CAP 2 Prevo - Part 3 - Art

[capefeather]

It turns out that Necturna's pre-evolution should have some kind of form in order to hatch out of its egg! Unfortunately, Smeargle's been out of town for a while now, so it's up to YOU, the artist, to draw us an art concept for the coming newborn! I know it's a rather gigantic responsibility to be thrusting upon you so suddenly, but don't hyperventilate too much! You have until the stat spread is decided to finish your amazing masterpiece (for those keeping track at home, that means the "other side" of the process will go through the abilities and then the stat spread).

Each submission consists of the main design and (optional) supporting material. Obviously, plagiarism is not allowed, and you should submit your own original creation.

Remember that the pre-evo should be based on the existing evolution, Necturna. Obviously, this is up to personal artistic license, but remember that you have to convince the voters of your grand artistic vision. It should not be difficult at all to get slated as long as your submission obeys the rules below (and there are only, like, six of them for submitting art). My personal advice would be to follow the ability and stat spread discussion threads, and perhaps make multiple designs so that you're not struggling to make a design fit the statistical attributes later on.

For reference, here is the submission for Necturna's art:

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Thread rules and such:

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.

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 design 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.
• Do not post to state your intended design. Such posts are a weak attempt to "reserve" an idea, and serve no constructive purpose.
• Do not post images to serve as inspiration for artists or attempt to commission an artist in the thread to do your idea. This isn't an idea thread. It's fine for artists to post their own inspiration as supporting material.
• No bumping or begging, especially for feedback. If your design is any good, people will comment on it. If your design gets no feedback, then your design 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 post that a design does or does not "look like a Pokemon/Digimon". Such comments are unable to be substantiated or refuted. There is no artistic style guide for Pokemon, so don't act like you know what a Pokemon should look like. If you like or dislike a design, that's fine, just say that.
• 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.

 

[chuckeroo777]

So here in my first draft. to evolve the vine bites the head or something.

 

[Quanyails]

My design started out in the spriting stage, actually; I wanted a pre-evolution that resembled Necturna in color and origin, but not too close as a supposed 'mini-Necturna'.

Inspiration came from the idea that Necturna's head resembled a bonnet. Why not make a simpler headpiece in the form of a hachimaki--a band around the head, of Japanese origin, sometimes decorated with flowers, representing spirit? That's quite a wonderful way to pull all those elements together!

I added the two vine-horns to make it look girlish (as pigtails), slightly evil (as horns), and plant-y. :P It's a contrast from the single vine of its evolution, and a nod to pokemon evolution where certain features don't just 'grow' to its next evolution, but change altogether.

As for the body: those eyes should've been included somehow, so I settled for a single one on its torso. The arms are reminiscent of those long sleeves of Necturna/a miko, with those red dots from the head of the Necturna. Mixing and matching different aspects, but not just shrinking Necturna for a pre-evolution. :)

I'll be leaving for a day and a half, so I won't get to comments until that period's done.

 

[Kyuzeth]

That's an adorable design, Quan! I like how you've incorporated everything in the description. Really original and creative!

 

[MLaRF]

'Ere's me submission fer the scurvy wench's prevo. Went for a kind of rough feel to make it seem more natural, I wasn't just rushing (completely honest). And before you complain about it, she just liked the bow as a baby pokemon and grew out of it when she evolved. (Actually I didn't really remember if she had the bow or not but I thought the legleafbow was a cool idea.)

Beedfack!
Yanquails - The design is pretty awesome, but I feel it seems a bit too much like a boy. Perhaps if you slimmed up the face's shape a bit, or made the th-horns look a bit more like pigtails, because I've yet to see anyone with pigtails like that. I know they were supposed to be hornlike, but the pigtail's downturnature kind of takes away from that. My best suggestion for the th-horns is to make them kind of like this shape here, but changing the thickness to be more pigtaillike.
Ruckechoo777 - You've got a pretty good idea there, but I think you need some more support making it feel connected to the original design. I would first suggest ripping the vine and headcrownthing directly from Necturna's image (tracing may be the easiest way to get it right), and then maybe altering some more of the smaller details, like the hands or face, to look more like Necturna's design. I would also think it cool if he had the same waistband Necturna has, but that's your choice.

 

[Bughouse]

inre to how girly some designs are bound to be:

Why? There is nothing saying the Prevo must be female only. Necturna could function like Combee-Vespiquen. Also, Burmy-Wormadam and Snorunt-Froslass represent cases where there is a female only evolution, but also another evolution (Mothim, which is all male and Glalie, which is 50/50.)

In fact, before the art proceeds much further, I would appreciate a quick poll about gender of the prevo or at least an authoritative comment from the TL of the prevo.

 

[MLaRF]

inre to how girly some designs are bound to be:

Why? There is nothing saying the Prevo must be female only. Necturna could function like Combee-Vespiquen. Also, Burmy-Wormadam and Snorunt-Froslass represent cases where there is a female only evolution, but also another evolution (Mothim, which is all male and Glalie, which is 50/50.)

In fact, before the art proceeds much further, I would appreciate a quick poll about gender of the prevo or at least an authoritative comment from the TL of the prevo.

Yeah I wholeheartedly agree with that. I guess I only brought up the whole feminine vs. masculine appearance in my beedfack because pokemon like Combee, Burmy, and Snorunt tend to be mostly neutral-looking, even though there are still evolutions like Goldeen-Seaking and Kirlia-Gallade that are quite biased in terms of gender-based appearance (though Goldeen-Seaking can be explained by some species of fish changing genders). However, I do think the genders and possibly the evolution method should be decided before finalizing designs.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

I think in order to keep things sane and not do anything crazy, the pre-evo should be Female as well. I say this because I always envisioned Necturna's line being more like Chansey > Blissey than anything else, and not some weird "level 71 female with use of a dawn stone at 6 PM in Mt. Silver and with AncientPower in the move set" (blatant exaggeration) evolution. A simple, always-female family sounded great to me. That isn't to say that the pre-evo needs to look super feminine, but at least not looking masculine is a good plan.

 

[jessifer]

So here's a quick sketch of my idea. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

Personally, it looks a bit too Cherrim. It also looks almost too similar to Necturna in its structure (same everything, just lacking the specific details); almost nothing is that close to its evolution.

 

[capefeather]

I have no problem with technically leaving the gender problem up to the artist, if he/she explains it well, but I think it would be a huge stretch actually trying to do so. IIRC, all one-gender evolutions come from branching evo lines *except* the Combee line, and with that line it makes perfect sense. It reflects how real bees function.

For any submitter who doesn't want to explain why it might not be mono-female, I would suggest that you at least make the design feminine.

 

[AlfaTyrogue]

jesiffer: Awesome design. It looks just like a pre-evo of Necturna.
You made its "hair" in a great way to avoid too great resemblance, bur maybe you should design the carnivour-eyes a little different?
All in all, good job :)

almost nothing is that close to its evolution.

Mankey, Grimer, Voltorb, Poliwhirl(resembling Poliwrath)...

 

[gali]

I hand-drew this design. The flower bud was supposed to be pink and all the white parts of its body except the teeth light green, but the scanner didn't pick it up.

 

[Arkeis]

Based on a youkai, a Japanese spirit, as well as some inspiration from the little girls of Touhou. In fact, considering Necturna's backstory and Yilx's current avatar, it's pretty apparent that Necturna herself is influenced by Touhou.

The leaves on her head haven't awoken yet and resemble a bow at this stage, however, it is foreshadowing things to come. The dress part is more innocent and flower-like compared to her evolution's.

 

[MLaRF]

Bore meedfack!
ArkDorbX - I'm guessing the image was over 640 square, because it's been removed as of my seeing it. Paint is the most accessible tool to resize images, so just use that if you have it. If you don't, use the Mac equivalent.
Jessifer - Everything Dising_Rusk said. Necturna doesn't have a lot of detail outside the main focal areas, so all you really need to do for detail is just adding a few thorns, teeth, or eyes in the most important places. I like how the dress has turned into sort of a cape, I'm not sure if that's what you were going for, but I think it would be so wicked.
Tao Tahu - I also feel this design is a bit too close to Necturna's original concept. However, I really like the tooth eyebrows, and the budding flower. Those are just rocktacular ideas.
BaragornIrd - That is so incredibly adorable I want to hug it so much @U@. My only suggestion is that the design seems almost too simple, and that giving it a headvine even like a little ponytail or pigtails would make it so much more powerful.

 

[chuckeroo777]

Second draft. A little more deitailed, especially the body. I tried to go more accurate to necturna for most deitails.

 

[thornchild]

my reasoning behind this form has to partially do with the leaf seen over her head, which reminded me of a maple leaf. So I made her baby form into a maple seed pod. the heads form I made to look like a hitodama (spirit of the recently departed in shinto) with her head gear ment to be like a babooshka (because of the bonnet type look and something to also take over as her sash).

Let me know what you think, sorry for how rough it looks, depending on input I'll make a final cleaned up version in adobe.

 

[thornchild]

Jessifer I love the design. Although her "cape" seems a little long for her body unless she floats. You don't need to post it if you don't like it but see what it looks like with a third cape piece rather than those little legs (however cute they may be) :D

 

[Quanyails]

So after a day and a half of leave, I return to discover my image is too small to be slated; hence, I re-scaled the entire thing (which is quite a bother when it's non-anti-aliased!). I'm afraid I haven't changed anything with the design; the vines are not meant to look too malevolent or innocent. The design as a whole is meant to be cute. :P

Comments!

• chuckeroo777: I still feel the design of your pre-evolution is still too distant from Necturna. I can't make too much sense of what looks like a quadrupedal turnip evolving into a ghostly shrine maiden. Yes, the design needs closer connection to the evolved form.
• MLaRF: One of the more unique interpretations, I must say. The bowfeet, mostly, make me think of that. :P I noticed how the vine resembles a ponytail in your design; if that was intentional, I don't know, but I like that. A little artistic comment I'd like to make is that the eyes could look a bit more vivid--unless that's your intention to make them flat.
• jessifer: It does look like a closed-up Necturna, huh? Okay, a little less similarity (vine, eyes/dress) and a little variation should do. :)
• Toa Tahu: Looks still quite a bit like Necturna--the head and body are almost the same, except for the horns and feet and vine. Add a little variety! :D
• aragornbird: I do like your reworking of Necturna's design into something younger and more innocent, although--just to remind you--it's not a pure grass-type. The bow and 'hair' work nicely, and the proportions are simplified. One question: what sort of youkai? There are hundreds of types of 'em in Japanese mythology.
• thornchild: I think a larger and more detailed head can make it look more pokemon-esque. Stuff like Chimecho have a larger body-tail proportion. Once you clear up the image, I think I can give more comments.

 

[Birkal]

Well, I've been in a jam over how to make a pre-evolution out of Necturna's design. It is very complex and has a lot of themes going on. I decided I'd just sit down and hash out so (very) rough sketches. Check it out:

(Back on left / Front on right)


I really like the idea of having a little thorn angel as our pre-evolution. She's still pretty cute (in my opinion), yet still has some foreboding signs, like her thorn branch and little dress teeth. One of my favorite parts of Yilx's design for Necturna is actually the back where the vine connects. Instead of having a straight up vine like the evolution, I decided to go for more of a "wing" structure. It also looks like a little bow/backpack from the front, which is kinda cute! I also think that I don't want to give the hand sleeves any teeth; she can grow into those when she evolves. Any thoughts or suggestions? I'll be working on a much more detailed draft over the next few days. Keep up the good work, CAP!

 

[Yilx]

Commenting on my favourites thus far,

MLaRF: You're right, the legleafbow is a pretty cool concept, but from my end I think it'll look better cleaner instead of the rough feel you gave her.

Quanyails: Although I'm more of a fan of the 'sad-happy-cute' feel some of the other designs give, I'm liking the 'cute-cute' direction you took with this one.

jessifer: This design has a certain melancholic charm to it that's quite cool... I like it :)

aragornbird: Ehh, I use Lilligant as my avatar and people say Necturna's based off her, now I use myon and you say this! Well, she's based off a bit from all sides... but I digress. I really like the simplicity of your design and how you mantained the little 'ribbon' on her head here, I think it's adorable!

Birkal: Goodness, this one is unique! She gives me a very Zelda-ish vibe, though.

It'll be a hard time to choose just one out of these...

 

[RitterCat]

Just a crappy first sketch of Babby Necturna. Its bonnet closes in to have Necturna's hood, the vine extends, the dress gains sentience, it generally grows and VOILA!
Necturna

 

[Spork]

My opinions nobody asked for:

@MLaRF: Lol cool. I worry that the design is a bit too contrived - like there's an obvious sense of having designed it as a prevo rather than its own individual thing. Too creative? I like the idea of the vine being the boss here, perhaps you could have more glazed expression and less active pose for the girl?

@jessifer: Well I disagree with RD on every point, lol. The only way I could see that it might be 'too similar to Necturna' (seriously, it doesn't even have arms...) is in the colour choices, but really most pokemon use the same palettes throughout their line. I'd like to see it posed better, perhaps in a standing position, since it's cape-thing is longer than its body. One thing that stands out is how the hair and the cape form basically the same shape at the same angle, which leads to an awkward flow between them, emphasising the differences in width and length. I think the main problem I have with the design is the cape generally, actually. Perhaps try some different designs for it? Have it less fixed to the neck? Form a hood with it? Make it shorter? I also feel like the colours could be reworked - the white and browns are too detached from the reds and blacks, and it's jarring.

@Aragornbird: It's just standard really, what people probably have in their mind's eye for the prevo, it'll get a lot of votes no matter what. Doesn't need to change. Nice and safe.

@thornchild: It's cool to see a non-humanoid option. One thing I would problematise about it is that it seems too long and skinny, especially compared to its evolution, both by pokemon standards and by pre-evolution standards. Consider fattening it out, and in particular widening its head?

@Quanyails: I don't know if the flowery bandana is really necessary. The flower in particular seems a bit awkward.

@Birkal: Ha I really like it. The thorny fairy wings are perfect, and I love how costumelike the dress is in general, less bloated with life like Necturna's. Looking forward to seeing it in colour~

@RitterCat: I'm unsure about this, so it's a woman in Victorian dress that evolves into a traditional Japanese shrine maiden? It also seems weirdly matronly, what with the posturing and its body shape, which kind of conflicts with the fact that it's a youngster and the thing it evolves into also has a strong element of youth about it. I just think it's a bit scattered, flavourwise. It's a nice piece of art and she's very cute, but I don't know if the base design really works for me.

 

[RitterCat]

@Spork, yeah when I was looking over it the themes were kinda worrying me but I decided to hell with it bonnets look cool, but I'll probably rethink a new concept now!!!!

 

[Yilx]

Here's my own go... was thinking either a seedly-blooming flower or a loliturna.