[WAR II] Pixel Art

[SassySnivy]

Of course it's not going to be a fusion. I never planned to. :P Especially not since its the last week

But I am really pumped for WAR to be almost over because after this I'm going to start doing a bimonthly pixel art tournament AND IT WILL BE AWESOME

[Suicune's Fire]

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE FINAL WEEK. The CW theme just came out and it's freaking awesome. ASB sounds really cool too. I CAN'T WAIT FOR PIIIIIIIIXEL AAAAAAARRRRRRRRT!

[monkeybard]

Likewise, the Drawn Art theme is right up my alley and if this week's theme is doing a HD Pixel Over of a Red/Blue/Green sprite then that also happens to be right up my alley. The same alley, it's a strangely specific suburb.

Also bimonthly pixel art tourney sounds great and I hope every last person that has posted in this thread so far joins every time!

[Suicune's Fire]

I doubt it'll be an HD pixel over... xD I mean, we already did that! I bet Speed has something much more grand in mind. >:3

Yeah, that pixel art tournament sounds interesting! I honestly wonder why we don't have more activity in this section considering the awesome sprites that people are making for WAR. c:

[monkeybard]

I know we've already gone through pixel overs, and I hate myself for missing it, but I can always hope, right?

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I doubt it'll be an HD pixel over... xD I mean, we already did that! I bet Speed has something much more grand in mind. >:3

Yeah, that pixel art tournament sounds interesting! I honestly wonder why we don't have more activity in this section considering the awesome sprites that people are making for WAR. c:

We are all lazy butts outside of WAR? xD

[Noblejanobii]

*sighs* Well if it isn't a fusion then I guess I'm not participating this week either.

[Suicune's Fire]

I know we've already gone through pixel overs, and I hate myself for missing it, but I can always hope, right?

Haha, it's not your fault. Your avatar is so cool! Now I wanna try doing HD pixel overs of them! xD

We are all lazy butts outside of WAR? xD

Couldn't have put it better myself. xD

[Aberforth]

Come on guys. Don't sell your cookies before Speed announces what the challenge is gonna be... I am sure she has something awesome planned after all, the other challenges where all so different and helped you develop different aspects of what makes a good pixel artist.

I, for one, look forward to seeing your magnificent creations. :)

[SassySnivy]

Scoring

Spoiler:

Brettles

from
@Brettles

First Impression: 6/10

I honestly didn't see this coming and I really love what you made out of Nidoking. In all honesty (and it could be because of the fact that Nidoking has a lot of external detail) I don't see Nidoking. At all. You have successfully broken the illusion, which is really cool. I find it interesting how you tried to vary the perspective (or that's how it seems). It looks like its being foreshortened, with its head closer to the viewer than the rest of the body...making the legs seem tiny. This being said, I think maybe the farthest leg (out left) is a little too tiny.

Quality: 5/10

This being said, there are still some things about the quality that lack. Mainly its the lack of much shading at all; and even in areas that were shaded, it isn't immediately noticeable due to both the over-dithering AND the low contrast between the shades of each color. I would also suggest some hue-shifting, but maybe it would be best to go over the bigger problems, first. :> Also try to remember to add shading to your lines, too. It's kinda tough, but it's definitely worth it! It looks a little plain with just flat colors that don't really even have a high enough contrast from the base color. You also did go over the suggested 15-color limit, but that was honestly only a suggestion more than anything! So I totally didn't take off anything for that. :>

Originality: 8/10

I really like what you did with this, and I seriously didn't expect it. This being said, it does still feel a bit plain. Probably because of the lack of prominent shading.

Relativity: 5/5

Total: 24/35

monkeybard

from
@monkeybard

First Impression: 8/10

There's a lot of readability issues, here, and I think it was caused by trying to cram so many details into a rather small space. Plus for some reason I still see Pichu; it was actually really hard to tell what was going on until I really squinted at it. Maybe next time try using a Pokemon with more space? That way you'll be able to show your skill off successfully without worrying about having to cram in so much.

Quality: 9/10

I'm going to embrace the color nazi in me right now: the colors are really nice here and I like how you hue-shifted AND tried to universalize your palette more (see: the use of yellow in the highlights on the drill was a really nice touch). I can't help but feel like you have a couple of redundant colors, though. The more reddish-brown is barely noticeable and would maybe serve its purpose better if it were darker. There's also two light blue colors that are so close together that the sprite would benefit either if you made that lighter one lighter, or just merged those two light blues together. I'm not taking any points off for that since it IS at the color limit. Just some tips is all!

Originality: 9/10

Despite the readability problem, I really like this concept! We've been getting all sorts of creative entries this week, and it makes me really happy to see that!

Relativity: 5/5

Total: 31/35

Caite-chan

from
@Caite-chan

First Impression: 6/10

This is...defintiely interesting! It's a cool use of Corsola. I know that you mentioned that it's meant to be a bath toy, and that's pretty much what I see. A very frog-esque bath toy, at that. You know I was totally willing to work with you on the shading; I do wish you would have messaged me when you "fixed it up," but at the same time it was my responsibility to message you back the next day as well. :P No biggie.

Quality: 6/10

Since this is meant to be a bath toy, I think it would have been cool to try to shade it so that it looked like a shiny plastic toy...but first you've gotta get basic shading down! You're getting there. I'm not really sure what that dark stripe of blue is there for by the eyes, though. If I were to guess, I'd think that maybe it was a mistake?
The shading looks like it's coming from directly above. That in itself is fine! It is kinda odd that you added highlights to the purple appendages though near where they start from the blue body, unless you meant for the purple areas of those appendages to start bulging out or something. Again, I can't stress this enough: I'm NOT taking off any points for this, it's just an observation and is really important to consider. xD You've got lots of redundant colors going on. There's two pairs of the blue that look pretty much exactly the same (#7FAAFF and #8EB4FF; then #3962CC and #295AE6), along with two pairs of violet that look incredibly similar (#A722E5 and #A722E5; then #A722E5 and #A722E5). Gotta watch out for these things! :o

Originality: 7/10

I'm definitely giving you a bunch of originality points for this...thing. xD What took away from that, though, was the fact that it is a little bland / flat of a design (or at least the execution anyway), but that's totally understandable given that this was only your first or second shot at shading something on your own! Right? ^^

Relativity: 5/5

blurb

Total: 24/35

PTGigi

from
@PTGigi

First Impression: 8/10

Oh my. This thing is really cool, and I love how well the cyan and magenta go together with the black and white. Plus the concept itself is really neat because what used to be Vaporeon's legs are now little harlequin-like protrusions from its head. Overall this has a really jester-like feel, which is cool and definitely fun to look at!

Quality: 7/10

You did a pretty nice job with this; however, it does look as if you tried to cram a little too much detail into such a space, lowering the readability of the sprite. Does it have another arm / paw? What exactly is that thing that's right by the leg; is is a hand or a foot? It looks a bit out of place. It's also hard to tell if this thing is facing us and its tail is protruding out from its front (LAWL), or if it's turned around slightly. The two darkest blacks also look so similar that they could definitely have been merged. Sometimes it's not a bad thing to use the "black" color to shade for really dark areas! The fact that the cast shadow (I think) from the paw onto the belly(?) is so prominent looks a little odd. The shading kinda looks like it's just all over the place which probably contributes to the readability problem.

Originality: 9/10

Definitely a really cool concept! It's like, one of those things that you don't expect but totally makes sense. Vaporeon's collar makes for a really good collar on this jester-like creature. And I love that grin and those slanted eyes. So mischievous!

Relativity: 5/5

blurb

Total: 29/35

Pokemon Trainer Sarah

@Pokemon Trainer Sarah

First Impression: 10/10

Wow! I'm really impressed with your entry this week! The use of hue-shifting is nice, and I love how you combined the color ramps yet were still able to easily portray that there are two different hues in this Pokemon. I also enjoy how you really emphasized on the fact that less can sometimes be more! The design is very simple, but it really works.

Quality: 9/10

One minor thing is that the contrast between the third red down and the second red down (the second-lightest) is a little too low. This is a really minor detail though. Despite this, I feel like having a midtone there is necessary to reflect the texture of this Pokemon (which is very gelatinous and shiny yet also plasma-like and I love it). Therefore, try making your second-lightest red just a little lighter along with your lightest red. The darkest red could also be a smidge darker in order for it to work better with the black used there.

Originality: 8/10

The design is basic, but it does work. It's really cute and given your description, it's clear you put a lot of thought into it! However, the description doesn't really give you any more creativity points...otherwise I probably would have given this a perfect 10.

Relativity: 5/5

blurb

Total: 32/35

Suicune's Fire

from
@Suicune's Fire

First Impression: 10/10

I love how you broke the mold a little and used a sprite from GSC! I do wish that Feraligatr didn't have those negative spaces inside of its silhouette, though, otherwise it would have turned out just a smidge better. Ah well! It really isn't something you can help.

Quality: 9/10

I love this and your colors used and your shading style, because it is very reminiscent of the RSE style...minus all the dithering, anyway. Sadly because of something that you really couldn't control, though, that negative space between the mouth and shoulder really doesn't make much sense. Also I couldn't help but notice those random clusters of light yellow off to the bottom-right, but again I don't really think there was much you could have done.

Originality: 9/10

This is a REALLY cool concept. It makes me think of a creepy genie-ghost / a Hindu-like interpretation of an Indian elephant. It's hard to tell what a lot of the things on its body are, though, but the little leg-like protrusions are nice and consistent. The teal appendage down on the bottom-left looks both like a ghostly talon / claw and a piece of torn fabric. I do feel like the design could have been a little more consistent on both sides.

Relativity: 5/5

blurb

Total: 33/35

Winners

Spoiler:

First Place: Suicune's Fire of Jupiter Mining Corp.!
You get 3 points for your team!

Second Place: Pokemon Trainer Sarah of Team Trainer!
You get 2 points for your team!

Third Place: monkeybard of Jupiter Mining Corp.!
You get 1 point for your team!

You guys all did wonderfully and I'm really proud of you guys for exercising your creativity like you did! But now is time for the ultimate WAR Pixel Art challenge for this year...

Week Four!

...Something new! A lot of you all probably saw this coming. You have to make a sprite completely on your own, or "from scratch" as a lot of people like to call it. NO splicing, editing, etc for this week's entry!

What do I want you to make, though? This is the fun part. Do you remember the first week of the Drawn Art section of WAR, where people had to create a Fakemon of a brand new type? I want you guys to pick one out of ANY of those Fakemon to sprite this week. They are as follows:
@Mad Max's Dottle
@JamestheTyphlosion's Zerkonra
Nekomata's Lumebus
@lorii's Diovbot
Suicune's Fire's Binode
@MoogleSam's Origapaper
@Lady Darkrina's Skeleruin
@Velocity's Lunup OR Werunar
Morzone's Solvista
PTGigi's Astropter
The Frost Dragon's Magikcthulu

If any of the artists of these Fakemon don't want their Fake to be sprited for WAR, please do let me know. I will take it down as one of the options to use in a heartbeat! I want to respect all artist's boundaries to the best of my ability.

And yes, you can make one of the Fakemon you entered if you did enter one! But that's your call.

IT MUST BE NO LARGER THAN 93x93 PIXELS, and you MUST NOT USE ANY MORE COLORS THAN 15. You can make this in any style that you wish!

And most importantly, try to have fun with this! 8D

Thanks, @Pyrkagias! I appreciate it. There really is more to picking a prompt per week. I want to up the difficulty as the weeks pass. I don't want to make things too easy or too difficult and am doing my best to make sure that the environment is as constructive as possible. Quite a few people who have been participating for at least the past two weeks seemed to have really learned something! :D