[WAR 1] .:Pixel Art:.

[Suicune's Fire]

Firstly, guys, I’d like to say that you all did really well and it was a brilliant turn out, with fifteen entries! So that’s an AWESOME effort! 8D Have a virtual cookie for participating!

*cookie*

Okay, so to the judging. I left a few comments for you all and I hope they help ya. If you wanna skip to the winner (wiener), it’s at the bottom of the post, along with week two’s challenge.

Grading!

Spoiler:

@Brettles
Team Dirty Rotten Scoundrels



Neatness: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Overall Look and Effort: 6/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 23/35
Comments:
I did like this one, but there are a few shading errors which let it down, specifically around the neck and chest area, and also down the arms. You’ve mixed up where you’ve coloured the dark shades and the light shades. xD Also the purple dress seems to start in a direct straight line across the waist, rather than using shape to your advantage. The tiny bit of light colour just below the yellow chest protrusion looks out of place and probably should have been purple. I think the whole colour scheme in general was a little too dark.

@Tenacity
Team Trainer



Neatness: 9/10
Creativity: 4/10
Overall Look and Effort: 7/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 25/35
Comments:
The idea was pretty basic and although you did execute it well, and it looks very clean and neat, it’s a rather basic recolour without any complexity. I couldn’t really count the blue glowiness—which is cool, but it doesn’t really apply to the whole ‘recolour’ theme considering it’s outside of the sprite. Overall, not a bad mark though. :]

@Shiny Totodile
Team Magma



Neatness: 6/10
Creativity: 5/10
Overall Look and Effort: 6/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 22/35
Comments:
I do like the idea of using inverted colours, but there are a lot of points where the colours are too light and it doesn’t really mix very well. The outlines are too light and it makes the black outlines seem incredibly unnecessary against the inverted shades which are lighter. I understand that you were working with a palette that you didn’t create, but in order for inverts to work, which they sometimes don’t considering you’re working with literally the opposite colours that the sprite is meant to have, you need to edit the palette accordingly. I know this makes it technically not a true invert, but using the same colours as the inverted palette gives you, even if it’s not the exact shades you were given, still makes it a valid invert in my opinion. Nice try though.

@Corrupt_Voidlich
Team Trainer



Neatness: 7/10
Creativity: 6/10
Overall Look and Effort: 8/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 26/35
Comments:
This one appeals to me greatly. I enjoy rainbow things, because they’re always linked with happiness for me. It’s also pretty! However, I have a little bit of a problem with the shape of each colour, and the way they sit on the dragonair’s body. Because the body is serpentine, it’s safe to say that the colours would dip down, if that makes sense, to curve around the body. But on the tail, they appear slanted and flat, and on the chest/below that, it’s curved like an upturned smile, although I suppose that’s in the spirit of the rainbow, yes? Thinking about it, it doesn’t make that much difference, but some places look more curved than others. As well as that, the end of the pink up until the orange part sort of blends, meaning you haven’t used enough variety in the lightness/darkness of the shades, and there’s an odd triangle of dark colour on the curve that looks out of place. Anyway, nice looking sprite.

@ShadowJay
Team Trainer



Neatness: 7/10
Creativity: 7/10
Overall Look and Effort: 7/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 26/35
Comments:
I liked this one, but I think it would have looked better if the magma was using the lines between the aggron’s armour as channels for it to flow through, rather than having random streaks across it. The way the tongue and the teeth aren’t separated on the left side makes it look like the tongue is pointed and sticking out of the mouth. xD There are also black outlines everywhere. Overall not a bad submission. :]

@Dennis Jansen
Team Aqua



Neatness: 3/10
Creativity: 3/10
Overall Look and Effort: 5/10
Relevance: 1/5
Total: 12/35
Comments:
I don’t consider infernos recolours. =/ You’re reshading and you’re getting rid of a lot of lines, which makes it more of a reshade if anything. I would have rejected this sprite as soon as you had posted it had I actually realised what you’d posted, so I do take the blame for that, but you should probably know that this isn’t a recolour. xD

@Dragon Master Mike
Team Awesome



Neatness: 7/10
Creativity: 1/10
Overall Look and Effort: 4/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 17/35
Comments:
The fact is, a simple recolour isn’t going to cut it when you’re up against submissions of much higher creativity and effort. Nevertheless, you did stick to the theme. One thing about the wings was that the dark green paired with the dark purple-y wings clashed in areas without any outlines because the colour of a charizard is normally much lighter than the wing colour.

@Velocity
Team Awesome



Neatness: 8/10
Creativity: 9/10
Overall Look and Effort: 8/10
Relevance: 4/5
Total: 29/35
Comments:
Not bad at all! I really quite like this concept. It’s creative and it looks good. I had to remove a point from relevance because you removed the tooth, and that’s tampering with outlines. It’s only a small amount though. Changing the stripes was a good idea, and adding “cracks” along it makes it look great. :] Very nice. Definitley a favourite. Some parts are a little light though which makes the dark outlines look very prominent. Perhaps even colouring them a dark green would have worked better.

@Pokeman
Team Trainer



Neatness: 5/10
Creativity: 6/10
Overall Look and Effort: 5/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 21/35
Comments:
Interestingly coloured, but the black with the white is quite a stark contrast. The outlines on that white part are too light and sort of don’t work with the intense black. The orange colours are very saturated, as are the blue shades, which are not chosen very wisely. All the blues look like different blues rather than shades of the same blue, which does not at all work. The colour choices were good in theory, but they needed to be completely different hues for it to all work smoothly together.

@The Frost Dragon
Team Trainer



Neatness: 6/10
Creativity: 1/10
Overall Look and Effort: 4/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 16/35
Comments:
This is very basic and rather plain, as well as not at all creative. Some of the shades look too light and in all honesty it looks like a lighter, much less saturated version of a regular lucario.

@Speed-X
Team Dirty Rotten Scoundrels



Neatness: 9/10
Creativity: 10/10
Overall Look and Effort: 9/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 33/35
Comments:
I love this idea. Definitely one of the more creative ideas! Background/scenery recolours are some of my favourite recolours. xD Well done. Not really any critique on this other than the grey on the claws could be a bit lighter, as it makes it look almost band-y, but that’s not a big deal.

@Minunrocks
Team Aqua



Neatness: 7/10
Creativity: 7/10
Overall Look and Effort: 7/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 26/35
Comments:
A Team Aqua themed May is pretty fitting for you! xD Interesting that this is our only trainer recolour submission. The hair’s outlines are a little light, methinks, but other than that you did this really well. :] Nice work.

@Pokemon Trainer Sarah
Team Trainer



Neatness: 9/10
Creativity: 10/10
Overall Look and Effort: 8/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 32/35
Comments:
I love this one a lot. The only issue, and this is the only thing, is that the scenery here looks very flat upon this venusaur. If you single out the leaf overhanging its face, you’ll notice that the tree is not at all in line with the leaf’s centre, which I think takes away from the pattern a tiny bit. Same with the leg on the right, which has a tree on it that continues onto the back leg. If you were to look at that venusaur from the side, it would look like the tree was on its side and it wouldn’t have a top. xD Unless it all matches up somehow with other tree parts, but I can’t be certain. Otherwise it’s absolutely beautiful and you may very well have won. But wonderful job nonetheless.


@TheProtobabe
Team Awesome



Neatness: 8/10
Creativity: 6/10
Overall Look and Effort: 6/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 25/35
Comments:
I know I said I usually love rainbow, but this raikou only has rainbow markings. Which, I admit, is pretty awesome, but the rest of it is solidly coloured pretty much. That, to me, is like a basic recolour, which wouldn’t score very highly. Again, some of the outlines are much too light, but overall it’s a nice colour combination. I think it might have looked better if it was smaller as well, given that the colours wouldn’t have looked so spaced apart.

@TheoreticalSelkie
Team Dirty Rotten Scoundrels



Neatness: 8/10
Creativity: 10/10
Overall Look and Effort: 9/10
Relevance: 5/5
Total: 32/35
Comments:
Okay, I love this. A lot. XD The only issue I had was that the tops of the ears, in my opinion, perhaps should have been white like the rest of the sprite, because all that red with yellow patterning makes it a little busy up the top with overlaying parts of the sprite. Other than that though, really good.

Winners:

Spoiler:

Coming in second place is...

Pokémon Trainer Sarah!
&
TheoreticalSelkie!

Pokémon Trainer Sarah:


TheoreticalSelkie:


Since this is a tie, you have each been awarded +1 point for your teams. :] Well done!


Coming in first place is...

*confetti*Speed-X!*confetti*



Congratulations, Speed-X! :D +3 points for you and Team Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!

Thank you to everyone who participated. Now for the second week's challenge, which you may begin immediately if you wish...





WEEK TWO:
For this week, your challenge shall be...

-- A simple fusion!
For this fusion, you may choose up to three pokemon to splice together. You can use a minimum of two and a maximum of three. It can be any pokémon except those from Gen 6, unless you completely scratch all the Gen 6 parts.

Check out some winning entries (although these were more than three pokemon mashed together) from the previous WAR! (Made by FrozenChaos from PE2K and me respectively!)
First place | Second Place


Form:

Username:
WAR Team:
Pokémon used in fusion:
Sprite Submission: (Post the actual image)

THE DEADLINE for WEEK TWO is SATURDAY, the 19th of July at 11:59pm, 2014, or until I post judging scores.



Good luck, all! :D And happy WARing!