CAP 7 CAP 7 - Part 14 - Sprite Submissions

[EeveeBreeder]

Okay, so I think I'm done with the front sprites. I want to start working on the backsprites now.



Once I'm done with everything I might try it, but I dunno at the moment.

They're cute!! xD

I don't really have a sprite to submit, my pokemon making is horrible, but I love the submissions so far, alot of them are just adorable!

 

[pkmn-taicho321]

Tossing around some shiny colour ideas, I personally like the "lakers" (purple&gold) one. Any ideas?

 

[KoA]

Ok, I've an extremely rough backsprite done tonight. It's highly WIP, but it should give you the general idea of what I'm going for.

I plan on finishing this tomorrow after work if Mag will be magnanimous and leave the poll open until at least Sunday. X)

I'm mostly concerned with how the head is coming along. I have the direction and ears on right, It's the whiskers that is most difficult.

 

[TVboyCanti]

My last attempt at making this sprite passable. This whole thing has been quite the learning process. Redid the head again, and also tried out the ghostly shroud that everybody seems to be wanting. Opinions?

 

[Headpunch]

-Changed shiny color from green to red.
-Female version features no mouth and shortened tufts on the rear legs.
-No difference between male and female back sprites.

There has not been much discussion on what people would like to see in regards to mask color on shinies. What is your opinion? And as always, please comment.

Thanks.

Edit:

i'd be cool to see a shiny with a black mask and white body. at least i think it would, if anybody wants to try that.

Good idea.

 

[Dragonknight!]

i'd be cool to see a shiny with a black mask and white body. at least i think it would, if anybody wants to try that.

 

[hydrolphin]

i'd be cool to see a shiny with a black mask and white body. at least i think it would, if anybody wants to try that.

Seconding this, though since silver is popular, and it is close to white, that can be used instead.

 

[Headpunch]

Tossing around some shiny colour ideas, I personally like the "lakers" (purple&gold) one. Any ideas?

Good color choices on the fifth one. Of the other four, the silver looks the best. As far as lineart goes, the tail needs work.
-You can still see the cutoff at the top; try sliding the very tip of the tail left ~8 pixels and fixing up your curves.
-The left side has a vertical line; if you put a rightward curve at the base (following the contour of your highlight) you should be good.
-The tips on the wisps of fur are not connected; they can be removed.

I have to say I'm impressed by the speed and quality of the spritework you've done recently.

I'm mostly concerned with how the head is coming along. I have the direction and ears on right, It's the whiskers that is most difficult.

-The top edge of the top head tab on the face mask would be a horizontal line.
-Its tail is coming out of the middle of his spine; however, this can be fixed if it is reattached at his posterior, which is out of sight, leaving about half of the tail above the cutoff line.
-Taking the bottom of the foreleg inwards (thus partially straightening the leg's curve) will be more consistent with your pose and make it less bearlike.

Good luck to you both.

 

[pkmn-taicho321]

Good color choices on the fifth one. Of the other four, the silver looks the best. As far as lineart goes, the tail needs work.
-You can still see the cutoff at the top; try sliding the very tip of the tail left ~8 pixels and fixing up your curves.
-The left side has a vertical line; if you put a rightward curve at the base (following the contour of your highlight) you should be good.
-The tips on the wisps of fur are not connected; they can be removed.

I have to say I'm impressed by the speed and quality of the spritework you've done recently.

Thanx ^_^ glad to get some constructive critic. I'm currently working on a back sprite so all my attention is kinda on that, but afterwords I'll give it a try.

 

[Dragonzrule]

Here's my first draft.

I made one of its legs turning into a fog type thing. I won't make anything transparent until I finish male/female and the backsprites.

 

[Olie]

I like the foggy leg idea honestly, but the pose should be something like Atyroki's (whose pose I believe is spot on)

KoA's sprite is very neat as well

 

[darkie]

Remember that all sprites need to have an unbroken outline!

 

[Dragonzrule]

Does the foggy leg violate that? Because in the rules, it says to refer to official sprites. Some official sprites don't have unbroken outlines on some parts: ghastly and any pokemon with flames. I think the point of that rule was to make it look nice on any background and to defeat aa on the outside of the outline. But even pokemon like spiritomb have a broken outline:

I just want to know, because if it is illegal, I wil change it.

 

[pkmn-taicho321]

Now with back sprites! I think my final submission will be the silver shiny with the redish mask.

 

[darkie]

Doug's first post in this thread:

I'd like to remind all spriters to follow the "outline rule":

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. Look at the ingame sprites for examples.

Ingame sprites have a few exceptions to the outline rule. For example, almost all sprites that have fire effects (e.g. the Charizard line) do not have outlines around the fire. But those sprites are few and far between. The vast majority of ingame sprites are completely outlined. Outlined sprites are able to be easily displayed on a variety of background colors without losing their shape, which is the main reason for the outline rule.

However, the rule has the added side-effect of imposing a certain stylistic limitation on the sprite as well. Most spriters will attest that it is easier to create a "cool" sprite, if you don't have to use outlines. Without an outline, you can make a sprite that looks like a miniature painting. Pokemon sprites are not miniature paintings, they are miniature cartoon pictures. The outline rule somewhat enforces this, although that is not the reason for the rule. Since there are no "spriting standards" published by Game Freak, we have no idea what stylistic rules exist, if any.

Most spriters that have participated in CAP sprite contests, will likely agree that you need to make CAP sprites "cooler" than ingame sprites, if you want to win. I know Wyverii and I have specifically discussed this point. Many CAP spriters intentionally or unintentionally make sprites that utilize more advanced coloring techniques than most ingame sprites. But, since there are no defined coloring rules, it is acceptable to do this in a CAP sprite inside the outlines.

Regardless of what EoE's design looks like, it does not override the "outline rule" for this sprite.

We actually have an outline rule for art designs as well. And EoE's design breaks that rule. His early WIP designs broke the rule horribly. His final submission only broke the rule by a little, so I let it go. His design has several small wisps that were intentionally blurred in Photoshop. Those wisps are the exact opposite of an outline. I probably should have put my foot down then, but it seemed to have minor impact on the overall design. Now that we have come to the spriting phase, it could be a bigger issue.

We can't have ambiguity in the outline rule for sprites. If the rule is ambiguous, then some spriter will abuse the ambiguity and make a little painting, that isn't usable for our display needs on the battle simulator and elsewhere.

Most spriters have followed the outline rule for their CAP7 sprites, but there are some sprite submissions in this thread that do not follow the rule as stated in the OP. So just to be clear to everyone -- Any sprite that does not follow the OP outline rule will be disqualified.

 

[ParadOxymoron]

My only problem with Wyverii's is that the female mouthless face looks kind of like a butt. I saw it as soon as I first saw it, and will not be able to un-see it.

I will probably vote for Headpunch. I love the ghostlyness, the pose, the artistic liscence, and the female mask. I would never look at Wyverii's and guess Ghost/Steel. I'd guess mono-Dark. (It's a fantastic sprite, through and through! I just don't think it fits the Pokemon very well.)

 

[Dragonzrule]

Ok, thankyou. I'll change the fog right now.

EDIT:

I also fixed the shape of the fog and the tail.

 

[ParadOxymoron]

It's front-left paw looks really whack. Maybe you can have it raised, and also fog-ify it?

Also, I don't like the red shiny. I don't think anyone would be mad at you if you just bandwagoned onto the black-mask, silver-body thing.

 

[User 12783]

Atyroki, I think the above pose is brilliant and would easily get my vote. It looks dynamic and very vibrant, I really like it =). I know you went on and edited the design some more, but this pose looks the most like it is crouching. I felt your later version of it wasn't nearly quite so good as this one.

I agree 100%

 

[LuistheNinja]

Chaoscrippler's is by far the best Sprite so far :O. I only think the shiny sprite should be a white body with black masks.

 

[KoA]

Thanks for your critique Headpunch, it certainly sets things into perspective for me. :)

Busy as a bee I must be. :>

 

[DiamondDust]

When I look at atryoki's, it really is better than everyone elses.
I never took a good look at it, and it really does give that "Catch me if you can!" feeling.
It's dynamic, and the only thing i would change is to give the legs that fading shadowish effect used in EoE's final design.

 

[Scoopapa]

I can't wait to see Aragornbird's rear sprite, as I like his front one the best.

 

[.raptor]

Ok, thankyou. I'll change the fog right now.

EDIT:

I also fixed the shape of the fog and the tail.

the best sprite until now. The foggy leg is great.

Try just to make the mask's spikes a little smaller and change the color of the shiny's mask.

 

[TVboyCanti]

the best sprite until now. The foggy leg is great.

Try just to make the mask's spikes a little smaller and change the color of the shiny's mask.

Ok, thankyou. I'll change the fog right now.

EDIT:

I also fixed the shape of the fog and the tail.

Great sprite, I would say fix the angle of the far right face spike so that it's straight or angling slightly upwards instead of downwards. I think you could also move the fog part up so that it attaches at the knee, instead of looking like it's tied onto the ankle. Then it would realy look like the leg is disintegrating into fog, which is what I'm guessing you were going for.