When submitting sprites, you do not need to submit both base stage and mid stage sprites. If you are planning to submit multiple sets of sprites, use one image per design and post all images in the same Final Submission post.
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We have recently updated our rules for sprite submissions. The changes to sprite submission rules have been highlighted in green. Please pay attention to them when creating your sprite subs!
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Sprite Rules
All spriters must make a final submission post conforming to the sprite rules (listed above) and the following:
References:
Hemogoblin's sprites:
Stage 1 design:
Stage 2 design:
Pre-evo supporting material
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We have recently updated our rules for sprite submissions. The changes to sprite submission rules have been highlighted in green. Please pay attention to them when creating your sprite subs!
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Sprite Rules
- Sprites should be inspired by the winning designs from the Art Poll. It does not need to be an exact rendition of every detail of the designs; "artistic license" is granted to all spriters. However, drastic deviation from the selected art designs is discouraged.
- No action effects, move effects, environment effects or additional objects can be rendered on or around the Pokemon.
- Sprites must be in PNG format.
- Use transparent backgrounds.
- All sprites must be scratch sprites that are completely original works by the spriter. Fusions of other sprites or pixel-overs of other artist's lineart (including the main design) are not allowed.
- Do not alter, fuse, recolor or otherwise modify another spriter's submission unless the original artist explicitly gives permission.
- All sprites (front and back) must use the same color palette.
- All sprites (front and back) must use roughly the same size and pose when compared to each other.
- We recommend that your sprite is no bigger than 80x80. This limit may be broken for complex designs, up to a maximum size of 96x96.
- Sprites must have roughly the same size, perspective, and lighting compared to in-game sprites.
- Sprites must have a complete, unbroken, distinguishable outline one pixel wide. This outline must be clearly distinguishable from the adjacent interior colors of the sprite.
- We recommend that you use no more than 15 unique colors on your sprites' palette. This limit may be broken for complex designs.
- Sprites must be cel-shaded. Dithering may be used sparingly.
All spriters must make a final submission post conforming to the sprite rules (listed above) and the following:
- The post must have "Final Submission" (in bold) as the first line, with the sprites at the top, and any additional description or comments (if applicable) below them.
- Any supporting material, if applicable, must be in a section below the main design with the header "Supporting Material". Including this header gives you an additional link back to your submission post from the poll.
- Final submissions must contain a minimum of 2 sprites - Front and Back. If the winning design has supporting art with gender differences, spriters may choose to include those gender differences (Male and Female versions of each), for a total of 4 sprites. Gender differences are NOT required. Spriters cannot create new gender differences.
- Only submit ONE PNG that contains all the submitted sprites. Please do not submit separate images for every sprite. One "cutsheet" makes it easier for mods to track submissions and ensure each complete set of sprites stay intact.
- The final submission image must be hosted on a reliable image hosting service (such as Smogon forums or Imgur). Do not use the 'Attach a photo' tool on messaging apps (e.g. Discord). Do not use Iaza or Ezimba.
- Only make one (1) final submission post.
- For newcomers, we recommend this tutorial on scratch sprites as an introduction to Pokemon-style sprites.
- Please look at your transparent sprites against different colored backgrounds, not just white. In Pokémon Showdown, the sprite will be displayed on multiple background colors in battle. When testing your sprites against different colored backgrounds, include examples in your Final Submission post under Supporting Material. Here is a sample of background images from Pokemon Showdown to test your sprite against:
- When testing your sprites against Gen. V style sprites, include examples in your Final Submission post under Supporting Material. You can find Gen. V style sprites on Pokemon Showdown here (for front sprites) and here (for back sprites).
- Please make sure that your sprite can be easily palette-swapped to facilitate a shiny palette. In other words, don't reuse one color in two different settings unless they are intended to be the same color.
References:
Hemogoblin's sprites:
Stage 1 design:
Stage 2 design:
Pre-evo supporting material
