CAP Art Submissions that Almost Made It: Generation 5

CAP12 - Tomohawk

Won by Cartoons!

Generation five was off to a rocky start for the Create-A-Pokémon Project, as Smogon's primary battle simulator was Pokémon Online. It was taking an absurdly long amount of time to update to Pokémon Black & White as a simulator. Furthermore, it was extremely difficult to upload any sort of custom Pokémon content to its framework. Still, the CAP moderators at the time worked hard to kick off the generation with one of the best concepts of all time: a momentum-based pivot. This Flying / Fighting Pokémon predated Hawlucha, which would come around one generation later. It needed to have both Intimidate and Prankster as well as accommodations for high Special Attack.

SoIheardyoulikeSENTRET - 2nd

A panda-based grandmaster of the martial arts went on to take second in the polls in a close race against the current design of Tomohawk. Sentret put a lot of backstory into his design, specifically that its belly yin and yang symbol would change colors based on the season on the in-game clock. It would rotate through white (winter), green (spring), yellow (summer), and red (autumn), which gave it some unique flavor that tied in well with the newly released Deerling and Sawsbuck.

Fatecrashers - 4th

It was common back then for artists all around Smogon to participate in CAP, and Fatecrashers was a moderator in both Smeargle's Studio and Firebot. Fate was an incredibly chill dude and one of my good friends back in the day. I remember being floored by his design for CAP12, which was inspired by UFOs in a more organic tone. Rather than a metal rim, Fatecrashers opted for a naturalistic ring of clouds, which looks like an homage to a setting sun with its round yellow body. Fate's Sugimori style was unprecedented back then, and his designs looked simplistic and effortless.

Nastyjungle - 10th

In a continued trend of iconic artists to Smogon, Nastyjungle was also a moderator of Smeargle's Studio and a constant contributor to The Smog, Smogon's webzine back in 2011. Her style features stark black outlines and is instantly recognizable against the pantheon of Smogon artists that draw for this site. Her griffin-esque Pokémon design certainly portrayed both typings and abilities adequately. But with its beefy fists and slim physique, voters may have thought it to be too physically biased, with paltry defenses. Still, the design holds up remarkably well for what eventually came to be.

CAP13 - Necturna

Won by Yilx

Since it took nearly a year for CAP12 to get uploaded to Pokémon Online, the CAP moderators decided there had to be a better way. An up-and-coming OU moderator named Birkal approached them about a hot new simulator that was extremely malleable and showed promise: Pokémon Showdown. It only had 100 users at the time, but Zarel was keen to partner with the Create-A-Pokémon Project, so CAP13 began construction immediately. But with a concept based around a single use of Sketch on a Grass / Ghost bulky offensive Pokémon, how would our artists match up?

Mos-Quitoxe - 2nd

In one of the most iconic polls in history, this origami design lost to first-time winner Yilx in Art Poll 3 with a result of 135 to 133. What makes this even more fascinating is that Mos ended up voting for his opponent Yilx, meaning that their designs would have been tied in the finals, a feat still unprecedented in CAP history. Due to CAP voting rules, Yilx would have still come out on top thanks to the results of Art Poll 2, but it still goes to show how loved this design was by the community. With some inspiring supporting art, Mos leaned hard into the concept of Sketch in some creative ways on a paper-craft design we wouldn't see the likes of until Kartana in Sun & Moon.

DougJustDoug - 3rd

An anomaly on the Internet, Doug is a CAP moderator who has been in the community since CAP1 and the only user to hold bragging rights to having submitted a design for every single CAP project to date. When he's not busy updating the CAP site or serving as an administrator on Smogon, he's cooking up designs with the rest of us in the Create-A-Pokémon Project. Unlike his universally loved winning design Voodoom, this grande madame design took third, still to much critical acclaim. It managed to combine a weeping willow with a theatric implementation of Sketch: genius!

Wyverii - 6th

CAP has had some extraordinary moderators, but few have the skill and patience of Wyverii. She was a spriting machine and is responsible for the majority of CAP sprites that you see on the Pokémon Showdown teambuilder; she was that prolific and good at spriting. Her artwork was also often underrated, typically finishing in the middle of the pack. But her design on CAP13 rose to the top, as people loved the concept of an inkblot child robed in paper.

CAP14 - Mollux

Won by Mos-Quitoxe

With the Create-A-Pokémon Project now firmly established on Pokémon Showdown, it would begin to pick up momentum as a project across Smogon. Both moderators Rising_Dusk and tennisace stepped down around this time, so I was nominated and ultimately brought on as a moderator. With CAP veteran Deck Knight at the helm of CAP14 as its Topic Leader, we were looking to have a HOT project. We had a Fire / Poison special attacker to draw, which almost got Drought but saw it lose to Dry Skin at the last minute.

CyzirVisheen - 2nd

If we were to ever publish an article on the top ten most iconic CAP artists, Cyzir would be a mainstay on that list. He was the brains and talent behind Syclant, Colossoil, and Cyclohm, and his contributions to the project continued long afterwards. I personally find this manticore design to be one of his best, with a seamless integration of the required typings and a masterclass of palette choice. It wasn't his fault that previous CAP silver medalist was destined to crush these polls with one of the most decisive victories in CAP history.

tea_and_blues - 3rd

While CAP has many artists that stick around and submit many designs, such as DougJustDoug and Yilx, we have an equal number of artists that stick around for only a single project or two. Still, their contributions can be just as good, as is proven by Tea's concept for CAP14. As a fire coral that shoots poisonous ink out of its tendrils, this design checked the majority of the requirements for its current project. He has a great cartoony and simplistic style that I find extremely appropriate for Pokémon design submissions; a style many still try to emulate.

Calad - 11th

While Calad still has yet to win a CAP art poll, he's a submitter that has been quietly making design after design for several years now. I personally find his CAP14 art to be one of the most creative designs I've ever seen. Pushing the concept of a Fire / Poison typing towards a poor monster running a devilishly high fever is an absurdly brilliant idea, and when combined with his Sugimori style of dark black outlines with popping colors, this design looks like a real winner despite its complex concept. As Game Freak gets more and more verbose with its designs, Calad served as a pre-cognizant of what designs would eventually become.

CAP15 - Aurumoth

The creation of Aurumoth has gone down as one of the most infamous CAP processes in history. Long-standing contributor bugmaniacbob led a process full of controversy that ultimately led to CAP Head Administrator DougJustDoug writing a lengthy policy post that went on to win Smogon's Post-of-the-Year. Regardless of all of the drama surrounding the inner workings of this particular CAP, we had some of the best art submitted in a Generation 5 process.

Yilx - 2nd

I've gone on record saying that this is my favorite design submitted by CAP all-star Yilx. You may know him as the artist behind Necturna, Crucibelle, and Smokomodo, but I will always sing the praises of this Egyptian-themed laser scorpion. Yilx's style is unparalleled, most notably with his color choices that do not indicate Bug-type or Psychic-type in the slightest. While he normally submits humanoid designs, his animal-based ones can also be some of his most eloquent yet sophisticated ones.

Arkeis - 3rd

Another CAP and Smogon art veteran, Aragornbird (now Arkeis) is responsible for the initial design of the Smogon sigil and how it professionally incorporates both Ho-Oh and Lugia in a faux-collegiate coat of arms. He's also the talent behind both Krilowatt and Arghonaut, which feature some of the cleanest lineart known to Pokémon art designs. This levitating scarab beetle came to us as a return to form for Aragornbird, and while he didn't quite sneak in a third victory, he placed highly in a very competitive project.

Quanyails - 8th

If you've ever used the Pokémon Showdown Teambuilder, you'll notice that there are traditional Gen5 sprites of each Pokémon, even for Pokémon that have never gotten a sprite before. It'd be a good estimation to guess that 50% of those CAP sprites are due to Quanyails, and 100% of the Pokémon icons are hers as well. She has been a spriter on Smogon for a long time and just started to get into designing full Pokémon artwork around this time. While she ranked 8th at this CAP, any future installations of these ReCAPs will show a plethora of consecutive top-place finishes for Quanyails, who is now happily contributing to CAP as not only an artist and spriter but also a moderator.

CAP16 - Malaconda

In the world of CAP insider baseball, the project took three months off after CAP15 to reassess how it creates Pokémon, specifically to change up the leadership structure that relied so heavily on one person: the Topic Leader. CAP veterans banded together to create the Topic Leadership Team, a group of five volunteers that would each take charge of a specific competitive aspect of Pokémon creation (concept, typing, abilities, stats, and movepool). With CAP moderator jas61292 leading the next project, who was famous for his unparalleled restraint and caution, we knew that CAP16 wouldn't have the bells and whistles that plague many other CAPs. And with a Grass / Dark Pokémon with paltry defenses and a niche ability in Harvest, our artistic team had a tough road to travel.

Yilx - 2nd

Slipping onto this list a second time, Yilx took two back-to-back second place finishes in Gen5. And what a fantastic secondary submission it is; his pineapple yakuza boss was an instant hit with competitive and flavor submitters alike. If you're looking to up your ability as a designer, there's a good chunk to be learned just from studying this design. The pose Yilx chose is extremely dynamic and provides a sense of weight to the Pokémon. His color choice is sublime and complementary; he chose colors that you'd envision a pineapple having in your mind's eye, rather than the actual coloring of the fruit. And finally, the hot pink shading on the left side gives the design a final bit of pizzazz. Not only does this further extend the color palette, but it also grants the notion that you're meeting this Pokémon in a dark alleyway of a bustling city underneath glowing neon lights. Crazy cool stuff, Yilx.

Birkal - 3rd

To date, "cornmon" is the highest I've ever placed in a series of CAP art polls. This design is actually a remake of the one I submitted for Necturna, which was my first submission ever to the Create-A-Pokémon Project. I loved the concept of an ancient guardian of corn fields that protected its wildlife against invaders. I remember being absolutely crushed when my design lost to Yilx by a single vote in the semi-finals, but the loss has spurred me on to keep submitting and drawing. I, like countless other CAP art creators, will someday break through with a first place finish. Watch this space!

noobiess - 10th

Speaking of underdogs, noobiess is one of those artists that quietly submit their designs in the background, typically finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack. I chose to feature him in this article as a shout-out to all of the unspoken artists who have yet to win a CAP. Thank y'all for your contributions and work, and keep at it! Anyways, this design continues to impress me, as noobiess had the clever idea to adapt a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing into an actual design. Combined with the berries it grows on its "fluff," this is a quintessential design for a Grass / Dark Pokémon with Harvest. I'm appalled this didn't rank any higher, but CAP voters can be so finicky. Regardless, I think this is a fantastic design, from the cleverness of its cohesiveness to the amazing texture work on its bush.

CAP17 - Cawmodore

As we approached the end of Generation 5, the Create-A-Pokémon Project wanted to squeeze in one final process. Moderator and long-time contributor capefeather took the role of Topic Leader, and with his Topic Leadership team, they were ready to face the dangers of managing a Steel / Flying juggernaut with Belly Drum. And while interest in the project waned as Game Freak unveiled Pokémon X & Y and its fancy Fairy typing and cool Mega Evolutions, the art department of CAP gathered more views and votes than ever before.

Mos-Quitoxe - 2nd

As one of the most prolific CAP artists of all time, Mos-Quitoxe was back at it again for CAP17. He's a frequent to Poll 2, which means that his designs are typically in the top 10% of all CAP designs. You may also know his designs Naviathan and Mollux, the latter of which won by the largest margin of votes in CAP art history (as discussed above for CAP14). His design here for CAP17 was certainly no slouch either; a prehistoric jetplane murder machine is bound to turn a few heads. Mos has a fantastic way of making simplistic designs that are impossibly creative; his style makes Pokémon creation look effortless, which is quite the feat in and of itself.

Zracknel - 5th

Magical things happen when Smeargle's Studio moderators step into the CAP ring and submit a design. Zracknel, a man of few words, absolutely crushed it with his design for CAP17 with his helicopter drumming machine that busts beats and heads for a living. The design is unarguably Zracknel's, as you can tell by its thick outlines and impossibly smooth vector art. If you're reading this article, you've seen Zracknel's work already; it's prominently featured as the current Smogon logo! He's also a renowned contributor of tournament artwork, and you may have seen his artistry in designing the original Smogon Premier League logos and the cool blue branding of the Smogon Grand Slam. Here's hoping he comes back to submit CAP designs again someday!

paintseagull - 9th

And to close it all out is CAP veteran and ex-moderator paintseagull. While she hasn't won a CAP art poll just yet, she's ranked in the top six for several projects. Her designs are always simplistic in conceit and elegant in lineart, but what always impresses me about paintseagull is her attention to color palette and blending. You can see that shine through on the tassels of this design, which fade hypnotically from yellow to a pastel turquoise. This design couldn't be more different from the end result of Cawmodore, but I think it absolutely matches up to the constraints CAP17 had on its design process. Finally, paintseagull is famous in our corner of the world for designing several of our pre-evolutions; she has a great knack for drawing cute Pokémon!