Smeargle's Studio Update

Hey guys, it's ium here! It's been a little while since the last Smeargle's Studio update. Monthly Art Contest, or MAC for short, has been as great as ever with enthusiastic artists itching to win. Speaking of which, huge props to Danmire for stepping up and taking charge of organizing MAC! Smeargle's Studio artists have also been continuing their contribution efforts to the site through Art for Articles and Artwork for Tournaments, making Smogon's site much more visually appealing by the week. Finally, who could forget the arrival of new artists? They have had a great showing so far and are sure to continue to be exceptional contributors to this site.

This Smeargle's Studio update is going to feature the same ol' stuff a little differently. Alongside me I have two wonderful artists, Bummer and Danmire, who will provide commentary on the winning MAC entries and the new artists. My commentary will be depicted by the Pokémon Skuntank, Bummer's will be shown by Crawdaunt, and Danmire's will be indicated by Houndoom.

DEZTROYA captured a bit of the summer fun aspect with this piece by showing a Wartortle surfing on a Sharpedo. Instead of using warmer colors, DEZTROYA opts for cool colors as shown by the use of saturated, bright blues everywhere! I would have probably preferred to see a little more work on the water in this piece, but everything else is generally consistent and well-executed. The saturated blue colors not only make the piece vivid, but it also embodies the fun aspect of surfing and summer in general! It is definitely a well-deserved first place piece.

Meanwhile, Yilx opted to go for the cliché beach-during-the-summer theme. It may not be quite outside the box in terms of the concept and fitting the theme, but it's a solid and well-executed piece nonetheless. What I really enjoy are the soft colors that kind of mimic the glaring brightness of the sun that you would expect to see on a summer day at the beach. In addition, the finer details, such as the small highlights on the water and the Pokémon throughout the background (especially the silly Koffing and Dwebble in the corners), are amazing as one would expect.

And finally, innovative and quite odd, the piece made by nov was certainly a crowd favorite. While it may be lacking in the technical department, it makes up for that with the concept. Depicting the ability Chlorophyll, nov illustrates a Bellsprout absorbing the sun's light and gaining strength from it. The gradient of colors to represent the sunlight shows the extreme heat of the summer sun, while the exaggeration of the buffed-up plant adds to the humor as well. This is definitely not the first thing you'd think of when you see "summer," but it certainly does fit in a novel way!

elcheeso created a fine piece here; the brushwork is extremely detailed and thus creates a nice texture on Growlithe's nose and fur. Did I mention it's also adorable? There's no harm in showing perspective other than a cute dog up-front! My only other comment would be that the way elcheeso employed perspective in his work is a bit too obvious and expected; there were certainly other ways to approach this. Nonetheless, the piece is still a clear representation of the theme and is well-executed!

As for MissVulpix's piece, it is certainly creative. Similar to elcheeso's piece, this drawing also utilizes a convex lens for the perspective. However, this was shown through the compound eye of a Butterfree. The individual "eye units" are done well, but in my opinion, the red color of the eye is too dominant in the piece, making it difficult to view the smaller details such as the flowers. Had she introduced better lighting, MissVulpix could have probably pulled off the eye's roundness better and counteract the dominant and flat red color. Otherwise, this is an exemplary piece of art for this MAC's concept—definitely a concept I would never have thought of!

Started by Zracknel, the Artwork for Tournaments project has been going live since the end of August and has had a great output so far thanks to many contributing artists. Making use of the artistic talent lying around Smeargle's Studio, the project aims to provide artwork for each and every tournament hosted on Smogon. Artists, whether new or old, have been working diligently on new art assignments being posted as new tournament ideas are being concocted and placed on queue on a regular basis. To no surprise, the fast yet hard-working Bummer has already contributed a total of four pieces of artwork which have all been used in tournaments! Juicy Fruit, elcheeso, and Scepticallistic deserve honorable mentions too as they have each had at least two of their pieces featured on these competitive battlegrounds. Kudos to these four for an outstanding showing so far! However, these are only a tiny bit of the handful of artists drawing for Artwork for Tournaments who deserve so much credit.

Being a project that welcomes numerous submissions from any artist for a single tournament, Artwork for Tournaments does need to enforce some quality control when deciding which artwork to feature. However, this shouldn't dissuade people from trying to contribute! Drawing for this project and having art used for several tournaments can eventually lead to a fancy little Artist badge for one's postbit. Just look at how elcheeso got his badge (congratulations, by the way)! And to an even bigger surprise, you don't even need to be an artist to help out with this project! Thorough and consistent criticism for submitted pieces over a period of time can also lead to a Community Contributor badge. Thanks to the Smeargle's Studio community, the project has been a success so far (and will continue to be) and I am sure that Zracknel is proud. For those looking to start helping out, don't be shy. Just stop by and start drawing—have fun while you're at it!

Most revered for her traditional artwork, CBMeadow really stands out from the rest. Her mixing of colors, along with the rough texture from using colored pencils, add dimension to her pieces. In addition, the pressure of her pencil strokes—shown by the variation in the lightness/darkness of her coloring—contribute to her wonderful shading while being very consistent with the shape of whatever she's drawing. Together, these different elements show her finesse and good eye for minor details. However, this isn't to say that she's a slouch in other areas; CBMeadow is improving in digital media as well! Similar to her traditional art, her digital work has presented great textural detail and a consistent palette of colors. Many of these drawings can be seen through her excellent work so far for the community, which include contributions to Arts for Articles and some CAP entries. Be sure to check out her art thread here to see more!