Sprite Theme Contest v.3

[Apocalipsis]

I haven't read Snor's critics yet because I don't want to agree with him mindlessly :p

My opinion on each entry:

Prince Freeza (Click to View)

Execution: (9/10)
Proportions are correct, except maybe for his left arm wich is kinda large in comparison with his right one.
Shading is very consistent.
Pose has some really minor flaws: grip of the kunai (?) on his left hand and his right foot. Both have akward angles.
Design: (8/10)
Concept is not really original, but it works to me, the ninja guy with the ninja dog :p
Fashion on the other side is kind of complex, and there's some interesting details as the sheat on his back and dog's scarf.
Palette could be better, in my opinion. The character itself is ok, it blends nicely. But if you add the companion, there's just too many colors and both individuals don't fit together (different variations of brown + grey + red is too much).

Basically, a nice sprite in every aspect, as usual.

Me'n'Mine (Click to View)

Execution: (7/10)
There are some proportions problems there: torso is too thick/big and limbs are pretty thin/small. Head is ok.
The main char's shading is ok, you used some good combinations of sharp and smooth shapes wich gives a feeling of tight leather clothes that fit the char. The arms' shading needs higher contrast, though (like in his neck). Companion's shading, on the other hand, is bad: it's just too blurry.
Pose is ok, nothing special here.
Design: (8/10)
I really dig the concept. You did something sci-fi wich is not really a common thing in these days. The companion is kind of rushed, so that kind of lowers the final result significantly.
Fashion is good, nothing too complex but it's attractive.
Palette could have been better without the eyes-killing-green, maybe a darker green could fit better with the rest of the char's clothes. Still, black and green was a good decision.

Regardless the noticeable flaws wich lower the raw rating, you really impressed me with this one. Better than your usual works.

Whaat (Click to View)

Execution: (9/10)
Proportions are consistent.
Shading in general is good, though I suggest you to use more contrast almost in every part of the sprite except the jeans, it will give your sprites more impact on the viewer. Also, Vulture's shading is messy.
Regarding pose, the most important thing is that you made the two character interact, that gives you many extra points. Main char's legs could be better though.
Design: (7/10)
The concept makes me think he is a char who lives in a mountain/desert and control the vulture to attack. That's original.
Fashion is kind of contradictory. The head's accesories are quite unusual but his clothes are quite common. Also, they are very simple, so I don't know why you used such a big size for the sprite.
Palette has the same problem that Prince Freeza's sprite, in my opinion: too many different colors. It's less noticeable in this one, but still.

Gotta say that before the judging I didn't think I was gonna give you such high ranks, and now I think it's because your palette lacks emotion, and it hides the rest of your abilities.

Sonic Boom (Click to View)

Execution: (6/10)
Proportions seem to be right at some points and weird at other points, it's not really good but not that bad either.
Shading is also inconsistent, sometimes it's really sharp and sometimes it's quite blurry.
Pose is ok except for the fact that both right (their right) feet are badly positioned, they should be pointing at the viewer.
Design: (6/10)
The concept is really poor, because I can't disguise who is the main character and who is the companion, it's more like a pair of individual fighters who wear really seemed clothes, and not a team.
Fashion is not bad, but not really great either.
Color palette is courageous (I like that) and you didn't used very bright colors. As whole entry has two colors everything looks ok together.

You may get discouraged because of the ratings, but you're just starting as spriter, and this is a good start. Just try to get more consistent about proportions and shading, and you'll get better in no time.

Reaper (Click to View)

Execution: (8/10)
Proportions are really good.
Shading is sharp and nice.
Pose is really weird. I mean, the main character looks like he's standing stilll, but the guy's in mid air. Imo, both main char and phoenix are really rigid, and they fail at doing what you wanted them to do. A more dynamic pose could have meant a ten at execution.
Design: (7/10)
Concept is not really original, and there's hardly any distinctive in it.
Fashion is really common, doesn't make me think of a Phoenix Tamer or something. With some china outfit the char could have been really great.
Palette is good, everything blends together because you mostly used black + white + green red.

It's a good sprite but it lacks emotion... a more dynamic pose and interaction between main character and companion. Or if that's too much, then a more distinctive outfit for the main char.

Alectric (Click to View)

Execution: (7/10)
Proportions are correct I guess... except there's this thing with the legs you always do (you make them shorter), but I guess it's part of your style already.
Shading is sharp in clothes and misc thingies but surprisingly lacking detail in her skin. There's also something I would like to say here: your girl's faces hardly have any difference from your male sprites' faces, in my eyes. It's a hard thing to do at normal size but at double size you should be able to do it without problems... in my opinion you have to work on that. Also she doesn't seem to have any emotion.
Pose is ok.
Design: (8/10)
Concept is interesting, seems like a teenage witch apprentice with the black cat and such.
Fashion is kind of weird, combining those sport shoes with ancient magical staffs and capes just doesn't work in my opinion.
Color palette is good with predominant white and blackish purple.

With some minor fixings you could have won this easily, like putting the cat over her somehow, or making a more attractive face. It's a shame that the flaws makes it have such low ranks, I think you were hoping for more.

DesignHeaven (Click to View)

Execution: (8/10)
Proportions of the wolf are ok, the human has short legs.
Shading seems to lack a light source for the human. It's pretty detailed but messy at the same time, making everything a tad confusing at first glance.
Even though the position could have been better, you took the risk and made him mount the wolf, and like I said before, interacting gives you extra points in my judging.
Design: (6/10)
Not really original... I mean, Betitngoan did something like this once, too.
Fashion is really lacking here, wolf could have got some armour, for example.
Color palette has just two main colors so no problems there.

You had an unoriginal idea, and failed doing something that is kind of hard, but I have to recognize you tried to do it and that's good. I'm talking about the pet riding, btw.

Mundvoll_ (Click to View)

Execution: (9/10)
Proportions are really nice.
Shading is simple yet very clear and pleasant in my eyes.
Position is ok, nothing very special.
Design: (6/10)
I think I heard she's an already created char? Anyways you sprited a kid in LF2 and that's hard to do. Scratch that because of double size.
Cannot say much about design if it's an already created character :/

Nice realization of a nice character, but the design is not yours and it wasn't neccesary to sprite at double size.

Just a final thought: Why do you guys always do bigger resolution sprites? It's starting to bug me. Out of eight entries five are done at double size.
I know, it's easier to do sprites like that and probably funnier, but you skip the hard decision of choosing the details that will remain and wich details you have to erase to sprite everything in the LF2 standart. This hard decision also is a great pointer to tell if a sprite is good or if it isn't. This time I didn't care too much for this in the ranking, but looking back at it, I think it was a mistake...

Anyways, gonna PM Snor to decide the winners now.