CAP 9 CAP 9 - Sprite Submissions

[Rook]

I'm not sure if this is the place to be asking, but I don't have the technology necessary to do it myself.

Okay. You can save it on your computer and upload it to imageshack or whatever. As a side note, I used iaza.com for this. Just telling you the next time you need something transparent.

I don't know why, but the front sprite male horn looks kind of strange, like not pointy enough or something.

 

[Elegy]

How's this compared to the old one?

Now it looks really good. I'm sorry if I came a bit harsh, but I couldn't stand it when you asked for suggestions and all you got were compliments. The sprite is massive (like it should be) and ready for action. All I can say now is that a little touch-up on the shading would do it well. Or, if you prefer, you can leave it how it is and that would be just fine. Now what can I say about others:

pkmn-taicho321: What happened? Your frontsprite look really well done, I especially like how the front hand/fin was just inside the fence of hand/finliness as well as the expression being nicely executed, but it turned around completely with that backsprite.
The chin is particularly bulgy which is not good. Smooth it out with some neck lines. The eye shouldn't be looking upwards either, make it look at the opponent. The back drills are really small, smaller than the eyes. Make them look more threatening than toothpicks!

Wyverii: Another well done sprite. Although I am quite disappointed by this one (when compared to your other work). The head drill is sorta bending upwards at a curve near the tip, it may be on purpose, yet it doesn't look right. I like the teeth and the eyes, very dark. Your backsprite looks pretty decent, not much to say there.

aragornbird: I like this one's expression. The arms help it with the sneaky little attitude. Looking at your sprite, I can totally see CAP9 using pursuit. Not much else to say, I haven't even seen the backsprite yet.

Chaoscrippler: The X scar closer to the top makes it look like that manga X sign on angry bald-guys foreheads to resemble veins pulsing in mad fury. It looks like it would try to rip you to shreds just for living. Very nice.
Now your backsprite is different from the frontsprite. The horn turns in to the middle instead of being marshmallowy, the shoulder has this redundant highlight on it, and the spine goes straight downwards after meeting the first drill (which makes it seem skinny).

Think on my words. Hope I didn't sound too annoying, either. :( just trying to help.

 

[HD]

I just noticed something that you should take note of:
@pkmn-taicho: At first glance, your sprite seems to have gilded 'fins' I should say that streak down the hand while the hand is grabbing something. Just now I saw that the hand is meant to look like it's about to grab you. But the thing that got me confused where the eyes. As your sprite's hand is grabbing; the eyes are looking to the right (it's right). I don't know you but when I grab something I look at wham I'm grabbing (lol, this is what I get for helping out spriters).

 

[pkmn-taicho321]

pkmn-taicho321: What happened? Your frontsprite look really well done, I especially like how the front hand/fin was just inside the fence of hand/finliness as well as the expression being nicely executed, but it turned around completely with that backsprite.
The chin is particularly bulgy which is not good. Smooth it out with some neck lines. The eye shouldn't be looking upwards either, make it look at the opponent. The back drills are really small, smaller than the eyes. Make them look more threatening than toothpicks!

oh boy, well I'm too tired to do any more work on it tonight but I'll try to do something about it tomorrow. Thanks for the C+C.

 

[Oddish On Fire]

Final Submission

I think I've done just about everything I can do with this sprite, so I'm going to go ahead and tag it finished.

Please don't make a final submission! Throughtout this whole process your sprite has slowly been growing on me, as it has plently of personality. If you fix up that back-sprite, I'm going to have to have a 3 way tie for first place :)

Pretty much everything Elegy said is true about the backsprite, although he just said is much more...blatant than most people would. I think that an entirely new backsprite would probably do some good.

 

[Tyranitarzone]

For those with dirt in their sprite, don't change the dirt color in the shiny. None of the in-game sprites do so, and it doesn't make sense that if a poke was different colored that all the dirt around him would be different colored.

 

[Arkeis]

Did my backsprites. Comments please.

 

[The Other Doug]

Did my backsprites. Comments please.

These are by far the best back sprites IMO.

 

[Skymin_Flower]

Did my backsprites. Comments please.

Great backsprites!! The only thing is, the scar looks a little bit odd. Maybe try and straighten it a bit, at the moment it looks very crooked and unnatural.

 

[Ritsi_Time]

Did my backsprites. Comments please.

Awesome backsprites, like some others have pointed out though, my only problem with the front sprite is the eyes. They make it look like it's staring at the floor. The eyes on the backsprites are perfect though!

 

[bugmaniacbob]

Final Submission

FINAL SUBMISSION

I don't think I can do any more with these, and it's deeply doubtful that it would matter if I did.

Endless thanks to both loedoc and Cartoons! for the transparency help.

 

[hasbeenkoed]

Yay, I finally caught up with 13 pages of submissions!
Great work to all who have submitted, by the way!
Now to constructive criticism...

DougJustDoug: The sprite looks likes its turning, in my opinion, and sums up the balance of speed and bulk nicely, but that whole turning thing is kind of because of the eyes... I'd like it to be staring down the opponent, because right know it staring at me, very omniously... The splash is good I think, although the jury's still out on those little pebbles in it. For comparisons sake, I'd love to see one without the little rocks, if it dosen't bother oyu. But, overall, very good!

KoA: Maybe its just me, but although it looks speedy and bulky, it strikes me as too serpentine. Also, I think it has one or two too many scars... the concept's good, but it feels too serious and a bit similar to a giant land worm or something, maybe you could try altering the eyes a bit, so they look a bit more real, they make it seem a little souless. Still, people like it, and it is a fine sprite, and the shiny is right about on the money, colourwise, so feel free to stick with what you already made, if you don't agree with me :)

Arogornbird: Firstly, I'd like to see other people adopt your purple and black shiny for comparison, because I LOVE it. Other than that, it has great bulkiness, and is ready to pounce, lovely that. I feel the arms are a bit too limp, maybe too symmetrical, but as I'm not sure what to suggest otherwise, its just a passing thought. And, once more, brill work!

Deccy: It really does look good enough to eat, and I love it so much for that incredible bulk. But, once more, it dosen't look like Pursuit is on the agenda for it, which is a shame, as it is probably my favourite sprite, but unfortunately lacks the dynamo of speed for the stat spread... still I love it. But the shiny colour scheme is... offputting. Try something with black, and preferably another dark colour, and see how that works. Hate to repeat myself, but I really do love it... *drool*.

Well that's me done, hope I helped, and see you soon, I hope
Good luck, one and all!

 

[KoA]

Taking that into account, I added some "soul" to his eyes as well as toned down the scars just a smidge.

Working on a supporting animation as per Sezja's request. I'm hoping it sets my vision across.

 

[Kai-Miz]

KoA, I think that looks great! My only problem with it is that it still looks too "snake-like." Perhaps make his lower half more thin, so it goes into the "point" of his drill tail.

At least that's what I feel about it. The eyes are perfect, nearly everything else is perfect too.

 

[Masamune]

Did my backsprites. Comments please.

Said it before and I'll say it again - these are by far my favourite sprites. There's a perfect dynamic perspective, and the whole thing just seems to capture the esscence of what this CAP is about. Good work

 

[Wyverii]

Since there's still plenty of time to burn and very little critque for my work, I might as well try a few shinies. I've made four very different shinies with the original on the left along with back sprite versions for comparison. Backsprite has also been tweaked.

Original sprites:

Shinies:

I'll be perfectly happy to make variations on these. The alternate colours of the sprites are a minor thing but I have little else to do.

 

[Oddish On Fire]

Since there's still plenty of time to burn and very little critque for my work, I might as well try a few shinies. I've made four very different shinies with the original on the left along with back sprite versions for comparison. Backsprite has also been tweaked.

Original sprites:

Shinies:

I'll be perfectly happy to make variations on these. The alternate colours of the sprites are a minor thing but I have little else to do.

The orange shiny is by far my favorite! Also, I love your sprite in general. I just now noticed it, and you make it look so incredibly bad-ass. Your sprite really captures the dark element of this CAP.

 

[DougJustDoug]

I've updated my sprites, and finally got motivated to do a backsprite.
Here's the front:

Here's the back:

Since this is the first draft of my back sprite, I'm sure I'll make changes to it. But this gives you an idea of my current direction.

 

[HD]

@Doug: The backsprite is coming out great. However, I think you should tilt the body till it looks like it's coming down on you. Colossoil is a big beast, why would he be dodging attacks when he could just slam down on the opposition.

 

[DougJustDoug]

@Doug: The backsprite is coming out great. However, I think you should tilt the body till it looks like it's coming down on you. Colossoil is a big beast, why would he be dodging attacks when he could just slam down on the opposition.

It's not dodging, it's lunging like whales lunge when they leap out of the water. Read this post:

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2286943&postcount=207

I explained the motivation for the tilted posing, in quite a bit of detail.

 

[Maci12]

Did my backsprites. Comments please.

Aragornbird - This sprite is brilliant. It's dynamic, the color scheme's are extremely well done, and it makes me want to use CAP 9 (we're calling him Colossoil now, right?) on my team immediately, provided it gets to look like that. That being said the back sprites are a little too squarish for me when compared to your front sprite. Around the top spike, it makes a squarish curve that the front sprite lacks, and I like that the front sprite lacks that. I wouldn't know what to suggest to fix it because it is such a minor nitpick on an otherwise perfect sprite =)

 

[HD]

It's not dodging, it's lunging like whales lunge when they leap out of the water. Read this post:

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2286943&postcount=207

I explained the motivation for the tilted posing, in quite a bit of detail.

I read the post and know full well what you're intentions are. I was just saying that you could show the bulk much better by tiliting the angle to make it look like cap9 is leaping out of the air just to cruch the opposition:
.
As you see, whales also jump out of the water and land on their stomachs; which gives the look of crushing the opposition with weight and momentum alone.

 

[DougJustDoug]

I read the post and know full well what you're intentions are. I was just saying that you could show the bulk much better by tiliting the angle to make it look like cap9 is leaping out of the air just to cruch the opposition:

As you see, whales also jump out of the water and land on their stomachs; which gives the look of crushing the opposition with weight and momentum alone.

Yeah, I know that whales can jump out of the water "head first" without rolling over. But, my whole premise for the pose was that the "rolling leap" was a very "bulky" way to leap out of the water. Smaller animals don't typically leap out of the water in that way. Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of examples of small animals that leap and roll like that -- that's not my point. My premise was that if you see a water animal leaping out and rolling over -- then that conjures imagery of great weight and bulkiness. And since it is leaping, that implies speed. Since our CAP is bulky and fast, I wanted this sprite to bring that out.

In the first drafts of my back sprite, I actually didn't put enough "roll" in the leap -- and I thought the sprite didn't have that "bulky leaping look". Because the back sprite is leaping away from the viewer, the foreshortening causes the head of the back sprite to be smaller anyway -- so I need to imbue as much bulk as I can.

So, in my opinion, the roll is a big part of this entire sprite posing. Obviously, I didn't really achieve my full goals in your viewing of the sprite, since you see a "dodging whale", not a "bulky rolling-while-it-leaps whale". And I get your suggestion that you think the sprite might look MORE BULKY if I made it leap straight ahead, without rolling over. I can understand that. Ultimately, it's not really about what I INTENDED my sprite to look like. It comes down to what every viewer interprets when they look at it.

But in this case, I'm not likely to change the angle of the leap or the roll. If I missed the mark completely, and most everyone interprets it the same way you do --then, yeah, I guess I might change it. But, the angle of the leap is a big part of my entire motivation to do this second sprite, instead of the in-ground sprite I made previously. For "straight leaping" sprites, I think KOA and Chaoscrippler have done a really nice job with that pose. I don't really want to do the same (even though my perspective is different).

 

[Falgaia]

Thought I'd post my WIP Backsprite lineart before I take a break. Tear it apart while I'm gone, 'k?

It's hand/fin is in a fist, btw. Thanks in advance.

 

[Elegy]

As you see, whales also jump out of the water and land on their stomachs; which gives the look of crushing the opposition with weight and momentum alone.

I see you're trying to sugarcoat this jumping action that many other sea-creatures can do too. I know I'm out of place trying to throw logic on Pokemon, but there is absolutely no explanation why whales, dolphins, or seals jump out of the water other than to be flashy before people or perhaps just for fun. Whales especially don't leap to intentionally land on another animal. But, as you said, it only looks this way, so whatever.

Well Doug, it looks really nice. I understand where you're coming from with the leaping and the rolling and the -- you know. IMHO, it really looks like its rotating on the ground as a spinning top. Especially in the backsprite, I can't help but get this feeling its spinning really fast, to the left. Not so much in the frontsprite though. I think its because the splash of dirt really puts emphasis on the bottom drill.
Think of CyzirVisheen's CAP4 art submission, the spinning pen thing. The angle really nails it.
On another note, the backsprite is a tad small, but when I try to imagine it leaping forward as was stated, it seems just right. I'm sorry for attacking you like this, but thats IMO.