CAP 4 Pre-evos - Part 6 - Sprite Submissions

[jas61292]

Ok guys, welcome to sprite submissions. This is where we make the sprites that will be the offical representation of our Pokemon in any sort of environment in which they are necessary. This should be a fairly straight forward step, and we have plenty of other stages to go through before we need to choose a sprite, so you should have plenty of time to work with.

Unlike the art stage where people were submitting art in pairs, sprites will be decided on individually, much like they were for the recently done Embirch and Flarelm. This means that while you can still submit sprites for both Pokemon, you could also submit for only one or the other if you feel like it or or are simply unable to do both.

While this stage should be going on for a while, note that I will post at least a 24 hour warning before closing. Anyways, the rules:

Rules

1. 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.
2. All sprites (front and back) can have a maximum size of 80x80.
3. 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.
4. No action effects, move effects, environment effects or additional objects can be rendered on or around the pokemon.
5. Sprites must be in PNG format.
6. Use 8-bit truecolor (aka 8-bit RGB) or less. This does NOT mean 256 color mode.
7. Use transparent backgrounds.
8. Fusions of other sprites are not allowed. All sprites must be scratch sprites.
9. Do not alter, fuse, recolor or otherwise modify another spriter's submission – unless the original artist explicitly gives permission.

Failure to follow these guidelines will result in the submission being disqualified and the post will be deleted.

Sprite submissions for the sprite poll will be selected by the Topic Leader, based on preference and feedback in this thread. There is no process for overturning the Topic Leader's decision. If you are not comfortable with this stipulation, then do not make a sprite submission. Do not post any complaints here or in later threads.

Additional Information

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 submit a Front Normal sprite first. Once feedback comes in and the poll nears, they make the other sprites.

Animations are not required and will not be used as part of the final product; however, it does add to the "appeal" aspect of your submission.

You do not have to make different Male and Female sprites, but it helps. Since there are only minute differences between most in-game male and female sprites, it’s not very hard to tweak the sprite for a different gender. Some spriters have made noticeable changes between genders, and that’s fine too.

Shinies are just recolors, so that’s not too tough. There’s lots of people that can’t scratch, that are willing to recolor your shiny, if you really don’t want to do it yourself. Just ask in the submission thread and you’ll get plenty of offers to help.

Please look at your transparent sprites against different colored backgrounds, not just white. In simulators, the sprite will be displayed on multiple background colors in the Team Builder and in battle.


Aurumoth is here if you need to reference it.

Our Prevos so far:

Name: Cupra | Argalis
Type: Bug/Psychic | Bug/Psychic
Abilities: Shield Dust/Keen Eye/Illusion | Shed Skin/Compoundeyes/Illusion
Stats: 50/60/49/67/30/44 | 60/90/89/87/40/54

 

[Quanyails]

My apologies for not spriting in the style I normally sprite CAP sprites in--I experimented with my style for a few sprite commissions I had been doing recently, and I didn't remember to get out of that habit for this set.

Sizes are relatively scaled to Aurumoth's, just a note. I'll fidget around with the backsprites--I've already started some changes since this post.

 

[elcheeso]

Figure I should post this and hopefully get some more feedback!

I know some people have said it looks a bit too big for a starter, which might be true but I wanted to put it to a bigger audience before I change it because ugh, making that sort of change is going to be a huge pain in the ass. From bottom to the top of the head, it's about 3 pixels taller than Quanyail's sprite and 2 pixels wider, but the body itself is definitely a lot more plump by comparison. What do you guys think?

And here's the second stage. Not really sure on this guy, I feel like there's something wrong with the outline but I can't really place it. Feedback would be pretty cool!

 

[jynx KB]

Quanyail, I think the back sprite for the 2nd stage needs a small tweak. The body in the picture has I think 4 shell pieces, while your back sprite looks like it has 2 halves. Not sure if it's possible to convey on that small of a scale, but hopefully it's possible.

 

[CBMeadow]

Final Submission assuming sprites aren't linked, as I don't have time to work on it further. I appreciate the critiques and will take them into consideration next time I sprite, so thanks to everyone who commented!

 

[Quanyails]

Righty, so I've had my modified sprites for a while, but I didn't feel like updating. Now I do! I've made some few adjustments--mostly to Argalis. The shells around its body should be okay in terms of making them look like four shells, as one can see a slight divide at the bottom of the capsule. I've also made a divide in Argalis's hair, as I had missed that with my first draft.

The shinies should look familiar, and there's a reason behind them. :) ICC's shiny Aurumoth was dubbed 'Argentumoth', and if the pre-evolutions are based off of Cuprum and Argentum as well, I could make a pattern of having an 'Aupra' and 'Cupralis'.

I should divide the sprites to Cupra and Argalis separately for final submission, note to myself.

Comments:

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• elcheeso: The body's pretty good for Cupra, but the face's geometry is a bit unnatural. A diagonal line with a slope of -1 is easy to make for sprites, but it looks odd for the face of Cupra. Perhaps you can round it like you did the right side of the face. Additionally, the left eye has a corner from compressing the curve into that many pixels, and it makes that area, well, sharp. Using a lighter color for the top left of the eye will make that 'point' look less so. Is my comment understandable? X3
• CBMeadow: Ah, nicely done with the perspective. I just follow paintseagull's given one. v.v Other than the shape of the head I mentioned on IRC, the antennae don't look symmetrical. Where as the left branch of the left one is always vertical, the right branch of the right one has a very distinctive bend. I believe the left one should be moved left slightly and similarly angled. Other than that, the shading of the fur ruff compared to the wings confuses me, since there's a distinctive black line separating the two, but softer colors and highlights on the wing that says otherwise about lighting. Just a minor change to the contrast should do. There's also an inadvertent illusion of a line you made that follows the shadow of the right antenna to the tuft of hair sticking out perfectly horizontally. Breaking one of those lines will make it look more natural. :)

 

[noobiess]

My spriting skills are a bit rusty but I finally have some vacation so I figured I would give it a try:

Hopefully I have the courage to start on the backsprites

As always, comments are welcome.

 

[DFrog]

Offering some feedback:

• Quanyalis: Your sprites are one of my favourite submissions (the other being noobiess). I like the colour in both your sprites, it seems very true to the artwork–however Cupra's 'beard' and wings could be a shade darker. The only major complain that I have is that your Cupra looks very flat and lifeless. You could remedy this with a more dynamic pose (within reason) or even changing the shading of the sprite to give it more dimension. Argalis' eyes just look sad to me, maybe its the shape of the eye or the placement of the pupil but it doesn't give off that aggressive look of the Argalis art but this is a minor nitpick of mine.
• elcheeso: Your sprite just seems off to me. Quanyalis probably addressed this issue better in his/her feedback but to reiterate the point the proportions of Cupra's face seem strange and unnecessarily skewed. I have a similar complaint in your Argalis sprite, except it seems more the body is shifting to the right instead of being centred.
• I like your Cupra sprite. Just two complaints, the colour scheme (of the regular Cupra) seems significantly darker than the actual art–it could probably be lighter to more closely match the art. My second complaint is that Cupra's body seems almost squashed in or dominated by the 'beard' as it covers a majority of Cupra's belly. By uncovering that you could most certainly add length to the sprite.
• noobiess: Probably my favourite submission thus far. The pose of Argalis really matches the art, capturing the agression of the stance. In both sprites the colour and proportions are done very well. Only two complaints; one being that Cupra's pose could be more upright or dynamic, keeping true to the art and exposing Cupra's belly. The second complaint is that you don't have the back sprites which would prevent other people for voting for your sprite which would be a shame because I could definitely see that work being popular.

And in honour of me for doing this when instead I should be doing religion homework here is a wall of religion memes. If you are easily offended and/or will overreact do not open the hide tags

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[Frost-Phoenix1]

Saw this thread and thought that I might give it a go. Mind you, I have not sprited in at least half a year. This is my attempt at an Argalis front sprite.


Edit: Here is a slightly tweaked second rendition of the sprite. I believe that it is better, but any suggestions are welcome.

 

[noobiess]

I made the backsprite of the second stage (and it was way harder then the front sprite I must say)

I also turned the body of the first stage a bit so it doesn't look like you see it from the side.
I would like to make it more dynamic but I don't like the fact that it would be standing. It just seems a bit unnatural to me, but I liek the idea of making it a stand in the animation.

Elcheeso's sprites are probably my favorites so far but the antennae just look a little bit off.
Comments as always are welcome :)

edit: added the backsprite of the first stage

 

[Frost-Phoenix1]

Noobiess' Argalis sprites I believe are so far the best. the rest just do not seem to capture the slight malice of the original picture, which I think lends to the design. I'm not sure anybody has yet done a good Cupra sprite, though unfortunately, I can't quite put my finger on what is wrong with them.

 

[sandshrewz]

I don't have any spriting experience, but I'm gonna try giving feedback to some~

@Quanyails: Pretty minor thing but, the fur thing around Cupra's neck is slightly darker than its wings / plates thing. I understand that, however, by using darker color might clash with the dark areas of the wings' underside. :d The fur color of the shiny Argalis might work though? I like the backsprite of Cupra especially, and nice details for the sprites. The shiny concept from the Pichu line here is pretty cool too! Also, echoing DFrog here; Argalis do look kind of sad :d /me pet Argalis

@CBMeadow: I like the dynamic pose here, and it's still stable with the four legs! However, the overall color scheme seems a bit dark. The left antenna (Cupra's right) of the front sprite has a slight bump there. You might want to explore with a thicker antenna ?_? it might help smoothen it and it does look pretty thick in psg's art. The bottom part of the backsprite is a line on the left side. Perhaps a slight bump can mimic the leg as well. Not sure if you're following Aurumoth's shiny color scheme, but if you are, the wings do look darker than Aurumoth's. If not, nvm me xD Hope to see Argalis sprites too :)

stopping here for now maybe~

 

[noobiess]

Here are my shinies and in a 96*96 canvas. To compare I also added Aurumoth's sprite

 

[Quanyails]

Taken a few suggestions for some modifications (as minor as they compare) to the sprites: darkening Cupra's collar, focusing on one highlight on its eyes, and making Argalis less sad.

Comments

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• noobiess: Your Cupra sprite is quite charming! I certainly like it for the most part, with a teensy adjustment I'd make with the left antenna on the front sprite being a pixel higher. The Argalis sprite, hmm, I certainly like the way you've made the shells--simple, yet effective. How do you work with neutral poses in a way that I can't replicate? >> Argalis's collar is off somewhat on the front sprite, probably from the contrast in line shading between the top and bottom implying more depth than expected. The back sprite's antennae for Argalis look a bit too far left, and the shading under the collar, I would think, would be slightly jagged. Do you have any colors to spare to make the inside of the shells not so dark? o3o
• Frost-Phoenix1: While pokemon sprites are typically cell-shaded, the cells are a bit distracting on your sprite--especially on the shells. The levels of contrast look rather unnatural, though the proportions and curves are fine, for the most part.

 

[noobiess]

Thanx for the comments quanyails. I will sertainly help me improve the sprites.
Ps: don't worry about replicating it. I don't think I can 'own' a sertain pose, sertainly not a neutral pose like that ^^

Edit:
Here are the edited sprites:

With the antennae on argalis on the backsprite, I kept the original antennae on the shiny form (of the backsprite) as comparison.

comments:
- Quanyails:
Cupra: As I already said, I don't like it standing up, but I guess that's a personal choice. Also the eyes are really weard. I can't really see what's going on and for me it looks that the eyes are each 2 circles. I also think that the body should be a bit more turned.
Argalis: I like the pose but somehow it looks like you're looking down on the pokémon. Also the antennae don't look like 2 parts at the end, but one. I really like the backsprite though.
In general I also want to say that the shading of the colar is way too complex.

 

[Frost-Phoenix1]

Ok, here is my third attempt at Argalis. This one involves very minor changes to the antennae. For the most part, this is concerned with the shading of the sprite. Let me know what you think. I've never really tried to shade things to make them look shiny before. I placed the previous sprite below it for comparison.

<-New
<- Old
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/argalis.gif/

 

[rockspet]

elcheeso, your cupra antennae look a bit off, I think they're a bit to stubby. Aside from that, the coloring is great.

Quanyails, your argalis's eyes look really depressed, compared to the artwork where they seem more determined. Maybe make them a bit wider...?

 

[paintseagull]

Frost-Phoenix1: I think it's better with the one shadow (as opposed to two colours for the shadow) but there isn't enough contrast now - make the shadow colour darker. Also I think in this case the highlight would be on the peak of the shell - so near the center of the shell pieces. I think a narrow highlight will work rather than a spread out one. Looking quite nice otherwise, though the fur is a bit jagged, could try some pixel tweaking there.

noobiess: I like your Cupra (esp the shiny!). Argalis has some perspective issues in the backsprite - the head and wings are too small, and the angle doesn't agree between the body and the wings/head/antennae. The shadow on the wing shells is too dark

Quany: Great overall, though I feel Argalis could have some more contrast, if possible. Cupra's back shells are a bit far apart too, but that could be a matter of taste.

CBMeadow: A good start but it feels like the shading and outlining is a bit forced, maybe you could try to simplify

elcheeso: update your sprite progress :)

 

[Quanyails]

I suppose the negative reception from commenting people in this thread means that that experiment wasn't too popular. Oh, well. How about something more standard?

Comments:

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• noobiess: I believe it's that colorblindness that plays into this slightly, but while the shinies of Cupra and Argalis match well, they don't with Aurumoth's. The Cupra sprites are wonderful, though my previous points mostly stay for the Argalis sprites. I mentioned in my first post that my art style was stuck in the ones I had used for some commissions instead of Pokemon's regular one, so that accounts for the complex stuff. The antennae should look like they divide in lines, tapering off. What doesn't? On the backsprite, maybe? And yeah, the pose was supposed to contrast with sprites with neutral perspectives, such as yours.
• Frost-Phoenix1: The shading's less distracting! :D Huzzah! One qualm I'll mention is that the back of Argalis's head looks less round, as if it creates a tangent with the antenna in that area. A change of a pixel should do. :P
• rockspet: Make the eyes wider more so? I'm pretty sure the eyes are tsurime already since the previous edit.
• paintseagull: What about Cupra's now? And as for contrast, Eagle4 mentioned to make the hair collar darker, and I have edited that. I'll post it when I feel like updating that. If there's anything else to add contrast to, mention it here or on IRC.

 

[Frost-Phoenix1]

Quanyails, that Cupra sprite is probably the best yet, in my opinion. The pose, not being fully upright, appears more fitting for a small bug pokemon. The eyes and body are well shaded. The hair collar is well done, for the most part. At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, though, I think you need one less color on the shells, and they coulld possibly do with a reshade. I'm not sure what it is, but the shading just seems a little off there.

 

[GoldenBanana]

This is my first time spriting, so critiques are welcome.

 

[jas61292]

Well, it seems like most people still have work to do, but since this is the last step, and I want to get things moving, I'm going to put out a 72 hour warning. As with most steps for these prevos, I am willing to be lenient with this, but I would prefer to finsh it up sooner rather than later.

On a different note, there is something I want to get input from you guys on before going to a poll. With the art stage of the prevo's, we had entries of the different stages linked together, but for everything else we did them separately. I'd like to know what you guys, the spriters, think we should do here. On the one hand I do like giving voters a choice of their favorite for everything. But on the other hand, it is good to have a sense of continuity throughout the family, and I know that a lot of you have your own individual shiny schemes and the like. So, how would you guys like to do this?

 

[Quanyails]

Final Submission

Cupra:

Argalis:

And Aurumoth, to compare (don't mind the difference in art style!):

Comments:

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• Frost-Phoenix1: Is it the contrast between relatively light color of the shell-wings compared to the darker fur ruff? I've made slight outline changes as to not make that distinction too much.
• GoldenBanana: Very nice for a first sprite; you've certainly got the right idea for sprites and how individual pixels work together! Different pose than the other sprites, well-shaded, too. Cupra's ruff is just a bit too 'there' compared to the rest of the sprite, but otherwise, nice! Just remember to make back sprites and Argalis's sprites, if they are voted on in groups, before the deadline, or request an extension!
• jas61292: I would prefer them voted as a group, since we've had plenty of opportunities for the parallels between this evolutionary line to go awry, and there are plenty of parallels here. If it was the case where there were fewer similarities/running themes among each design, I'd be fine with each stage being voted on separately. However, three stages with metals and a secondary metal in the shiny sprites make me lean toward doing them together. I would be fine if noobiess was voted on for both sprites, though if voters preferred one of noobiess's sprites and another of another person's, that would disrupt the pure silver (or is it platinum?) designs of the shinies. I like patterns. :)
• Lster728: I hope you don't mean my shinies, since there is an obvious pattern.

 

[Lster728]

Well, it seems like most people still have work to do, but since this is the last step, and I want to get things moving, I'm going to put out a 72 hour warning. As with most steps for these prevos, I am willing to be lenient with this, but I would prefer to finsh it up sooner rather than later.

On a different note, there is something I want to get input from you guys on before going to a poll. With the art stage of the prevo's, we had entries of the different stages linked together, but for everything else we did them separately. I'd like to know what you guys, the spriters, think we should do here. On the one hand I do like giving voters a choice of their favorite for everything. But on the other hand, it is good to have a sense of continuity throughout the family, and I know that a lot of you have your own individual shiny schemes and the like. So, how would you guys like to do this?

I think it should just be individual voting for each pre-evo. Regarding the shiny dilemma, the people who have made shiny sprites for both pre-evos did not make them so closely related to each other so that any of these shiny Cupra sprites would work well with another user's Argalis sprite.

That may sound a little wordy but basically individual voting should be the way to go as it's unfair to those who only made one pre-evo sprite.

However, I do believe that those who have already made sprites should make shiny sprites if they want to be eligible for the voting process.

 

[Lster728]

And while I'm here I'll do some commenting:
•Quanyalis: I really like your sprites. The face of Cupra is great and the shading on Argalis is flawless. I like how you drew detail to the stances of anglings of the sprites so that there smoothly transition to Aurumoth.

•noobiess: Another amazing sprite. I honestly like the stance and face of your Argalis sprite better than Quan's. One thing I could critique is that your Argalis' antennae look a little too "slick." Like, it almost looks like a greaser. They shouldn't lie as flat and should angle somewhat more into the air, and shouldn't be to one side. I can't complain much about the Cupra sprite(in fact, I REALLY like the shiny colors of it).

•elcheeso: The lighting in Cupra's eyes makes it seem cross-eyed. However, I do like the stance for both of your sprites. Also, you might want to make the antennae of both sprites a tad bit longer. They seem too short when compared to the artwork.

•CBMeadow: Your sprite looks almost a little too shaded. It makes the stance look awkward. Also, the antennae seem oddly angled and are almost too long. However, I do like the blue for the shiny but you might want to throw in some other colors to make it more interesting.

•Frost-Phoenix1: YES! The stance, the shadowing, the colors: PERFECT. However, there is one problem that I think needs to be fixed: ITS NOT LOOKING AT ITS OPPONENT. Please orient the head so that at least both of its eyes are visible. If so, it will most likely get my vote.

•GoldenBanana: Well, I must say that is very good for your first time spriting. However, I must be fair and say what I think. The fur collar is way too poofy and seems to make the sprite fat. It also doesn't help that the body seems fatter than the artwork. However, I do like the head and legs, those don't need any work.