Sprite Discovery Discussion

Can some mod tell which sentences vere disrespectful, please? I just see people voicing their opinion - It would be nice to know what exactly is perceived as rude, so people will know how to formulate their sentences in better way.

Niet did a good job of explaining some of these in the quoted post from Elta when she posted to lock the thread. While I can't directly comment on sentences that were deleted as this would be a form of blacklisting said users, comments that straight up call the art 'ugly' or other terms and offer no constructive criticism are rude. HOWEVER. "I think this color palette is ugly but it could be improved in [this way], maybe." is a constructive opinion on how to better the disliked sprite. It doesn't simply put down the work but it gives an idea of WHY you don't like it and how you think it could be improved. Does that help?

Suriya did a good job of touching on this, but I'd like to expound a bit. A part of the moderation of not just this thread, but anything that occurs in the forums in general, is the deletion of rulebreaking posts, so you won't see the offending statements anymore. The people who had their posts deleted can tell which parts of what they said were wrong, or they can bring it forward to us privately to discuss further. We're happy to do that so they can learn how to be more constructive. The best way to convey how the conversation should go is this: Does your statement compare the art to something unsavoury? Bodily functions, deceased beings, and so on? If so, it's undoubtedly rude. Does your statement call upon insults, such as "waste of time," "repulsive," and so on? That's rude, don't do it. Does your statement rely solely on your opinion rather than fact? It's valid, but not everyone may agree with it. It's best to keep that in mind and stay civil about it. After all, the art team have shown time and time again they're willing to try again to find something more appealing and give it another go. I hope this helps.

I can provide a answer for this bit~ Some sprites have been updated/will be updated while keeping in mind that they will receive a albino and melan. You see having a pokemon that lacks color such as white or gray pokemon give for rather "boring" albino's and melans, especially white shinies that thus create gray melans seem to be not well liked by both staff and userbase alike. So we are trying to give these pokemon a small hint of color, to give their respective albino's and melans a bit more color as well. Oshawott receiving a small tint of blue means that both the albino and melan can get a bit more color as well instead of being pure white or pure gray. The same happened with blitzle and zebstrika whom were pure gray before and now received a small hint of color so that the albino is more than just a light gray to white.

Maybe there could be a poll or discussion thread about sprites that are about to be updated or have already updated, such as a Sprite Review thread. Like @marioni stated, maybe the revamped sprites could keep the old Melan/albino colorations if people desire them more than having them updated, along with the touch ups that the sprite receives such as the shading and the lineart itself. If people want the sprite to have updated colors, then the sprites could have new palletes that would accommodate that! I know that people aren’t happy about certain changes in the new palettes, but if there’s some sort of communication thread (like maybe another discussion thread to discuss older sprites colors other than this thread), maybe it would help? Communication is key in this topic, I believe. But overall, I am grateful to the artists and staff members for doing their best in reviewing and remaking the sprites. I know it must take a lot of effort to do so, and it does make for a change going forward! Please, do not attack any staff or artists who worked on the sprites, as they have done their best in pleasing the community. As a note, I am in no way trying to start another argument with anyone, nor am I targeting anyone. I just wanted to put my personal opinion for once, as I’m very forum shy. But thank you for understanding and reading, I’m grateful :)

Just want to say the Zebstika line was a huge improvement and I really appriciate more dark red melans to the usual green and blue. I would like more of a variety of colors in general and it would be nice for the site to finally settle on a color set for a pokemon line and keep it for good and only updating it by slightly adjusting colors that were there previously. Ninetales is still a huge example for me, I loved how they looked before they turned brown and would have rather had a slight color adjustment over a full recolor on pokemon who were already considered done. Its incredibly frustrating to spend time hunting something you like and think wont get changed since it had the update only for it to update again. Thats just kinda how I feel anyway when it comes to the recolors

I can understand why people shouldn't talk about bodily functions, deceased beings, and so on. But why calling a sprite ugly is considered as rude? That's the easiest way to say that something looks displeasing and some non native english speakers may don't know other words to describe that. In my opinion "ugly" is pretty tame word, also it often appears in many children's media so deleting it from thread just because someone feelings were hurt isn't really right - there's no person that can please everyone. I think that this whole thread has proven that "the colour math" isn't the right way to design sprites; after all people care about how something looks and not necessarily about consistency. Thank you both for providing more expansive answers, I appreciate that you are willing to explain things instead of calling people toxic because they dare to have their own opinion.

Well, let's put it this way. You sprited something, or painted something, or crafted something... It took time, passion, patience, and so on. I come along and call it ugly. That might be my take, but that's upsetting, isn't it? It's an unkind word even though my work doesn't suit your tastes. There's tamer ways of expressing that same sentiment. "I don't like this," is perfectly valid, for example. "This colour doesn't appeal to me," that works too. It expresses that it's not something that you care for, but it doesn't step on my feelings as you go about telling me what you don't like about it.

Have you ever created anything and had someone call it "ugly"? It hurts. It makes you doubt your skill and for some maybe even their self-worth. I'd far rather hear someone say "I don't like x aspect" or "I don't think x colour looks good" than calling the whole piece "ugly". I'd far rather have someone say "I don't care for the x colour, how about y colour instead?" or "How about x colour, I think that might look better"

Sure it hurts, I've experienced that before - the key is to not take everything personally (especially on the internet). Instead of self-pity its easier to focus on why someone doesn't like this art and find a way to improve. If people just curl up in the corner and weep their skills won't change in any way. This may appear harsh, but that's just how things are.