Front Page Art Preference Poll

[DougJustDoug]

This is a poll for us to see how many submitted artworks the community think are good enough to be displayed on the Smogon front page when we roll out the 5th gen version of the Smogon website. See the OP of this thread if you weren't following the submission process. All the artworks are in hide tags below.

There will not be just one winner. I will use multiple artworks in a rotation on the front page. So, vote for as many options as you like.

Feel free to post comments in this thread on which artworks you like and why -- but please do not post simply to indicate what you voted for, with no further commentary. This is a public poll, so everyone can see what you voted for if they really want to know. Keep the postcount++ to yourself, OK?

This poll is not the sole determining factor for what art will be used on the front page. I will be choosing the art for the front page. But, I would like to know what art the community prefers, and I intend for this poll to strongly influence my choices. I do not have a preset number in mind as to how many I will use. I don't know how long I'll leave the poll open. Let's just see how the voting goes.

Big thanks to all the artists that participated in making these submissions. The front page is going to look fantastic!

Submissions are in hide tags because they are quite large. Unhide to see all the submissions.

Submissions

 

[Flail]

I voted for Icepick, Kevin Garrett, and KoA. I felt all these designs had a nice, clean graphic look, are readable at a smaller size and would thus be well suited for the front page. I particularly like Icepick's submission.

There were a couple others I liked - Chou's, Swaggersaurus' and Fatecrasher's (love the attitude) were all very good.

Wish I'd learned about this sooner as I would have loved to participate but I'm sure something else will come along.

Anyway the level of quality exhibited here is exceptional and I congratulate all those who are chosen. Good luck!

 

[Havak]

I like a lot of them, but after thinking about it carefully, KoA's is the only set of three that I'd like to see on the front page every time I visit.

 

[kennethcp]

I just love the turnout, so many of these were just great. No matter who gets picked there is gonna be something fantastic on the front page.

 

[AccidentalGreed]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm going for an underdog. Someone that has rare, good talent but isn't too pops.

Of course, I can't deny that that top artists have a god chance of going up there. Take care.

 

[Acklow]

The quality of each artist who entered is very high. I personally feel that there are very few exceptions to this fact. Good luck to all who entered!

 

[Firestorm]

KoA, you are a god.

Just wanted to say that I love how much like the official art kennethcp's work looks, but you should mix up the poses a bit. The three look a little too similar in that regard.

 

[Xaqwais]

I voted for a few, but I think az's and KoA's were the cream of the crop I chose. If the new front page has similar themes and designs as the current one does, then I think the crisp, clean style that those two (and a few others) would fit best for the front page.

EDIT: looking on it I didn't actually vote for KoA's, what a bummer

 

[Naraku301]

kennethcp's art I liked the most to be honest. I like how it reminded me of the old school Pokemon style back in the days of Red and Blue. I really thought it had that one Pokemon charm the others didn't seem to have.

And his Archeops was much better than mine. Mine was a disaster.

 

[DjGopher]

I voted for Chou Toshio, Icepick, Kennethcp, Kevin Garrett and KoA.
Sorry for so many, but they were all so good!
My favorite set is KennethCP's.
My favorite individual piece is Strangeway's Samurott, but the other two seem rather oddly shaped.. :(
Ivysaur would have been one of my favorites, but victini kind of ruined it for me.

Nice work everyone!

 

[Chou Toshio]

Fatecrashers, Az and Icepick for me.

There were a few others where it's obvious the artist has considerable technical skill and finish, but either color pallet of the overall set or problems with poses seemed a bit of a turn-off for the front page.

 

[Zacchaeus]

I only voted Chou. I'm not saying that Kevin's and Fatecrashers' submissions along with a few others aren't good, but when it comes to considering which ones I would like to look at (probably) for the entirety of generation 5, Chou sticks out

 

[ToastTyrant13]

I had to vote for Chou Toshio and KoA. They're both so....perfect! I can just see those amazing works of art appearing on the front page everytime I voted. It'd be nice to see both, but only time will tell! :D

 

[Ivysaur]

It's really neat to see everyones art all together. Best of luck to everyone, these were all quality submissions (:

 

[Shiny_togekiss]

is an hard choice. my vote goes for:

-Chou Toshio
-Fatecrashers
-icepick
-kennethcp
-KoA

 

[Alchemator]

Hi, I smelled excellent art from afar and underneath Doug's forum star I found a cradle of art so great that I could not wait to post this forced rhyme.

Randomness aside, my choices aren't exactly unique, but I'd like to think that they are the best of this fantastic collection. My main criteria were these:

The submitted art must be of excellent quality
While all submissions were great, by this I mean finesse in the art - this includes cleanliness of the lines and shading, and an understanding of the anatomy of the Pokémon.

The submitted art must be professional, and suited to the front page of Smogon
Smogon is arguably the most influential website for competitive battling, and the front page art should reflect this. Smogon is itself an efficient machine (or at least maybe more efficient than other sites) and is generally an excellent website - this should be mimicked by the art. While I do love the charm of the hand-drawn pieces, this is unfortunately where they were eliminated from my choices.

The submitted art must have flair
This is where all sense of logic fell away, and everything became incredibly subjective. Whilst judging upon this criterium, I selected art so great that it would be remembered as the art on the front page of Smogon for the next two years or so and beyond.

So after that explanation, here are my choices:

Chou Toshio
Icepick
Kennethcp
Kevin Garrett
KoA
Swaggersaurus

All of these candidates would be excellent choices, and I hope that Doug manages to get the rotation working!

There are also some honourable mentions that I would like to give attention (whoops I'm rhyming again):

Energy Storm
I really liked these pieces, but they didn't make my final list of choices due to one reason: texture doesn't seem to have been considered. While the gradient shading assures smoothness it adds little in terms of realism, which I like in art. For an example of texture used excellently, take a gander at icepick's roster - note the brushes that he/she has used to achieve this effect. I do love that Ulgamoth though, the wings are really well done.

Fatecrashers
I didn't vote for you because I thought it would be cheating, given all those tips I gave you for Scrafty... I jest of course. I will start by saying that I can no fault in the line art or the character in any of the pieces in your set. However, and I think I've mentioned this before, it lacks texture. This is admirably achieved on Jellicent (I'm loving the highlights), but Zoroark lacks the shading of fur [also fangs, but I've mentioned this already]. Shading could also be stronger there. I'd advocate the same for Scrafty - you've done it well for the trousers, but less-so for the head. The shading should be pretty intense given the [small] size of the art.

JarardoMartino
I'm pretty sure that you already that I'm a great fan of yours, or at least you do now! The character in your submissions is incredible, and I love the minimalistic shading. However, it is in fact this choice that has kept your collection from reaching my final list - unfortunately I don't think it's quite suited to the front page. I'd definitely continue to experiment with that style though!

Naraku301
This has to be the set that was the closest to making my final list. I really cannot find many mistakes, though I have to say that the pieces didn't particularly inspire me. I would recommend more active, dominant poses. Defensive poses such as the ones that you have used "lock down" the Pokémon - it gives very little to the viewer. I hope you can understand such cryptic and pedantic criticisms, but really very well done!

Rittercat
While your styles differ greatly, my sentiments are the same here as they were to Jarardo - your art is unique, but not quite professional enough to make the front page. Your pieces don't show quite enough expression for my taste - I'd take a look at Fatecrashers' work and Az's Darmanitan. I hope to see more great things from you in the future.

strangeways
This set was also incredibly close to making my final list - the Samurott is truly excellent. This is the exact kind of active, threatening pose that I love. Unfortunately, I feel that the other two let you down somehwat. The expression and general character of Bisharp is fantastic, but it lacks a certain degree of finesse - the lines are rough in places, and the shading could be smoother. Archeops is the opposite: the general execution is great, but it lacks a 'comfortable' pose. It's a little bit on the portly side too, don't you think?

Once again, every submission was great in its own right, and I had to be incredibly pedantic to cut it down to 6 - it'll be especially difficult to cut it down further! Thank you all for the time that you've put into this, since it has certainly been one of the greatest collections of art that this forum has seen. Now go compete in the MAC! /advertising

~Alch

 

[Charro]

Voted for Chou Toshio 'coz i swear that his Ferrothorn is the most badass art rendition to that pokemon ever.

Strangeways did a pretty awesome job too, i love that Samurott, but i feel the other two (even when they're cool too) didn't match together with the starter, that's the only reason that keep me to vote you man

Special mentions to icepick and kennethcp, great job with the old school style, those three can easily fit into a RBY game manual and i love that

 

[bombiron]

great shit you guys
makes me wish i entered

 

[Fatecrashers]

this thing received 200 votes on the first day and like 11 votes on the second day

needs a bump imo

also i voted for submissions that i think would look great when cropped and put into a circle

and i dont like hydreigon so i didnt vote for those

 

[Frost Nocturne]

Lots of great artwork here, but I had to vote for just Chou Toshio and icepick, because their art is incredible, and a step above the rest for me. Chou Toshio's art would look perfect as the front page of smogon, having a good balance of red, blue, and green, along with dynamic poses of highly competitively relevent Pokemon (awesome Ferrothorn in particular). Icepick's unique style immediately drew me in with the ethereal lighting use and painterly colors. The lighting for Volcarona and especially Hydreigon gives off a cold mystique that I love.

There were a few other individual Pokemon I felt were very well done; strangeways' Bisharp, for one. The pose is awesome, and I like the sharp, jagged outline for it, but the other two Pokemon felt like they were drawn in a different style, and looked a bit chunky. I also really liked Naraku's Samurott, great work on the pose and shellmet. At first the heavy highlights on Kennethcp's excellent art turned me off somewhat, but now that I look at it as compared to the old-style RBY sugimori artwork from the guides, it really does have that classic Pokemon feel. A close call.

 

[Oglemi]

Doug I understand that the point of the competition was to create a set of three Pokemon that would featured on the front page of Smogon...

But

Is there anyway that we can just vote on singular Pokemon that we'd like to see as well? Take for instance Ivysaur's entries. The Victini is, to put it bluntly, awful, but the Kyurem and Virizion are amazing and probably my favorites of the whole competition, which is why I voted for him/her.

 

[Morm]

I think Ogelmi is on to something with that. I'd prefer a pool of 3 or 4 artists that rotate on a monthly basis, meaning each one only has shit to do every 3-4 months. Each time, they can pick new mons for a new theme or just because they can.

Then again, style consistence is a nice thing. I just wanted to say that I like what Oglemi said.

 

[Philip7086]

Just voted for my absolute favorite, because otherwise I would've practically voted for everybody! I give major props to everybody whose submissions are in this thread, though. A lot of my favorite Pokemon artwork came from this effort!

 

[LeviLamprey]

WOW...I mean, almost all of these are really great! The Samurott done by strangeways is AMAZING but the poses of the other two let the submission down a bit. But props to everyone for submitting something!!!! ^_^ I'll avoid saying who I voted for, though.

 

[Morm]

LL, you do know that everyone can see who you voted for?