CAP 17 CAP 6 - Sprite Submissions

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DougJustDoug

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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.

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CAP 6 so far:
Name: Show Me Your Moves!

General Description: A good user of moves with effects not frequently used in the OU metagame.

Justification: There are many moves in Pokémon with great effects, but they often end up unused. Moves such as Gravity, Snatch, and Safeguard have potential in OU, but they are neglected for several reasons: the moves are apparently overshadowed, have poor distribution, or are inefficient compared to another strategy. This CAP uses a combination of typing, ability, and stats to make these underused moves not only feasible, but also capable.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • What mechanics of Pokémon determine how viable moves are?--not only the Pokémon's typing, stats, and ability, but also its interaction with playstyles and momentum.
  • What new strategies might emerge by giving a new OU Pokémon underused moves?
  • What challenges do Pokémon that use lesser-used moves face compared to ones that use a more standard moveset?
  • If the Pokémon has options of staple OU moves (high-powered STABs, offensive stat-boosting moves, reliable recovery, Substitute), will those moves be useful to it, even if it's specialized toward a separate and distinct strategy?
  • Can underused moves increase other underused moves' viabilities?
  • Can one user of a strategy unrecognized in a metagame massively influence a pre-existing playstyle?
Typing: Steel / Flying
Abilities: Intimidate / Volt Absorb / ???
Stats: 50 HP / 92 Atk / 130 Def / 65 SpA / 75 SpD / 118 Spe
 
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Quanyails

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I hope that the X/Y Sprite Project hasn't distracted spriters from contributing sprites to CAP. If so, good for you! You're providing a great service for Smogon and Gen. VI Pokemon. :)

Rough draft:



I've received constructive criticism on this already, and I will make adjustments to the sprites in time.
 
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Bughouse

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Quanyails: I haven't seen these yet so I first wanted to say you're off to a good start Quanyails! Frontsprite CC: Love how you've dealt with the wings/arms. Belly generally looks good too. The main area of concern for me is strictly the head. The left part of the anchor beak looks a little off, as does the lower half of the beak that we can see on the right part. I wonder if moving the buttons down a bit on the left side so there's a small space between the button and the beak on the left would help. Or some thing else, whether it's rotating the head or shifting it right slightly. I think the gold overload might be part of the visual issue. Backsprite CC: The main issue here seems to be the angle of the tail feathers and the lower gold chain. Both are lining up a bit weird. There might be something to do about the left foot and potentially a reangling of the head, if you shift it on the frontsprite. Oh and the shading is gorgeous. Really a great first effort!

Sgt. Moose: gonna withhold a comment until I see it colored like a normal sprite since that's such a huge part. Definitely agree it needs some downsizing too, but I like the pose, so that's good!

Wyverii: Beautiful as always. You've dealt with the feet the best so far, which seems to be a challenging aspect. The wide-winged pose gives a great aggressive feel that I like and that also is very fitting of frigate birds. Your revisions to the hat and collar and whatever else you've touched up are good edits. I agree with rockspet that the only thing maybe still off is some shading (specifically on the belly, the feathery parts are much improved in the edit). The effect is a little muted compared to what I normally feel looking at other sprites. Looking forward to the backsprite.
 
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Still in works, need to color it again so it would look like real sprite. Also there seems to be an error on the other leg. Well, that happens.

Nope. Not going to happen.
 
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@Quanyails: Whoa. Great job, man. I'm thoroughly impressed.
With all due respect to srk1214, I disagree with most of his CC towards your sprites; as it is currently, I believe your frontsprite is near pixel-perfect, though I would enjoy a pointer admiral hat. (Now it appears quite rounded.)
As for the backsprite, I think the tail feathers are expertly done, but I agree with srk that the lower gold chain seems off. The angle doesn't seem to be aligned with the top chain's. I also agree that the left foot is unusually small, though I realize that it's angled to be that way. I can't place my finger on how to fix it. The pointier hat comment goes for the backsprite as well.

Other than that, great job. It's just the start of the thread, but I think I might just set my vote for your sprites. All that's left to set my vote in stone is a kickass shiny. Good luck!

@Sgt. Moose: Quite a decent try at the lineart. But firstly, you might want to scale that down in size; a quick comparison tells me that your sprite is bigger than Charizard, which shouldn't be appropriate. I say you shrink it down to somewhere between Houndoom and Honchkrow's height.
Next, you'll realize that BW sprites actually have very little dithering, that is, the shading technique you used where you join the colors like checkerboards. Just take a quick google search of Pokemon BW sprites. The shading is all very straightforward - one block of color, another block of color.
Lastly, your sprite is overflowing with shades. In BW, the limit for total number of colors is 15. That's not exactly a rule here, but it's a standard you're encouraged to follow so that your sprite looks and feels like other official sprites. Specifically, each "surface" should have a 2-3 shades, e.g. 2 shades of red for the belly, 2 shades of black for the body, and so on.

That's it for now. If you could implement those changes - which is admittedly quite a huge undertaking - I think your sprite will have something going for it as well. Good luck!
 
Quanyails, the beak seems a bit short and wide, but overall the sprite looks good. The arms might be a bit wide, though.

Sgt. Moose, I feel that the chest should puff out a bit more. It seems like a proud pokemon and your sprite seems a bit... erm... flat. Cough.

Wyverii, I really like the pose, but the shading seems a bit off. Maybe a bit darker under the wings? I'm also a bit confused as to where its left arm attaches to the body.

Overall I'm really liking these sprites.
 
I really like that Wyverii's doesn't look like Honchkrow, and I reckon that ones that don't look too close to Honchkrow will have the upper hand come voting time.
 

paintseagull

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Wyverii the far wing looks too extended now. I think you could resolve it by shortening it a bit, but also by having the wing bent at the elbow as the close one is
 

paintseagull

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DougJustDoug great pose. The strong edge highlights on the wings are unnecessary. The flared out feathers at the shoulder on his near wing are also too exaggerated, you'd only see feathers like that where the underside of the wing is visible - not the case at the shoulder where the wing is connecting to the body underneath.
 

paintseagull

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Hey guys, movepool votes are up and so this thread will need to close soon! I hope I can call your attention away from the XY sprite project for a moment and get some nice sprite submissions finished for Cawmodore!
 
First draft:



Comments/criticism? I tried a "stand at ease" pose, but I feel it's a bit stiff and awkward. Also, I took a few creative liberties with the proportions of some of its features.
 

canno

formerly The Reptile
I want some C+C before I go Final Submission mode, but the sprite is pretty much done.



Took TheSquid's adive and made the sprite lighter. Also added a third toe on the bird, as one had 2 and the other had 3.

Also not 100% set on the shiny coloring / plain back.

EDIT: Made the back feel more connected, although I still need to fix it.
 

Quanyails

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Final Submission until further notice.



Made a bunch of small edits regarding the 'hat', colors, bits on the backsprite (which I'm still not completely satisfied with and won't be unless I change much more).

I went for a more modest shiny palette, only significantly changing the color of the gular pouch while muting the other colors. I've been thinking about it as a Cawmodore that's been out at sea enough so that it's been weathered but hardened.

Comparisons with other birds, big-fronted or otherwise:




And background comparisons:



Oh, spriters: make sure to re-check the rules for your final submission. :)

Comments:
  • Wyverii: Fantastic colors, fantastic pose, and fantastic coherence with in-game sprites. There is exactly one part of the sprite that bothers me. The left wing (the one from our perspective) looks really stretched out, and its shape looks unusual. If you were to stretch out the white feathers, the wing would look more or less triangular. If the feathers closest to the body were lower, then the wing may not have that exaggeration. Beyond that, though, great! :)
  • DougJustDoug: Swanky pose you've given Cawmodore. :) It gives it a vibe of haughtiness or pride, which works quite well with frigate birds. You've done a magnificent job with the left wing's white feathers, I must say. Beyond that, the technical material I found that could be improved include the outline colors and highlights. The outlines are a bit bright, and making them darker would be a simple recolor, no big changes. As paintseagull has said, the feathers' highlights at the edges don't match up with the light source. They shouldn't hug the feathers, as the feathers are not reflective.
  • noobiess: Amusing pose; it seems like something Game Freak would do for a design. :P You do a nice job with these sorts of poses, I've seen. Now, my criticism for your sprite includes the size of the body compared to the wings. The wings currently look small and thin compared to the swell size of the gular pouch. The left wing also looks noodly--without bone underneath them--because it bends in a smooth curve rather than at a joint. Might I suggest an adjustment to that as well?
  • Gun6: Neat idea for a pose. :) It works with both commodores and birds. I do wish the pose showed those white feathers on Cawmodore, but I figure the backsprite will get that. I could see the underside of the gular pouch be less linear. In contrast to the wings that meet the tail at that curve of increasing slope, the bottom is flat and does not appear to meet the other side of the leg. That could be made more natural. Besides this, giving the eyes more clarity would be really nice. :) It looks beady compared to the anchor-beak.
  • The Reptile: I wouldn't shade in the individual feathers on the wing, there. It's a detail that, unless it's a smooth line across the bottom, is omitted in in-game sprites. Like Doug's sprite, your sprite has rather bright outlines.
 

DougJustDoug

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Final Submission


I tried to give this a somewhat haughty pose, because I see this pokemon having the proud air of a sea officer. Also, frigate birds have those big, red, puffed out belly pouches that just can't help but look a bit smug as they literally "stick out their chest". So I put Cawmodore's hand on his hip and gave it a confident pose.

The base coloring is red, gold, and steel, so I made the shiny coloring blue, copper, and steel. The blue is a nod to the nautical theme, and the copper is a metal coloring that works well with that shade of blue.

I love Magistrum's art design and I tried to stay close to his key design elements and style. Hopefully, I did it justice!
 

paintseagull

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Hey everyone, this is your 49 hour (and a bit) warning. I'll close this thread at 11 am EST (EDT ends tonight!) Monday morning
 
I'm going to try to finish the sprite but I don't know if I have enough time to do so.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see ^^
Here is the backsprite:

There is still alot of work but I wanted to show my progress so far
 

paintseagull

pink wingull
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noobiess : the size and pose of the sprite are great. The wings are too thin right now and the anatomy of the wings is off. Think of a penguin's wing ( http://cdn2.arkive.org/media/E3/E33...ation.Large/Close-up-of-king-penguin-wing.jpg ) or a flipper to get the correct slab-like shape, then add feather detail where appropriate. The back sprite seems a little too small compared to the front, I think he should be a touch wider and taller, but the pose looks good from both angles. The placement of his far leg on the backsprite is correct, I think, but I think his body would be correspondingly wider on that side (our left side).

Also don't forget to make the background transparent!
 

canno

formerly The Reptile
Final Submission



So while making small edits on my sprite, I noticed it is way to big, so I changed that. And then I check the thread and noticed I missed a lot of details. So here it is. Due to time constraints this has to be my final version besides tiny edits (although that's what I said last time, and look where I am now...)

EDIT: Changed front sprite for more consistency
EDIT2: Minor Edits
EDIT3: Final Fine Tuning



 
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