Lurker > ZenOfThunder

All the pics posted were very good. I even like GANON's, I opened them up and I couldn't stop laughing.

The swords one is nice, but the Master Sword going over and being on top of Ganon kinda bugs me. I'm just OCD though, it's a very good idea and a good pic! Hooray Wind Waker

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~Zen

points for creativity

at least it's lively

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~Zen

that new Koei/Nintendo Pokemon crossover in feudal Japan will probably get us some AAAA++++ art

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~Zen

Fireworks is fine! It works. Vibrance is only in Photoshop CS5 (maybe 4) I think. I thought it was just like a common feature because it seems so simple (making colors more/less vibrant) but I guess adobe just didn't think of it 'til now?

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~Zen

good point, the default FFVII art has always been a bit dull and flat. Did you adjust the vibrance?

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~Zen

Actually I'd mess with Cloud's levels. He's looking a tiny bit blue.

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~Zen

I like that, I always like a good "neutral" pic for the final. As long as the art style/quality is consistent I think it's a blessing.

Good job.

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~Zen

It's more a 5/10 because Ulti is heading in the right direction and I'd like to encourage him more than driving him further into the ground.

I'd like to see him do better because I know he really does try and really enjoys making pics.

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~Zen

wow this is legit art from X-2

bikini DLC

we gotta make good use of this

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~Zen

I really like this contest

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~Zen

From: LeonhartFour | #358
Uhhhh, I don't think that's an action figure pic.

It looks just like this one figure that nobody will buy at my shop. I think it's this one:



But a better res pic or something. It stares at me all day, I'd recognize that soft baby butt face anywhere.

Or it could be that Squall now has a baby butt face in his games, too.

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~Zen

From: LeonhartFour | #366
Pretty sure it's a Dissidia FMV shot.



Yeah, this thing.

oh my god I don't like this at all

it's like that action figure come to life

my baby skin comment stands

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~Zen

Pic 5


Alright, the individual premises were cool. Evolution of Mario? I dig.

And then at the bottom a bunch of Pokemon. In order. Also some art of Red and Blue. IS IT BECAUSE THE POKEMON HAVE EVOLUTIONS LIKE MARIO? OHHHH I JUST BLEW MY OWN MIND but I have no idea if that was intentional or not. I don't like how behind the Pokemons is that Pokeball. I don't think it was necessary and I don't like the banner hanging below it because it just sticks out and could have been removed easily. I think the eye goes to the Pokeball in the center and the Trainers are just lost in the sea of Pokemon. The top was def better than the bottom even though it wasn't all that revolutionary.

Overall: 6.5/10

Pic 6


THIS is cool. Very simple, very cool. I think the Trainer's background should have been a bit brighter and less poopy brown but I guess that keeps it even with the other side, so I respect that. It's too bad that there's no good high res SMRPG art because the Trainers and their Pokemon look stellar on the other side. There's not much else I can say; I think it's missing something, but all in all the premise is pretty brilliant.

Overall: 8/10

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~Zen

Pic 7



Oh wow I had this one written up but I cut it off to save the limit and forgot to post it after. Now I lost the big paragraph I wrote with a glowing review! Oh well. I like it a lot. I really like the consistency, I like that it's mostly pics I don't recognize, I like the background, I like the simplicity, and I like that they manage to combine their semi-coolness into straight up coolness.

I also had a section analyzing if Seifer was from the same game as the other three or not and I don't think so, but it wasn't TOO obvious so I think it's passable.

Overall: 9/10

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~Zen

61: Mario/Bowser vs Red/Blue

Pic 1


I, uh... I applaud the originality, I guess, but I also SPIT at the person who thinks they can get away with using that as Blue art. Couldn't be bothered to replace Pikachu with Eevee, huh? "A selective color layer will do!" I HATE this pic, not only for the audacity to use some Red art that wasn't that good in the first place TWICE, but to think that a character that has been portrayed as GARY OAK in every other match (AND in the game itself, god damn) could get a pic like THAT and consider it acceptable.

It's not artsy. It's not a good idea. It doesn't look that cool. AND the names are dull and blendy. How about you use a brighter color? Mario/Bowser is alright but they look pre-rendered. I'm thinking this person didn't even know how to use a goddamn render. You know what happens when you drag a PNG layer with transparency right into Photoshop without saving it? It gets a black background. This black background screams to me "look I didn't know what I was doing! I got two cool renders off of PlanetRenders but they had black backgrounds lol LET'S MAKE IT ALL BLACK." Also they're not even facing each other and Bowser is holding some weird white blob for some reason.

Overall: -5/10, I really hate this one. It hits all my sore spots and I hope not to see anything like it again. This is probably going to get the Piccy for my least favorite pic.

Pic 2


This would have been pretty cool without the overlays. They crowd it up SO MUCH and take away from the rest. JUST CUT IT DOWN QUANTITY =/= QUALITY. PEOPLE KNOW WHO THESE GUYS ARE WITHOUT THE EXTRA PICS!

Overall: 5/10 (probably would have been 7 or 7.5 without the overlays)

Pic 3


Blue has a boob that is a Pokeball and Red is fondling it. Also, outer glow. Really these are all going to get a boosted score because I'm so upset about the first one. I don't know why the first one is so awful but it just is. Don't do what the first one did.

Meh image quality on Bowser. Decent renders. Background is weird. Some OK font. Weird banners behind font, and it kinda works. I think the banners are so loud they take away from the middle. Sprites are OK. Why Frog Mario? Whatever, might as well use him at least once.

Overall: 6/10

Pic 4


THIS IS PRETTY COOL. I like Blue was here Red is a loser! I was getting upset that we hadn't seen that joke thrown in yet as it is one of my favorite lines from anything. Mario has some weird gradient on his font... I think it was trying to look more like graffiti but I think it needs to be more consistent if you're gonna wanna try to pull it off with just one.

Also Mario is kinda big-headed. Consistency! But it fills in space and keeps it cramped. Usually being cramped would be bad but I like the idea that they're all crammed inside the castle and Bowser is pissed and Mario is wary of Bowser and Red is turned on by the close proximity and Blue is about to give him a little summin-summin.

Overall: 7.5/10

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~Zen

60: Cloud/Sephi vs Squall/Seifer

Pic 1


THIS IS GREAT it's a joke pic that doesn't hinder any of them (unless Leon was too disgusted to vote). I rate obvious jokes higher (serious pics with jokes hidden in the background don't count) and as long as it's funny, gets the joke across and doesn't obscure the competitors then it's an easy 10.

Overall: 10/10 (joke scale)

Pic 2


OK so Ulti was KINDA getting the "consistency" thing with the KH pics in the middle but he used KH Sprite Cloud. Uhhhhh... Also Seifer's neck thing looks weird. And are the FFVII and VIII overworlds really THAT similar? Props to using something simple and not-blurred and NOT overcrowding it!! This is a HUGE step forward.

Overall: 6.5/10

Pic 3


Seifer's portrait is too sharp. Also, why is Cloud thrusting his sword in the wrong direction? The "swords at each others throats" concept was cool but I think Cloud is missing the "point." HA I crack myself up HA yeah Sephiroth could have been skewed to look like he was closer to Cloud's sword tip. Pretty cool pic with some questionable image quality.

Overall: 7/10

Pic 4


"what am I looking at what am I looking at OH it's them fighting with no adjustments done to make it clearer OK." Also, some weird text.

Overall: 4/10

Pic 5


Seifer is way too bright. Brightness/Contrast adjustment layers, people! Also everyone looks like a tomboyish woman. The font doesn't pop nearly enough, especially for Squall. He gets an obvious action figure pic, and as a person who knows too much about action figures from working at a comic shop I know that it's probably a bad idea to use the recent FF action figures cuz their faces are SOOOO DAAAAMN SOOOOFT. They're like made of baby skin or something. It looks awful in real life and it looks awful here. PS bad image quality for Cloud.

Overall: 5/10

Pic 6


Dissidia, 3D, Dissidia, 3D. What? OK... Add a big VS and some lightning and you got a pic!

Overall: 3/10

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~Zen

Falcon
Ezio

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~Zen

first one is so so so so so so so good

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~Zen

Actually bump it up to like a 5, it's not that bad

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~Zen

WOW he does look kinda stoned there. no idea how I didn't pick up on that

bump that up to 3.5/10

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~Zen

Zelda/Vampures QUICK FIRE


Look at that anti-aliasing! The font is bad, the pictures don't really match up top, Ganondorf is looking creepy, and the most generic Castlevania art possible. Overall: 4/10


What is with this image quality? Google images > filter bigger than 2MP. Overall: 3/10


Good approach here! I like seeing something different. I think that it needs to be more consistent on what you focus on; the bubble or the background. Good choice of pics, good execution. Overall: 8.5/10


uh you should understand what's wrong with this one by now. Overall: 2/10


yeeeeah ALUCADRACULA. Someone finally did it. EXCELLENT choice of pics for the vampires. Vincent Price Dracula LIKE A BOSS. (he needs some level adjustments, though). Good backgrounds, too. I don't really like Skyward Sword Link paired with anything because he's got such an odd artstyle but I think that's the best Ganondorf pic you could choose to pair him with. Cool borders, too. Overall: 9/10

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~Zen

I LOVE IT

brood vs glee

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~Zen

If one were to realistically price Just Cause 2, it'd probably cost somewhere around $1.3 trillion.

So, as you can imagine, $2.50 is a steal.

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~Zen

white fuzz around a character that appears when there's a poor render

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~Zen

will do ELEVEN MEGA WRITEUPS sometime tonight

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~Zen

That's a cool concept, but in some my eyes are drawn to the background and some they're drawn to the bubbles. I think you need some more consistency but I do like the ideas.

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~Zen

ha ha oh man look at dat outer glow

well played, Ulti

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~Zen

...eh

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~Zen

From: CrimsonOcean | #295
Hey Zen (or anyone), is there a way in Photoshop to kind of gradually make an image sort of piecey. Or streaky? Sort of like the Speedway logo?


Only with an image, not a letter.

This would have to be a manual thing that you'd do with the lasso and stuff. It'd take a while :(

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~Zen

What? Cloud and Sephiroth win. It's not even a debate. They win.

Not talking like if they're actually better rivals. They just win.

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~Zen

Pic 4


I originally thought the glow around X was anti-aliasing, but then I noticed Zero doesn't have it so I'm wondering if it was done on purpose? Anyway, it's consistent and a bit thicker than regular anti-aliasing and I think it looks kinda nice. It might just be a 1 point stroke that was made transparent, idk, but it kinda works with the pic. I think X nabs the eye because he's more solid blue, while Zero is a mishmash of white, red and some green. There's also a bit more breathing room in the bottom.

The top looks so cool but it's like a giant chaotic blurb. The Strikers series has this heavy ink style and the characters are always in super dynamic poses that makes them hard to place (we've all tried making Strikers pics back in the day, I know). As much as I love Strikers I think the art should be used only when the other half also has something dynamic and heavy to use. I'm not sure if this pic got that, but at least X and Zero were in dynamic poses. I think they just needed a filter (GASP) like that sumi-e or whatever to make them appear a bit heavier. Also, cool font choice. Pink vs? Nice.

Overall: 7.5/10

Pic 5


I don't know why but I didn't realize that the names were on those bars until I stared for a while. At first I thought they were floating, then I thought they were floating with a little colored rectangle behind them, and then I realized the rectangle went all the way past the name and to the bottom. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing.

BACK-TO-BACK is so goddamn cool, and it's a shame that BACK-TO-BACK X/Zero has been used a bit already this contest. It's also a shame that X/Zero have like NO GOOD ART and I want Capcom to do something about that because it's a goddamn shame.

Yeah, I think the Capcom guys dominate the eye because they're a lot crisper than some washed out old plumber and turtle. Also I like how the name here is MEGAMAN because I'm sick of just seeing an "X" floating around the picture. MEGAMAN has so much more substance and it seems like it has more purpose than just the dumb ol' "X."

White background is also a good choice. I would have torn this apart if there was some weird background that was like half Mario 64 level and half Mega Man X level. Sometimes simple is good, people! This is probably my favorite of the 5, just because it's kinda different kinda. They're all "different" but this one is just like kickin' back and not giving a f***.

Overall: 8.5/10

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~Zen

Not sure about that text. I'd use something harder.

ANYWAY

57: Mario/Bowser vs X/Zero

Pic 1


Why did Zero get pukish yellow-green for his color? Also another thing I don't get is the VS being mirrored as A2. It's a reflection, right? So shouldn't like X and Zero be upside-down or something. I dunno, it bugs me, it was the first thing I noticed.

But I really like the gridish feel, I like the texturing here, I like that it seems almost kinda washed out and blurry, but I don't really like the Bowser picture. It came out too dark, I think. I also like the thin line of separation, which is just another good example of how to split your pics without a bevel!

Overall: 8/10, excuse my whining

Pic 2


Goddamn this pic is a mess. "Imma cram as much as I can into the top pic, but keep the bottom pic relatively simple!" 8 Marios vs 4 Bowsers, huh? Couldn't at least make it 4 on 4? Mario just has so much good art, huh? All that good art that we've seen before. There's no demand to see these pics again. Now the top is a goddamn mess and the bottom is something we could've seen in round 1 but without names and two sprites in an incredibly awkward pose at the bottom. LET US GINGERLY TOUCH OUR TIPS comes to mind. Also, Sigma. ...Because Sigma. And ugly Zero as drawn by the awkward kid in high school.

Goddamn.

Overall: 2.5/10

Pic 3


Bowser looks fine but the other three look kinda blurry. What happened there? Anyway, this is a pretty cool pic. I like the heavy shadows, it makes it pretty stylized; you usually don't see much drop shadow on sprites. I like the multicolored boxes behind the portraits (ALSO BOWER'S PORTRAIT BORDER LOOKS DIFFERENT AND IT BOTHERS ME) and the layout is nice and the pics in the center are dynamic. It looks like there's a spot for names but it was abandoned, which is fine. Also using a white color overlay to fade the middle backgrounds is pretty classic; KP and I used to do that all the time. Good times, man.

Overall: 8/10

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~Zen

Blame whoever designs Metroid, for I guess they also do not have access to brightness/contrast and vibrance adjustment layers



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~Zen

I think the top destroys the bottom. The attention goes completely to the top. The palette is so much brighter.

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~Zen

I wish I made the background better. I was bad at backgrounds back then. REALLY bad.

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~Zen

I don't make good pictures! Just ones with lots of technical crap going on. I can't be creative for crap.

Will write up the 5(!) pics when I'm done with this OTHER FINAL

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~Zen

START NOOOW

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~Zen

siiigh this contest is killing me

never before have I see the life so sucked from the very pics we create

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~Zen

I really didn't like Character Battle 2K4. The one where Link vs Ganondorf was second round. It was p bad.

...This might still be worse tho

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~Zen

hahaha it would be so funny if THIS was the only match people talked about when this is over

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~Zen

herp-a-derp one minute in google images

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~Zen

bump

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~Zen

NO WAY is that fanart

also I am sleeping zzzzz

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~Zen

oh ok, I thought it might be that but it looked kinda like a wooden fence after a bit.

alright I'm gonna try to sleep off this damn cold. night night guys, keep makin dem pics

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~Zen

From: LeonhartFour | #191
And honestly, it's pics like that which prove that the sprite round just needs to die. So many totally unfair and unbalanced pics.

Bacon cancelled it one year when too many new guys made it far, I think. Everyone was complaining Altair didn't have a real sprite and it was impossible to do and he just made it freeform

I can't remember when this was

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~Zen