CAP 9 CAP 9 - Sprite Submissions

[DougJustDoug]

Since we still have a while before the competitive stuff wraps up, and since the activity level in this thread is waning -- I decided to revisit my first sprite pose, and see if I could improve it a bit. Here's an update to my "angry version" of Colossoil:

This sprite was inspired by the pose Cyzir used in his original design for Colossoil. For those of you that may have forgotten what that looks like, here's a scaled down reminder:

I went back to Cyzir's design to try and fix some of the things I didn't like about my sprite the first time around. If you don't remember what my sprite used to look like, here's the version I wasn't too happy with:

Old Version -->

I didn't really like that sprite, because it was just too blocky in the head. Combined with the fact that Colossoil has 95 base speed, I felt like a faster-looking shape and pose was warranted. Hence, my "leaping sprite" that I've been posting over the past several days.

Anyway, I still think this angry sprite has some merits, and I think my update at the top of this post is an improvement to it. I'm still not sure I like this better than the leaping pose -- but it is certainly closer to Cyzir's design and vision, IMO. Not that we spriters are bound to Cyzir's exact pose or anything... I'm just saying...

So, for any of you CAP spriting fanatics that are still hanging around in this thread -- I'm curious to hear your opinions, if you have any.

 

[Wombat Sky Forme]

Clawed Nyasu- Please make this! A sprite would be very good using this sketch.

Everyone else, good job so far! I'm probably dropping out for now. Scratches aren't my thing. Not for sure though.

@Doug-Looking good. My only nitpick is the colors seem a bit off. They don't have quite the same feel as Cyzir's original design. Other than that, a nice sprite.

 

[Tarquin]

I really like the improved sprite, Doug Just Doug, holds true to the design and looks much better and more animated and realistic than the first. Less flat too.

However, I preferred the eyes of the first one.

 

[Calad]

Since we still have a while before the competitive stuff wraps up, and since the activity level in this thread is waning -- I decided to revisit my first sprite pose, and see if I could improve it a bit. Here's an update to my "angry version" of Colossoil:

The angry one looks cool, but, please, change the eyes. Make it like the artwork: "Big eyes, more triangular, not so rounded"

 

[bgg1996]

Final Submission

 

[Sezja]

So many wonderful final submissions, so difficult to pick a favorite. Ah well, I guess I'll have to see what happens in the polls. Anyways, here's the next set of comments for those of you that are still working.

@ Clawed Nyasu: Intresting things come out of boredome and I must say that your pose for your potential sprite is one of them. It's certianly a different take on the fellow that I didn't think of and it also is one of the few that wouldn't require you to stick him in the ground.

Should you go forward with this, I think that since people are making their final submissions, most of the people who comment on your sprite at this point forward (including me) will actually be able to focus on yours.

@ DougJustDoug: Personally, I wasn't too keen on that leaping sprite of yours that you were working on, so I'm glad to see that you've gone back to the other pose that you were working on. I'm really liking "previous pose 2.0" here. I gotta say, it does look quite a bit like the original art and it is an improvement over the previous version of that pose.

As Caladbolg~ pointed out, that eye seems a little small. Maybe just making it a little larger will make the sprite that much better.

I'm really liking the effort that everyone has put into their sprites (whether you've made your final submission or not at this point) and I am really excited for the polls to come out.

Edit:

That eye is looking a lot better than before, DougJustDoug. Now this sprite is looking really good.

Edit (Again):

@ Clawed Nyasu (again): Well, the sprite is true to the sketch of the pose that you submitted yesterday. The palette looks good, so the headaches you got from that are well worth it.

For whatever reason, something seems... off about the sprite. Unfortunatly, I can't pinpoint what that is right now and I'm looking at it! Ah well, I'll probably figure it out as (a.) you work on the sprite more and show your later progress on it or (b.) as people comment on it. Either way, you've got a good product so far.

 

[beej]

Doug, I really love the changes you've made to your original pose a lot. One small gripe I have with your sprite is the eyes. Looking at Cyzir's art, one of the things that makes it distinctively "Pokemon-like" is that the eyes are big, open and expressive. I can tell that you tried to make Colossoil look extra mean with your sprites, which is cool, but something about the small, intimidating eyes of your sprite detracts from the Pokemon aspect of it and moves it closer towards a street sharks kind of thing. Other famous "mean" Pokemon (Tyranitar, Metagross, Salamence, etc.) have fairly large and expressive eyes.

If you could fix the eyes to match Cyzir's original artwork more, your sprite would easily be my favorite.

 

[Oddish On Fire]

Although you made your sprite much better Doug, I prefer the jumping one. I think it's incredibly original, and it really has some flavor to it.

 

[.com]

I second preferring the jumping one Doug.
For starters it just looks more like a sprite in the Pokémon games, there are VERY fwe examples of Pokémon half on and half off the screen, and even fewer sprites which fill up the entire pixel box, no matter what size the Pokémon is.
While all of the sprites are outstanding pieces of art, that was the only one that seemed like it could be in one of the Pokémon games.

 

[hasbeenkoed]

Back again, mainly to say howdy, and pass on my compliments!

Thanks for touching up the eyes and the scars KoA, I really like the finished product, it's different, and its a shame that its a competition for stills because that animation, if you'll excuse the pun, really leapt out at me!

Doug Just Doug, that angry guy is just brilliant, and dynamic as you want. It really captures the concept art. I guess you're going to have to make a choice over which you're gonna submit, so, IMO, you might wanna know you've made the original art's splitting image, and that just seems incredible, so kudos to you!

And the rest of you, sorry I couldn't get round to checking your awesomeness, I'm too busy for my own good.... keep at it though, you're all brill!

 

[Illithian]

Doug, the colors on your new sprite are better, but the head looks... stretched.

And I still endlessly prefer the jumping one, which has so much more originality to it. This one is... well, it looks like it should have 60 speed, to be honest, and obviously Colossoil doesn't.

 

[DougJustDoug]

I worked on the eyes on my angry sprite. I agree with several commenters' observations that my previous eyes were too tiny, and not expressive enough. Hopefully, this is an improvement:

I referenced several in-game sprites that have "mean eyes" (Exploud and Charmeleon were a big help). Then I experimented with numerous new eye designs, trying to get the right look. If anyone is interested, here is a cutsheet of all the other eye designs I came up with, before settling on the one posted above:
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3373/eyedesigns.png

I'm still not certain which sprite pose I'm going to submit, but I'm probably going to use my jumping sprite. My recent changes to this angry sprite have fixed many of the things I didn't like about it before -- but I don't think it's a very distinctive sprite. Also, I've played around with a few backsprite poses for my angry sprite, and they are all positively boring so far. As opposed to my jumping backsprite -- which I personally like a LOT.

The main reason I'm still fiddling with my angry sprite is to improve my spriting skills, and hopefully keep some interesting activity in this thread. Maybe some other spriters don't think of it like I do, but THIS THREAD is the focal point of the CAP spriting competition -- not the sprite polls. Sure, you can make a sprite set, enter it into the poll and then hope and pray that you win. Where's the fun in that? And what does the rest of the community get out of it? What do we really learn by watching poll threads? Not much. The real spriting action is here, in this thread. This is where we get to discuss ideas and designs. This is where the CAP mission really takes form. The polls are just... the polls. By the time we vote, all the good discussion and learning is over. At that point, we are just making a decision so we can move on to the next step. So, I'm continuing to work on my sprites because I really enjoy engaging in this part of the CAP process. I hope you do too.

 

[Golbez_743]

THERE we go! Those old eyes were bothering me, so these are a vast improvement.

 

[ReysonTheNoble]

I worked on the eyes on my angry sprite. I agree with several commenters' observations that my previous eyes were too tiny, and not expressive enough. Hopefully, this is an improvement:

I'm still not certain which sprite pose I'm going to submit, but I'm probably going to use my jumping sprite. My recent changes to this angry sprite have fixed many of the things I didn't like about it before -- but I don't think it's a very distinctive sprite. Also, I've played around with a few backsprite poses for my angry sprite, and they are all positively boring so far. As opposed to my jumping backsprite -- which I personally like a LOT.

The main reason I'm still fiddling with my angry sprite is to improve my spriting skills, and hopefully keep some interesting activity in this thread. Maybe some other spriters don't think of it like I do, but THIS THREAD is the focal point of the CAP spriting competition -- not the sprite polls. Sure, you can make a sprite set, enter it into the poll and then hope and pray that you win. Where's the fun in that? And what does the rest of the community get out of it? What do we really learn by watching poll threads? Not much. The real spriting action is here, in this thread. This is where we get to discuss ideas and designs. This is where the CAP mission really takes form. The polls are just... the polls. By the time we vote, all the good discussion and learning is over. At that point, we are just making a decision so we can move on to the next step. So, I'm continuing to work on my sprites because I really enjoy engaging in this part of the CAP process. I hope you do too.

The sprite looks great. However, I think there should be a shadow from the main drill. The light source seems to be coming from the left, so maybe put a little shadow to the right of the drill.

Other than that, I see nothing wrong with your angry sprite. I do, however, think you should go with your jumping sprite, as it adds dynamism and originality to our best friend Colossoil here.

Also, I agree 100%, the discussion/submissions threads are the heart and soul of CAP. Honestly, this is a lot more fun than just clicking. =]

 

[beej]

The changes you've made to the eyes are completely fantastic, Doug. That is easily my favorite sprite now. I would be interested in seeing you incorporate the same eye changes to your jumping sprite, but I honestly like this one better, as it better serves to capture the large, brutal nature of Colossoil.

 

[Tarquin]

Much prefer the new eyes now Doug!
Thank you, it looks fantastic!

 

[Deucalion2]

I wanted to try a slightly different shiny to the whole black and x colour thing that's going on. Those colours seemed to fit.

EDIT: Whoops, missed that patch under the arm. Don't worry, it'll be fixed.

 

[KrakenNLD]

My review

Whee, first post on this forum, finally got the nerve to start posting.

First, a little disclaimer before I start

Hide

I am in no way a real spriter, or designer. What I'm giving here, is my own opinion. And I think it's important in an opinion to be straightforward on the negative parts of something to let the sprite become even more better.

Although I may come across as a complete jerk sometimes, keep in mind I really respect anyone of these spriters, they are doing a job I am unable to do (or at least, too lazy to do so). Any of these sprites is awesome to see, and I would like them all to win. Unfortunately that's not an option and I do have to give some criticism. As they are opinion, it's up to the spriters themselve what to do with my opinion.

But in a nuttshell, I really respect any of these spriters and think they all have delivered a very good job, it's just in my own personal nature to also express things I dislike about certain sprites, no matter how small or insignificant they can be.

That said, I started this topic by scratch and will now deliver a little thing I would like to see improved. However, I know I'm very late in this, so I don't expect a change very fast. And going into why I'm so late in this discussion is going off-topic, but I'm more then welcome to explain myself in any PM, that said... I will no longer be going off-topic.

aragornbird: First of all, I think this one is really trying to get shape, I see your sprites gotten better the longer this thread was better, and Cap9 was becoming more awesome by you by the sprite. The pose is pretty good, it has that feeling of that he's about to annihalate Skarmory and Hippowdon. However, you might want to think about making the horn for the female a little shorter or smaller. In reality Narwhals-males are the only ones with tusks. And 1 in 500 have 2 tusks. However, female Narhwals rarely have tusks.

"A female narwhal may also produce a tusk, but this occurs rarely, and there is a single recorded case of a female with dual tusks."

So obviously, it may be an idea to have the female without a significant horn like that, maybe changing it to a stump or something alike. That is if we are going by accurate narwhal-builds. For the rest I think the removal of the scar is simply brilliant for the female part.

DougJustDoug: The thing is honestly, I like the second version of you more then the other one. Probably because it has some action packed with it. However, it seems pretty small hole that he came out with the first sprite of yours. I like it more when it was jumping out of it. I don't however like the colors, I think it should be brown with the original, green with the shiny, not the other way around. For some reason, I do like the horn how you made it, but I wouldn't be me if I can at least provide with a negative part. And that is the same thing as I said to aragorn. The female's horn is not smaller, and it is what I expect to see though.

Deucalion2: I hate to admit it, but I don't like the pose of this version, it's seems like it's a Crescent Moon form that he has. Not that bulky power. Also I fail to see his speed come into comparison here, and he seems a bit like a worm to me then a real destroyer. His horn on his head is about as big as his tail-horn (if you can call it that). However how much as I do like how you made it seem so colorfull, I just can't get over the pose he's using. Too much Moon-like. The colors for the shiny however, do look nice, but again, that's not exactly what I would expect for a DARK-Type. It looks pretty awesome if you ignore the pose however, the colors are right (for the non-shiny), the horns look good and I like how you did the eyes.


I am in deep struggle to determine who to vote for, so I probably make my decision if I see all sprites next to each other in the same post, rather then scrolling around, they all look really nice in their own special way.



Edit:

Continue on

Deucalion2: Hold on, don't take just my word for it, there are plenty of other people out there who maybe enjoy your new developed shiny. Just because I personally don't like the colors doesn't mean everybody will. Wait a while and wait what other people have to say first. And I completely agree that it is way to little time to actually change the entire thing.


I think I also response to Clawed Nyasu as well in this post, otherwise I will be spamming a bit too much in this topic for my taste :).

Clawed Nyasu: Aren't you the one who came with that pose and then later everybody asked to make a sprite out of it. I see you done so very well. It looks really good, and the pose is just awesome, probably the best one who is fully out of the ground on a resting position. I think you captured the essence of the pokémon pretty well. However, I wouldn't be me if I at least give some criticism, but it was really hard to come up with one for you. I think because the lack of a female and shinies (where mostly my criticism go to), as you got the pose handsdown as well it's pretty hard. And I think I go with the horn in his back (yeah, so small it's mindblowing, I litterally needed to cherry-pick for it.) It's somehow is a bit misplaced in the wrong angle. I mean the second horn in his back. I mean it should be more standing up then right now. But it could be me just cherry-picking on you.

 

[Deucalion2]

Eh, it's kinda too late for me to do a successful repose at this point, so there's not much I can do. I could try recolouring the shiny, though.

 

[Clawed Nyasu]

Well this is the first draft of my sprite. The thing that gave me the most grief during the process was the palette, and the shading on the drills. There's still a lot of things I want to fix, but for now, here it is.

 

[KoA]

I really like it, but I think the drill is tipped up a lil too much. At that angle, it would be tilted down more, assuming you want the drill sticking straight out of his face.

Also the face could use some of the same highlights you gave the back and tail, it just seems empty and incomplete without them.

 

[Naxte]

Personally, I'm really loving the current coloring for the shiny Deucalion, and would prefer that to be left alone. As for Kraken's comments on that not being what's expected for a shiny sprite for a Dark-type, Game Freak really doesn't seem to concerned as using type as an influence for deciding a shiny's colors:
http://serebii.net/pokedex-dp/275.shtml
http://serebii.net/pokedex-dp/228.shtml
http://serebii.net/pokedex-dp/198.shtml
http://serebii.net/pokedex-dp/318.shtml
http://serebii.net/pokedex-dp/435.shtml
http://serebii.net/pokedex-dp/461.shtml
http://serebii.net/pokedex-dp/491.shtml

All Dark-types, but nothing really too consistent with the look of the shinies--some go for a more golden look, some go pink, some go more dark blue/violet, some are inverses, and some are mixes of these aspects. It's all just flavor, apparently even within GF. So don't get too worried over that. Really, things like this and art are supposed to be the more fun and lax parts of the process, so just have fun with it, going with what you like, and don't just make this step work on ourselves by trying and making sure that some sort of coloring rules that not even GameFreak themselves seem too concerned with are followed.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

Even the real shiny pokemon look absolutely horrendous about 90% of the time anyway, so I wouldn't get too worried about your shiny sprites.

 

[Nik S D]

Clawed Nyasu, that sprite is fantastic. I personally think it's one of the best poses in the entire thread. You may just want to make the colors on the main body browner; it's a little to gray now. The green and the colors on the belly are fine. I'd also suggest making the head drill bigger. Besides that, it's a great sprite.

 

[Redtype]

Well this is the first draft of my sprite. The thing that gave me the most grief during the process was the palette, and the shading on the drills. There's still a lot of things I want to fix, but for now, here it is.

Absolutely amazing for the first draft. You may want to fix the head, because now it looks a a little... i don't now, blocky? Anyway, can't wait to see the final version.