CAP 13 CAP 2 - Sprite Submissions

[elementalpenguin]

I was notified by Mos that this was a thing that was happening earlier today, so I decided to take a shot at it. Here are my first drafts:

I'm not too sure about the shiny. I originally went for a very light blue but couldn't get it to work - maybe I'll go back to that later. I'm pretty tired at the moment and probably don't have very good judgment on these things.

All CC welcome and encouraged!

 

[Yilx]

elementalpenguin: Oh boy! I have to say this is my favourite thus far. I'm loving both the pose and the visual appeal you have on her!

DougJustDoug: This one is awesome too, however like it's been mentioned her head is a little too wide.

Mos-Quitoxe: You gave her a whimsical feeling in yours which I really enjoy. Only thing is that her arms appear a little big, but that's not too big of an issue.

 

[Mos-Quitoxe]

Glad you like mine Yilx! I'm not sure if I can do much about the arms though, I might ruin the curves by shortening them.
As per Gun6's suggestion on IRC, I've put the sprites in x96 boxes and gotten rid of the dithering. Does it look any better? worse?

 

[MLaRF]

Alright, critique time:

Mos-Quitoxe - Great job on that sprite, that's a pretty epic pose. The outline on the dress for the shiny version seems a bit too close to the shade of the dress and blends in. The shading is real nice and gives it depth.

ElementalPenguin - I love your choice of colour. It really makes everything pop out, and it's really good. Also your profile pic is awesome.

Gun6 - The upper body posing seems a bit plain, but not really that natural of a pose either. I'd suggest either making it a bit more flavourful or more relaxed. The dress, however, is quite nicely done, especially the shading work you've done on it.

The Reptile - Awesome posing. My only problems are with the shading, specifically that it's hard to see in the body and feels like a border on the dress. You've done excellent work on that stem, though. Also nice profile pic, if I haven't said before.

Quanyails - I love the posing and how you've done the shading. My only problem is that your choice of what colours to shade with seems flat, but the actual form of the shading gives really nice depth.

DougJustDoug - You have quite the opposite problem that Quanyails does: your shading seems to make the sprite a bit flat, but your choice of colours to shade with is absolutely gorgeous.

Wyverii - I feel that the dress could have a bit more depth if you gave it highlights. I absolutely love your choice of colours for the shiny version.

 

[DougJustDoug]

Here's an update to my sprite, incorporating some of the feedback from this thread:

Major adjustment to the dress and left arm (her left, viewer right) to get rid of that off-kilter pose. Now the lower body has been turned a bit to make it look more like she is floating and leaning slightly forward towards the opponent.

I also took the suggestions and narrowed the entire head by a full pixel. I also repositioned the head a little more upright. I basically chopped a pixel right out of the centerline, bringing her eyes and the teeth all closer together. I definitely preferred the wider interior, since in the main design Miko's eyes are set low and wide apart -- but I agree with commenters that the overall head width of my previous sprite was just too wide, which was a side-effect of all the exterior detail on the head. Cutting out from the center sacrificed almost nothing in terms of head detail, and allowed me to make the overall head smaller and rounder than it was before. Combined with the adjusted head position, I think it is an improvement.

As always, I'm interested to hear what you think.

 

[Kyuzeth]

It definitely looks better, Doug. The differences are easily seen and well executed. Keep it up!

 

[Kaprikorn]

Doug: For some reason I feel like the main eyes are a bit small and squarish. Could be just me.

 

[Mos-Quitoxe]

Well here's a big overhaul! darkened the red parts of the outline as per MLaRF's suggestion and swapped the arms 'round on the frontsprites at the suggestion of Quanyails, who also helped round out the mon's right arm.

 

[MektarTheOverlord]

MektarTheOverlord: I would personally prefer it if she was a little bigger, but since you chose to represent her as small then I respect your choice. Only thing is have you tried it with both arms down? I know you are trying for a 'pose' with the arm raised but it looks a little strange to me.

Thanks for the critique!

I think I'm going to keep the arm positions. I deeply respect your opinion, but I feel like it adds a uniquness to my pose, since there are people who sprited her with both arms down, and both arms up, but not one or the other.

 

[Joeyboy]

Wow such great sprites already :D you guys are awesome.

Mos-Quitoxe: Really great but I feel there should be more detail in the vine's eyes on top of the head. Also the arms seem a little weird to me, too round maybe? Haha dunno I feel they also need a little more detail. Great work though :)

DougJustDoug: Wow amazing man, really great stuff. The only thing that seems off to me is the face. I feel maybe it's the shading? The face is all one color atm and it makes it look very flat. Love the dress though! Really cool!

 

[Steampowered]

My latest sprite:

now shaded and detailed

C&C please (specifically is the gradual shading on the white working or should it be solid shading?)
----------------------
Mos-Quitoxe: Good work, but I feel as though it is somewhat disproportionate. The waist is really thin

DougJustDoug: Really good sprite but the vine on the head looks really bright

Ice: I feel as though your vine could use some more thorns

http://www.smogon.com/forums/member.php?u=41864Elementalpenguin: Awesome, I can think of no creative criticism for you

 

[canno]

Ok, so I'm not sure if this fix'd the issues that MLaRF stated, which I think was more of a problem with the color pallet rather than the shading (although I might be completely wrong). Also, I played around with the red color scheme. I would appreciate if you guys could tell me how it looks.

And this is my go at a shiny sprite. Not sure I like the blue too much, but I wanted to avoid using yellow, although I might end up using it. However, I do love the dress and the vine.

 

[SilvanRaptor]

So I lightened up the white, and I made the back sprite. I also played around with some blues for shiny, and I think this looks good. I may still look for other cool colors.

Edit: I got rid of the spots, it looks better, your right.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

The_Reptile, I think you're still suffering from the facial teeth being indistinguishable details next to the eyes. You can't tell where one ends and the other begins, and this becomes even more apparent if you look at your shiny colors. For the record, I think your shiny colors are a bit too bright and intense, and look off-putting. I think you could choose more complementary colors and hues for that.

Steampowered, I like it, but I think the back end of the dress is too straight-edged. It's the way you drew in those pixels that edge the back side. I think if you rounded it out and made the dress more full, it'd look a lot better. I think the front of the dress could do for some rounding as well. Also, I think her head looks as if she's leaning her face forward, and takes away the sort of elegant feel that she could have if you fixed that. I think moving the head back a pixel or two, then maybe up one pixel and filling in what neck is revealed would be a move in the right direction. Good luck!

Doug, I was looking at it, and I really like it, but I feel like you've been using very desaturated colors. Maybe it's intentional, but I think it might look better with at least one or two shades darker reds and purples. Also, maybe the dress seams would look more like seams with a darker shade as the seam color instead of a lighter color as you're currently using. The seams look like indentations because of the way the lighter colors make it appear light plays on the surface of the seam. Lastly, something bothers me about the vine head above the design's head, but I can't quite place what yet. I'll post again if I think of what it is.

Doran, I'm really not a fan of the spots on the back of her head. They remind me of Mary Poppins' hood or something outlandish. Otherwise, looks like it's moving in the right direction.

 

[Ice-cold Claws]

Eh, apparently my sprite isn't very popular. Thank god for Steampowered.
By the way Steam, you're correct. I was trying to be faithful to the artwork by giving it four thorns. But I did miss the fifth thorn behind the arm, so I've added that in. Hopefully it looks a bit better.
About your sprite, I believe R_D has said everything necessary, just follow them.

Here's my very slightly corrected version, now with shiny:

Swapped the traditional red for Gengar purple, because purple symbolises royalty, and is therefore not uncommon in kimonos (or so I've heard). It is also, conveniently, the classic color for Ghost-types.
Light green is something I find prominent in shiny Grass-types.
Swapped the black for a darkened Leafeon green, to re-emphasise the grass-type.
C&C would be very much appreciated.

 

[elementalpenguin]

Alright, I guess I'm gonna give some CC.

Doug: I agree with what RD said - your colors are very light. Darkening them might help. In addition, I feel like the shading on the dress needs to be more prominent - the only shadow at the moment is on the very back of the dress.

Steampowered: It feels a little flat. I think the issue is that the shadows aren't dark enough and the highlights in the outline aren't bright enough. I'm personally not a big fan of the gradual shading - it used to be all I used, but Gen 5 sprites are very crisp in their shading edges from what I've noticed. Also, your light source seems to be a bit inconsistent. On the left half of the sprite, it seems to be coming fro the traditional top left angle. On the right arm, however, it's coming from the top right. Also, her left arm seems a little out of proportion - it's sort of small.

Reptile: I love how willowy you made her! She seems so ghostly. I feel like the lines on the arms make some distinct angles in places where they should curve more, but that may just be personal preference. Maybe more of the dress needs to be in shadow? not too sure. I really really like your flower on top of the head - it looks perfect. Maybe consider lightening up your red? It would make the flower's eyes more prominent and also add more of a contrast to the existing spikes and eyes.

Doran Dragon: I feel like the proportions are sort of skewed. The top half is a lot larger than the dress, which sort of messes with me. I like how much detail you put into the head,but right now it feels disproportionate.

ICC: Actually, your sprite is one of my favorites! I'm absolutely in love with the way you did her arms and how you puffed up her chest. It really does look like a kimono! Your shiny coloration is also fantastic. You did a great job of tweaking the design slightly to make it easier to sprite. I have mixed feelings about the bright white you chose for her kimono part. It looks fantastic, but you might wanna try something more muted - I really love the dead colors Yilx's original artwork has. Oh, if you could make the flower bigger... You have the perfect proportions right now, but if you made it just a tiny bit bigger we could see the eyes better.

Hopefully I didn't post anything out of turn. I'm really excited by all the great sprites in here so far.

I'll hopefully have some edits in later that fix shading issues and make her anatomy a bit more elegant.

EDIT:

There we go. Um, what did I change... I redid the shading on her left arm, made both arms thicker, as per someone's suggestion - forgot who - and added dull highlights in the plant's eyes in order to make the fact that they're eyes more clear. I also made some edits to the hood - making the red spots larger, making outlines more clear... That's about it. I think if no one has any pressing concerns I'm going to move onto the backsprite.

 

[Jaetheho]

How is this???

please criticize constructively :D

 

[zyrefredric]

elementalpenguin, that is the best pose in all submissions so far, and it is very well made as well. the vine may be a little thick for my taste, but it's reaally good. one of my favs.

 

[meddle]

elementalpenguin: I really like the overall composition, but it seems as if you ran out of room for the vine at the top, curving it inward towards her head quite dramatically at a sharp angle. This gives her an S-shaped appearance that in turn gives her a somewhat awkward battle stance, her head tilted down almost like a rag-doll, pulling at the vine. This position works in Yilx's design because she's looking down at the viewer, not at the ground. The thorns seem a bit too boxy—if you could taper them down a bit I think they would look a lot more organic. I think you're spot-on with the dress—the teeth definitely pop, which is a big selling point for your sprite, I think. While I really like the amount of depth you achieved with the shading, I'm not sure if it feels like a Pokemon sprite.

Ice-cold Claws: One of my favorites so far. While the details of the head in Yilx's design don't really come through at this scale, I think you've done a good job with them, all things considered. I think the vine could still benefit from some revision. Perhaps try to make it appear a bit more foreshortened? The greens create a harsh line where they meet and might benefit from a bit more dithering there. The thorns look good, but perhaps make them poke out in the back a bit more, just for composition's sake. I think you nailed the coloring on the shiny sprite.

Doran Dragon: You did a great job with the details of the head, but it feels a bit out of proportion with her body, despite her learning forward a bit. The problem there might lie in the dress though. She might feel more balanced if the dress were a bit more puffed out, since she's a bit on the bulkier side to begin with. I think the dress would also look better if you could make the tips a bit less conical and give more balance to her right side (our left), though I realize this is part of the pose. Back sprite looks excellent—same critique about the dress, though. I would consider having the vine connect back at her waistline, but that's a design decision and totally up to you.

The Reptile: There are a couple things that make this a great sprite. I think you did a great job with the vine where it meets the head—not many of the designs capture the “eyes” of the vine quite like this. The dress is also excellent in shape and detail in the teeth, but might look better if the red eye weren't in the shadow of her arm. She feels a bit bottom-heavy, and I think that's because the arms are so long. However, that's in line with Yilx's design and gives uniqueness to your sprite against the others, so I'm not sure I would change that. As others have said, I would experiment with different colors for the shiny sprite—those are a bit jarring. I would also revisit the teeth encompassing her face as they seem a bit lost in the details right now.

Steampowered: I like your interpretation of the vine not connecting at all to the back, making it more like a whip than an accessory. It feels a bit flat at the top, though—perhaps you could shift her down a bit within the canvas and round it out a bit more. The arms seem a little awkward. I would lessen the gap between her left arm and her body. Her head doesn't seem to rest on her body—maybe that's because it's tilted down a bit. Her chest might not need such a big highlight, it feels almost like its bulging out of her dress. I would reiterate Rising Dusk's comment about the back end being too straight-edged. In general, I think you were a bit too liberal with the black outlining.

DougJustDoug: I really like it. It's the only sprite so far I think that does justice to the head's details. I think the colors could use some adjustment, as others have said. I like the way she's posed, but she feels a tad stiff, even angled toward the viewer like that. Maybe if you arched her back a bit she would feel less rigid. Something about the arms feels a bit strange. Where they emerge from her torso I think she could look a bit more relaxed, her arms tapered down and out rather than so curvilinear. Her right arm also appears to bow outward towards the viewer. It looks almost as if she's swimming breaststroke. Otherwise, looks excellent.

 

[Wyverii]

Backs partially done. I didn't have a lot of time so sorry for the shoddy work. Outstanding problems here will be to fix the arms so they're not a cut and paste job and tweak the vine on both the front and back so that the loops look good on both. I'll also see if I can clarify the structure of the back torso since the vine join is a little low at the moment and is covering important details.

Shiny seems to be popular as it is so far so I'll be keeping it this way.

I'd like feedback on anything additional on both front and back.

Current Front Parts

 

[Kyuzeth]

The sprites are coming along pretty well, Wyv. What you said about the backs is true, but I know you can improve that. Still, great work as of now.

 

[meddle]

Wyverii: Awesome work. My only critiques would be that the arms seem a bit stiff/tubular and that on the backsprite she might benefit from a bit more shading on the underside of her dress to give her a bit more volume and make the dress appear less flat. Overall, my favorite sprite so far.

I wonder how it would look if the dress' teeth were visible from the back side. Probably better to omit them.

 

[GRs Cousin]

I'm rooting for Wyverii's sprite too. It looks very nice. The only improvement I can see aside from meddle's critique is to give the eyes a larger, more oval appearance. Otherwise they just seem like gems or something on the side.

 

[DougJustDoug]

Here's an update to my front sprite:

I agreed with the many comments about my sprite colors being a bit too light. I adjusted the colors overall to darken and get the saturation more in line with the effect I want.

Although no one has asked me to do it, I do not want to go with a full gray for the dress, like some spriters have chosen to do. I like that Yilx's design has an overall reddish tint to it, even the gray dress. I realize that might have been just a lighting choice on Yilx's part, and spriters have artistic license to interpret colors however they see fit. And I do like the look of Miko in ghostly black, white and gray. But I'm trying to put a hint of red in the gray dress to just tint it slightly. That's a hard line to walk, because putting in the wrong amount of red makes it look like a "bad washed-out red", and not a "slightly red-tinted gray". Getting the right mix of saturation and brightness has been a challenge for me.

As for the shading on the dress, I'm very unhappy with how it looks right now. I agree it's too "flat", and needs some more dramatic shadows and highlights to give it more shape. It has been a struggle for me because all my bolder shading attempts have resulted in Miko looking like she is wearing an umbrella, and I really don't want that look. So, stay tuned for an update on the dress shading. I don't plan to leave it as it is now.

Also I've come up with a first draft of a shiny color scheme:

I'm going with some "traditional" typing colors in the shiny, using purple for Ghost and green for Grass. Golden accents look cool, IMO and enhance the whole "shiny" thing. This shiny is not set in stone, I may try a completely different direction. But right now, this seems like a fun, colorful way to go.

 

[MektarTheOverlord]

The way I see it, the lack of further comments on my sprites could mean one of two things:

• My sprites are so awesome that they cannot be improved upon in any way
• My sprites are so unsalvagable that no amount of critiqueing can render them acceptable

Either way, I made some Backsprites:

I also fixed some perspective issues with the skirt and chose my simplistic shiny scheme as the one to use. If no one else comments, I'll make them transparent and submit them.

C&C Pretty Please!