[WAR II] Pixel Art

[sammy0295]

WAR Team: Team Trainer
Entry:

The thought behind this was making those funky hole things Exploud's got into, like, steam pipes, or something. I though about adding smoke, but that wouldn't technically be a recolor, and I couldn't get it to work. So, yeah. Last minute entries FTW.

[SassySnivy]

Last minute entries are totally cool, guys. :> Just know that as of today you can no longer edit your existing entries! But any new entries by people who haven't submitted yet are just fine.

[Brettles]

WAR Team: Team Trainer


Entry:

More fire for Charizard, because fire is pretty :)

[SassySnivy]

Thanks for participating, everyone! No matter what the scores come out as I just want you guys to know that I am very proud of you all for really taking that extra step to make your entries freaking awesome. You all did awesome jobs challenging yourself to do something more than just a boring old recolor.

Seriously, pat yourselves on the back!

And with this being said, WEEK 1 ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED!! Thanks everyone for participating, and expect the results AND the new theme to be posted up in the next couple of hours!!!!

[SassySnivy]

Just a heads-up, everyone: if I wasn't clear in my critique and you'd like me to elaborate on something, let me know! I also tried not to go into too much detail to save some time, so if you feel like you're left in the dark a little bit don't hesitate to speak up. :>

Scoring

Spoiler:

Suicune's Fire

@Suicune's Fire

First Impression: 7/10

Bigger isn't always better, but I think it would have been a lot cooler to use Zebstrika. It would amp up the effect (no pun intended) because Zebstrika appears more "intense" per se than just little old Blitzle does. Blitzle is cute and fits well with this theme, but I feel like Zebstrika would have been even better.

Quality: 5/5

No major issues for me to complain about, here! Just some slight contrast issues in the fleshy color and the black. Black is a tricky color to work with when it comes to getting the right amount of contrast, but the majority of the time you're going to need MORE contrast between shades of black than less contrast. A bit like how white works, but vice versa!

Originality: 13/15

This is a clever little idea. I especially love how you added the crease in the "jacket" near where its back and neck connect. It makes it look more like an actual jacket and less like a skin-tight suit. The theme was also a good pick for this Pokemon because MOHAWK. x] However I still do feel like it's lacking, like you could have done more with it. Even using Zebstrika probably would have scored you more points.

Relativity: 5/5

No issues here!

Total: 28/35

Caite-chan

@Caite-chan

First Impression: 5/10

Ah, how cute! However the fact that the little inner organelles are outlined harshly in black doesn't really do it for me. Maybe if you were to have used one of the darker greens it would have looked better. Also, I think I may understand where you're coming from with the lines / border around Ditto's body but I'm not one-hundred percent sure.

Quality: 2/5

As I said above, the harsh outlines for objects that are supposedly floating around inside of Ditto's gelatinous body doesn't really work out so well. Just all of the black lines really lower's Ditto's readability and it's more difficult to understand what's going on at a first glance. I played around with it a little and actually found out that even by replacing all of those black lines you placed with the darkest green, it helps loads. :o Also maybe you could have tried to make the organelles a little less pointed and polygonic and more curved. :>

Originality: 12/15

It's definitely a cute little idea. As I said I feel like the execution could have been a little better, but hey! Props to you for going a little bit outside of your comfort zone. Don't let this discourage you; I definitely look forward to seeing more of what you can come up with in the future!!

Relativity: 5/5

No problems here. :>

Total: 25/35

TheoreticalSelkie

@TheoreticalSelkie

First Impression: 10/10

"Wow" was the first thing that ran through my mind when I first saw this. I love your hue-shifting and how you took a further step with the colors, deciding to re-use certain colors for different areas. Color control, in my opinion, is the essence of pixel art. <3 Plus the pattern is really pretty, too.

Quality: 4/5

You would have gotten the full 5/5 if it weren't for this one glaring issue: the eye marking on the farthest wing is much too horizontally skewed. I found that just by increasing the height by one pixel seems to clear up the issue. And our good old friend, anti-aliasing. c; Which you also probably could have used a little more of on the farthest wing. That darn problematic thing!

Originality: 14/15

I really didn't see this coming, especially not with Salamence. But honestly, Salamence has just a simple enough body with just enough protrusions that it actually works really well.

Relativity: 5/5

You got it.

Total: 33/35

Mad Max

@Mad Max

First Impression: 7/10

This is cute; plus, it makes sense.

Quality: 2/5

There's a lot going on with the quality, though; mainly your colors and contrast. The white on the body looks flood-filled, as in the two shades that were originally there are filled in with one color. Don't forget to preserve the shading! :o Another major color problem is with your yellows, there. Yellow is a tricky, TRICKY color to work with...it would have been best if you were to either make your shades of yellow much darker than you would with any ordinary color, OR lower the saturation of your yellow slightly as you make them darker. That helps with the horrible contrast problems you get when you work with yellow! :> Lovely try, though! ^^

Originality: 10/15

I do like this, but it's also not unexpected. I mean, it's not like I expected this, either, but it's one of those things where you're like, "Oh, okay, I could have seen that coming." xD But nonetheless, I do like disguise recolors. I think maybe next time if you ever do make another Vivillon disguise recolor again, maybe do so on a Pokemon that you wouldn't expect to see it on as much? :> Like...Flygon! Flygon would actually be really cool to see a Vivillon design on. And it would work, too! :D

Relativity: 5/5

All clear!

Total: 25/35

PTGigi

@PTGigi

First Impression: 9/10

This one also wow'ed me when I first saw it; it's definitely not anything that I expected! I absolutely love how the markings are so intricate yet not excessive. Nice color choice, as well; it definitely works!

Quality: 5/5

I see no major quality issues. One nitpick I noticed though is that you seem to have a duplicate color for every single color on that Reshiram, doubling its color count. (doubles as in two colors that look exactly the same; the only differences are very, very minor and you really don't notice them until you get a program to analyze the colors for you) I'm going to assume that this was a mistake of some sort, though, since there's literally one for like EVERY color, and the placement is pretty random.

Originality: 12/15

Not something I totally expected, but also works! As I mentioned, I love the fact that the markings are so intricate yet not excessive to the point that it takes away from the sprite's readability.

Relativity: 5/5

Yup!

Total: 31/35

Nekomata

@Nekomata

First Impression: 8/10

I really, really love what you did with this and I can tell you took a long time to finish it. Upon analyzing it I noticed that you literally made individual color ramps for each different hue; plus I love the range of hues you chose. Yellow-green all the way down to violet? That definitely screams tropical, so it's safe to say you nailed down your theme. x] This is really cool and all, but entails one major problem...

Quality: 4/5

...color count. No, I'm totally not going to be a color nazi, here, but damn! 45 colors? That's cray-cray! Well, sorta. I mean with so many different hues it's a little difficult to really emulate a gradient without all of those hues. But the gradient is another problem: there's so much of a gradient that it actually takes away from the sprite's original shading. Maybe next time you can lower the number of hues and instead use some dithering here and there (but not in excession) to help the colors blend in without the sprite looking too gradiented. The yellow spots do add a really nice accent to the more bluish areas, though!

Originality: 14/15

Once again, this is one of those things that I never expected to see but at the same time, it totally works! I love the theme you used, it's so colorful and bright and it stands out really well.

Relativity: 5/5

No problems!

Total: 32/35

Noblejanobii

@Noblejanobii

First Impression: 7/10

Oh, a Kitsune! Nice choice of theme. Especially since it's white with red and black markings it also bears a very striking resemblance to Amaterasu from the Okami series. <3

Quality: 3/5

Nothing big, just some contrast issues here and there. Your darkest white shade could have a lot more contrast from the shade above it...but I do love your hue-shifting. Instead of just going down to blank white, you actually added a warm, yellowish tint to it. It would have been cool to see a little anti-aliasing on the kanji on Ninetales' body, else it just looks like it's floating there and isn't actually a marking within its fur. Your red was also a little harsh and lowered the readability on the face. You definitely could have benefitted from making it just a tinge lighter and by adding some anti-aliasing there, too. ^^

Originality: 12/15

There's just something about this that I find really cool. Maybe it's the fact that that "ho" kanji provides just the extra "umph" that the recolor needs? Plus the red markings. It's a design that's both simple and satisfyingly detailed.

Relativity: 5/5

You got it, skipper.

Total: 27/35

ninjaskarmory

@ninjaskarmory

First Impression: 4/10

My first impression of this originally was a little unfazed, but once you actually went into detail and started to explain your reasoning behind every single little color and your knowledge of the lore of the Bioshock series, I was amazed! That being said it is still a rather plain recolor (which isn't always a bad thing...not at all), but the fact that you made your colors symbolize certain things within the franchise is a neat little twist. Plus, the rust color goes really nicely with those navy and cyan colors.

Quality: 4/5

No major quality issues.

Originality: 15/15

Despite the recolor not having any intricate pattern or designs, I feel like your explanation behind your reasoning really bumped up your points here. It's like, everything in this recolor has a place and a reason, and nothing here has been done accidentally or just because it looks cool. You decided to take a different approach, and I totally commend you for that! I just hope that you'll continue to submit more entries in the coming weeks. Looking forward to seeing what you have in store!

Relativity: 5/5

'Tis a recolor, no problems here.

Total: 28/35

Pokemon Trainer Sarah

@Pokemon Trainer Sarah

First Impression: 10/10

Holy hell. Seriously, you went all out with this one. You hollowed out the eyes, added cracks, joints, and even ribs. RIBS.

Quality: 4/5

No glaring problems here. I think it would have been best if you maybe evened out the contrast a bit (there's a pretty low contrast between the main white and its shade, while there's a super-high contrast between that second-lightest shade and the one just below it). There are also just a couple of little pixels that you accidentally forgot to recolor, for they're still purple. c; That last bit isn't taking anything away from your score, though; just a heads-up!.

Originality: 14/15

The idea is pretty predictable, but your execution really kicks ***. You really went that extra mile.

Relativity: 5/5

I feel like this constitutes more as an edit than a recolor--referring to the addition of ribs--but I won't take any points off since I really wasn't all too clear about this rule to begin with.

Total: 33/35

sammy0295

@sammy0295

First Impression: 7/10

This is really quite neat! Very nice choice of colors, too, but I can't help what inspired you to use that really dark, dulled-out violet. Not that that takes away from anything, it's just me pondering is all.

Quality: 4/5

No major problems here. Nice! The big thing is that I feel like the main body color could use some more contrast between the shades; namely the base color and the one just below / darker than that.

Originality: 14/15

This is a really interesting idea! It makes me think of steampunk, almost. Maybe a mix between a church organ and something steampunk. Very original concept!

Relativity: 5/5

I feel like this also constitutes as more of an edit than a recolor (due to the extra lines and especially the extra shading), but since I really wasn't clear on that to begin with I'm not going to take off any points for it. That was kinda my fault, to be honest.

Total: 30/35

Brettles

@Brettles

First Impression: 7/10

I was like, "whoa!" when I first saw this. I love the direction you tried to take this in. Just the execution was a little bit sloppy. But hey, no shame in that. We all start out pretty sloppy. c;

Quality: 2/5

20 colors? Wow! I think I see what went a little awry here, though. It almost looks as if you may have gotten a little mixed up as to what areas were supposed to be recolored plainly and what areas were meant to have a pattern. Here's a little trick to help you! Make multiple copies of the sprite you're recoloring. In one copy, just reduce it to flat colors, and draw out the pattern that you want to use. Make copies of the original sprite; for each color that you used for the pattern, go ahead and make a separate recolor of it for each individual hue. When you're done with that, take the sprite that has the pattern that you planned out (or copy it just in case you mess up).
Let's say that you have your patterned Charizard, and you have four separate colors: black, red, orange, and yellow. You should have one Charizard recolored for each of those colors you're using in your pattern. Take the one with the pattern and get rid of one of the hues--so say, let's get rid of orange. Paste that over your orange recolor, and viola! Just keep doing that for the other colors. It really helps and makes the process much less complex!

Originality: 12/15

Flames + Charizard = slightly predictable, yes, but I love how you just went all-out and made this Charizard look as if it's completely on fire, or totally pimped out with some sick decal. xD

Relativity: 5/5

No problems!

Total: 26/40

Winners

Phew! Now that that's done, it's time to reveal the winners! We actually have a tie for first place, this time.
I really don't like ties, but it was really tricky to figure out which one deserved first place the most. I tried to tweak the point distributions for the scoring for both sprites but nothing else really worked very well.

If you didn't win or don't think you got a very good score, don't let that discourage you! Just take the critique I offer in consideration for next time...and if ever you have any questions pertaining your score, don't hesitate to speak up!

Seeing how we had a tie for first place, however, we will not actually have a third placer this week. Sorry! :<

Spoiler:

First Place: TheoreticalSelkie of Phoenix Battalion and Pokemon Trainer Sarah of Team Trainer!
You both did excellently; it was really difficult to choose which one of your entries deserved first place more!
Both of you receive points; TheoreticalSelkie gets 2.5 points for Phoenix Battalion and Pokemon Trainer Sarah gets 2.5 points for Team Trainer! Congratulations!

Second Place: Nekomata of The Prism League!
Congratulations!
Nekomata receives 1 point for The Prism League!

And as you guys are expecting (or not), here's the theme for WEEK TWO! :D

Week TWO!

Did you think you were going to do a fusion this week? If so, you were so wrong! This week you get to create a pixel-over of any of Sugimori's official Global Link / Dream World artwork for any forme of any Pokemon!

There are only two limitations: first off, don't deviate too much from the Pokemon's design. It's alright to deviate some lineart-wise, but just don't go crazy and make your Pokesona out of it or anything. You can use either the Pokemon's regular or shiny colors...or both! You won't get any bonus points for coming up with both, though.

Oh, and it also CANNOT exceed 200 x 200 pixels!!!

As for the shading, do anything that you'd like! Use a different position for your light source, add some texture, use your own signature shading style...whatever! This week, I want to see how well you guys can shade.

Good luck, and don't stress yourself out! Just have fun.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Thanks for the feedback Speed! I wasn't sure how much we were allowed to add, in regards to ribs :x But since you specifically said don't edit the outlines and shading, I just went with that. xD I agree with your point on tweaking the colours a bit. I am kind of terrible at picking colours haha. I kind of liked how the brown and white gave it a bit of a stone feel. Everyone's entries were so good, I am really surprised I tied for first!!! Congrats to Selkie and Neko too! I loved your sprites! :D

[ninjaskarmory]

Congrats to the winners! Your submissions are beautiful, I'm not too surprised you won. Also, thanks for the constructive criticism! This rating system really helps to show me where I can improve. I'm glad you liked my Rapture Mewtwo! It might just be my favorite of my own works of pixel art. Yeah, like I said, I'm pretty obsessed with BioShock. cx

[Suicune's Fire]

Awesome work, guys. :] I agree with you, Speed, about using Zebstrika. The thing was, when I read the brief, I found it a little restricting. I took OUT a lot of the shading that made it look like a leather jacket because you said not to add much shading. =/ I thought we also weren't allowed to change the pattern, which is why I didn't go with Zebstrika. I'm disappointed and honestly a little frustrated because I could have done so much better if I thought I was allowed to edit it more, rather than keep the original elements (like the butt stripe). =/ Such as the no-shading on the ankle bracelet things. Ah well. xP Everyone here deserved their great marks!

[Noblejanobii]

I scored better than I thought I would! Woot! Alright so week 2… mm I think I understand what you're saying the theme is but I'm just going to wait for someone to actually post something before I start to work on this.

[SassySnivy]

Awesome work, guys. :] I agree with you, Speed, about using Zebstrika. The thing was, when I read the brief, I found it a little restricting. I took OUT a lot of the shading that made it look like a leather jacket because you said not to add much shading. =/ I thought we also weren't allowed to change the pattern, which is why I didn't go with Zebstrika. I'm disappointed and honestly a little frustrated because I could have done so much better if I thought I was allowed to edit it more, rather than keep the original elements (like the butt stripe). =/ Such as the no-shading on the ankle bracelet things. Ah well. xP Everyone here deserved their great marks!

I know, I know, I wasn't very clear. But all you had to do was ask if something was acceptable! Plus you can edit your entries, even replace them with something else, before Saturday. :> I'll try to be a little less vague this week.