RE: Project Custom-The Elite Fan Creations Tournament BY INVITATION ONLY!
Final Draft:
Resources:
- Because I used so many images from different sites and am too lazy to post each and every link for each individual image, I will just list the sites I obtained certain groups of images from. Pokemon sprites:
http://www.pokesho.com/, Name/icon bars and border outline:
http://www.freewebs.com/shinylatias02/extras/trainercard.htm, Text sprites:
http://www.spriters-resource.com/ni....com/nintendo/pokemon/pkmnrse/emeraldtext.gif, Trainer sprite:
http://pokecharms.com/
- TC enlarged to allow room for desired effects and design ideas.
- Background is made by me. A simple skyblue-to-white gradient with an abundance of filters applied to give it an ice-like feel. An Invert Colors adjustment layer applied to half of the background was applied to give a shadow-like feel. Wide soft Paint Brush strokes applies to give a windy appearence.
- Text copied directly from text sprite sheet, then recolored depending on the pokemon/trainer it was for.
- Frames made by me with pencil tool only. An outer frame was applied in a light-colored form to match the pokemon that it contained.
- Trainer Name bar given a dark blue-to-red gradient at the same angle as the inverted ice colors were angled. Similiar gradient applied to lower bar and borders.
- Gender emblems made by me with pencil tool and Stroke layer style.
- Parts of pokemon out of the lower frame were masked. Body parts that entext torwards out to the viewer were left unmasked to give a somewhat 3-D feel.
- Trainer's cape and shirt recolored to fit ice theme somewhat better.
- Faces of mini-pokemon were placed in the lower bar. All but the square in which their face is shown is masked out. Mini-Umbreon and Mini-Vaporeon were recolored into their shiny form.
- Shiny Flareon sprite was recolored into a normal Flareon. (I didn't like the non-shiny version that was available, so I improvised. xD)
- Glaceon's eyes slightly edited to give a more Glaceon-like appearence (the eyes weren't right on the origional sprite I chose).
---AFTER FEEDBACK---
- Trainer recolored with a red/skyblue cape, and a redish blue blend shirt.
- Theme changed. See "Piece/Relation-to-Challange Details."
Piece/Relation-to-Challange Details:
The theme here is an icy/shadow combination. Although, I could only get the borders, bars, and baground to reflect that theme. I chose this theme to make a TC that shows my fanfic team. My fanfic involves shadow pokemon, hence the "shadow" part of the theme. The ice theme reflects the role that a certain Glaceon will have in the 2nd book I'm in progress with, and it will share a greatly important role in nature, as well as having a secret that ultimately directly influences the trainer's life later (major spoiler lol). I don't want to go any further in depth because I don't want to completely spoil the whole story. It wouldn't be any fun writing, then. lol I don't know what else to put here, now, so...
---AFTER FEEDBACK---
Theme changed. After looking closely at the TC, the background had more of a water and fire appearence. The "wind effect" gives the water on the left side a wavy look whereas the lava on the right side is given a steamy-like look with it. Therefore, I have gone with a "Water vs Fire" theme. The card itself required no modification since it already fitted the theme perfectly.
Time Required:
10.5 hours (1st draft) + .5 hours (after feedback) = 11 hours (total)
Personal Thoughts:
Well, this is technically my first-ever custom-made TC, so I'm unsure whether it's considered really good or really crappy. Whichever the case, I spent an INSANE amount of time on this project. 10.5 hours is the most time I've spent on any image barring the time when I made attempts at PMD versions of Leafeon and Glaceon (before PMD 2 was even announced), which took 11.5 hours (Leafeon) and 13 hours (Glaceon). Both attempts were very successful, and I feel that for a first attempt, this turned out very successful, as well.
I tried some very wacky things in this piece. For one, I used the pokemon that will be appearring (or have already appearred) in my personal fanfiction. Gee, do Eeveelutions in my fanfic suprise anyone? lol I had to find a way to use them here since the scores wouldn't be affected by our Poke-choices. It might be the last chance I get to use them without getting points docked for repetition. xD And yes, the names below the pokemon are the names that I am/will be using in my fanfic.
I can't begin to tell you how hard and time-consuming some of the above-stated effects were to make, particularly the mini-pokemon's faces at the bottom of the trainer card. Somehow, I managed to pull it off, though, and I'm pleased with the results.
I'm also pleased with my idea of allowing some of the pokemon's limbs to extend out beyond the lower portion of the frame. Since the background was slightly 3-D like, I decided to do the same for the pokemon and their frames.
The background itself was also time-consuming, taking up 3 hours alone just trying various filters and trying different combinations for the best icy-feel I could achieve. The Inverted Colors adjustment pleased me a lot. I'm not so sure if the "wind effect" that I applied on top of it all is really necessary.
Overall, for my first attempt at a TC, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. However, I can tell that this isn't as good as the Trainer Cards that other more experienced artists make. TC making probably won't be what I'll shoot for, but I absolutely loved this project and all the wacky things I tried.
---AFTER FEEDBACK---
Not much has really changed. The only difference is that I feel much better about the new theme. I had a little trouble trying to make the ice I origionally intended on making. At least this Water vs Fire theme fits the background perfectly. I feel much better about this card. I dunno if it'll beat Bellomence's TC, but I feel like it could clinch 2nd place if I'm lucky.
And that concludes my work on this piece... Man, this was a tiring challange. I wasn't expecting to spend this much time on one TC. lol
)
