might be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen), but the artist isn't listed in the gallery. The artist is DougJustDoug.
Outline on the front left leg looks really weird.
Eyes look a bit weird...too big, I think.
Too small, I think.
Shading is a bit weird on the ears and legs.
The shading on this has always bothered me...mostly the pouch and any of the lighter shades. >_>
Don't see any black outline.

Yeah...a lot of this is personal preference. >_> No offense to any of the artists!

[Scepticallistic]

For clarification, I'm considering removing the highlighted portion from the gallery.





I think I'm done updating the gallery website for today. It should reflect the 5th gen changes now. :]

Unfortunately, with the increase to 709 sprites, we've dropped below 50% completion again at 47% (and it will be even lower considering the sprites that we're rehauling).

[TEA_DEMON]

@Golbat: The ears are completely wrong, I think Scepticallistic pointed that out earlier. As far as I can tell, the ears are supposed to come smoothly from the back line, not jut out so much. They're also much more vertical; yours are on a lean to the side.



Something about the eyes doesn't look quite right either, and I think it might be the shading on the forehead.

[chocolate-kipp]

I didn't make the sprite, I just edited the outline a bit. I'll fix up the ears though. Can't do much with shading though... >_>

EDIT: This any better?

[TEA_DEMON]

That's heaps better.

[Sleet]

Hello anything.

I approve the new versions of most Pokemon that have been a bit revamped EXCEPT Absol. I personally think it's too long now, but perhaps that's because I had no problem with the original.

DjGopher: we have a new album which has sorted out all of those broken errors. I believe (I picked 4 at random that weren't broken before) that the sprites in Scept's gallery are all from the original album. This isn't a massive problem because Wichu will eventually make his own, but if anyone spots any broken links in the current album, you will find the appropriate sprite in my album which we can easily swap it with.

I'm also with Scept when I say that I think Spiritomb is fine as it is. And I also think that Beedrill, Electabuzz and Spinarak are fine as they are, but other people can input on this

Scept: Either I can tell you what I pass or from this link http://s1091.photobucket.com/albums/...mon/?start=all you can press 'view Jordmon's profile' and look at recent uploads. This works because during the original mega upload Articuno was missed out, and there it is at the front of our list.

I believe that you're missing Pidgeot, Kangaskhan, Sentret, Bellossom, Sunflora, Yanma, Wooper, Umbreon, Slowking, Wobbuffet, Dunsparce, Qwiflish, Ursaring, Corsola, Smoochum, Elekid, Lugia, Swampert, Makuhita, Hariyama, Minun, Numel, Seviper, Crawdaunt, Latias, Latios, Starly, Shieldon, Bastiodon, Happiny, Skorupi and Erufuun from the gallery too. Of course, some of these have some problems (Pidgeot, Erufuun, etc), but what about the rest, oversights or problems? Also, on the subject of the gallery, you're missing Piruriru M (the water/ghost basic) - this pokemon has a very different form for both M and F like it's evo.

You can get rid of the artists in the gallery if you want, I think I'm going to show them in the OP all the time, plus I have it written down in a file on my laptop and everything, so shouldn't get lost. If you don't want to get rid of them, the 5th gen pokemon need artists (interestingly, most are me...)

I have also pmed Wichu about sprites he considers too small, since there are some that are small that I think look perfectly fine (for example, from Energy_Storm's list, I think Caterpie, Bagon [among others] are great). Other people can input on what they think about the small pokemon though, of course.

Also, I approve this level of activity.

WELL DONE EVERYONE.

Edit: I forgot to say:

Yes please, chocolate-kipp, you seem good at tweaking existing sprites so that would be lovely. I've removed peer editing as a rule to get into QC, but if you'd like to tinker with some and it results in a better sprite, there's no reason why I shouldn't accept it,

Also! What's happening with Arceus' other forms? We only have normal Arceus done so far, and Scept's gallery doesn't note the fact that they exist. I think we want these forms, so they're up for grabs if anyone likes recolouring... (right?)

And finally (well, probably not), can I remove Onix and Sharpedo from QC? I don't feel as Onix looks strong enough to be made from rock. It looks brittle and soft to me and it's potentially because of the 'dotted outlining'. I also think its 'nose' is too wide, looking at newer versions of Onix. I think Sharpedo suffers the same problem as Groudon, 3D picture translated into a 2D sprite. It doesn't quite work for me. Of course, I could be making this up... And speaking of QC, several aren't in a good enough format, look at Rotom! (onix is also in a 148x141 canvas).