Revamped Angelic Kora

[Heilos]

Oh no no no your fine XD We're just having a friendly debate is all. I also can understand your point of view since I really loved the old art for the reborn wyllop because of certain expressions and the pose (which is why I got it in the first place). It did take some time to warm up to the new one but I do understand why it had to be changed.

[Kamil]

Not to mention, in this case, the things lost on the alter of so-called consistency, are things people paid REAL MONEY FOR.

And, yeah, fine, whatever, you can overlay the image - except that does shit for all the other places you see your pet around the site - which is what killed my ability to ignore the revamped reborn Kumos - because Ty isn't the only one who owned one because it was a sighthound.

But at least no one lost real money when they lost their Kumos -- sadly, the same can't be said of this pet.

[Heilos]

I'm sorry Kamil ): I didn't particularly mean to offend anyone since I know that is by far the most expensive potion on the site.
Once again I don't know where to find a balance between consistency and unique traits from the old art that will please people the
most while giving the art a much needed update.

[AngharadTy]

Heh, I have to cover my eyes when I'm doing something like, say, clicking on Aesa on my Pets page, because the un-fixed (by Heilos!) version makes me cringe so much. But I'm gettin' good at denial. Sigh.

[bonecrivain]

This idea that things "have to go" because they don't match the rest of the species is exactly what I'm talking about with artistic limitations. After a certain point, species-specific elements can start becoming caricatures. Because these elements tend to be the main focus in a revamp, that sometimes becomes the main thing you see when you look at the new pet. That shouldn't ever be the case. Different colors exist for a reason--maybe someone doesn't LIKE the basic pet but thinks one of its colors is amazing. Or maybe they like the entire species but don't want five colors of essentially the same thing.

I think that's why the velosotor consistently has such great colors: the base pet is a dinosaur, but this leaves a lot of room for variation in the different colors. And that's the point of the "fancy," expensive potions. They SHOULD be different. They should be recognizable, of course, but why can't the angelic kora have thinner ears? I like Rah's koras. I like the noodle ears for most of them. BUT NOT FOR THIS COLOR.

I'm not really sure where to find a middle ground in a situation of "do I keep features from the old art to please the owners of that pet" or "do I update it into something more consistent at the risk of people hating it?"

Yes, it does seem like it comes down to a choice between those two options. And I cannot understand why the decision would ever be to make something that will almost certainly displease many of the current owners. I don't think the angelic kora needed an update that badly, and it certainly didn't need one this drastic. A revamp should keep all the best-loved parts of the old pet, not throw them all out the window while creating something dramatically new.

Ty brought up the reborn kumos, which was a similarly disappointing revamp for those who owned the pet. I LOVED the revamp and immediately potioned Siyafa, but I don't ever think of him and Bonechewer as being the same color. If the reborn kumos had been revamped in a way that kept it looking more like the sighthound that Ty and Kamil and others had created, Siyafa might be something different now. But I wouldn't have LOST anything or had any reason to be disappointed, while all those who loved their old pet did.

I think the old owners should always be considered first. There are lots of other pets for everyone to choose from, and it's exciting when the artists are working on new pets and new colors. I think more attention should be paid to those. Let people who love their pets as-is KEEP their pets.

That's why I've always thought there should be the option (with every single revamp) for owners of the old version to keep their pet the way they created it.

No one ever comes to your house, picks up a stuffed animal you bought years ago, and says, "Hey, I don't like this anymore. It looks too old. Let me change it." I understand that this is a website, and there's some sort of image to maintain, but it still seems awfully shitty to take away something that someone paid for.

Once again I don't know where to find a balance between consistency and unique traits from the old art that will please people the
most while giving the art a much needed update.

What makes it a needed update? If it causes the current owners to go out and change their pets, or to scramble to make overlays to "fix" them, obviously it wasn't needed for them. Not to be pointing fingers at you, because I love your art and respect your opinion, but I think you are pinpointing the Subeta argument here, and I see too many holes in it.

[Heilos]

I probably shouldn't have worded it that way since the first post I made that you quoted is more along
the lines of what I mean so I appoligize for the confusion.

Yes I do agree it is an awfully shitty reason to alter a pet you paid for, which definitely is a slightly different situation
then say the revamp on the reborn kumos since you did have to use real money to obtain. I think it really comes down to
the artist decision on what stays and what goes, I'm not sure exactly who has the final say in it when eventually comes
out as a revamp. I also do not mind at all if you criticize my points, I honestly encourage people to tell me if i'm possibly
not seeing things from their point of view and would rather have someone explain it to me first hand c:

Maybe if people on the site were to start a board or something or a poll on this matter then maybe
we'd be able to see more artistic freedom incorperated because I agree, I would rather see more people excited and happy
with the pet they paid for then have somehting updated only to despise it even if it's a lot newer looking.
(Sometimes newer really isn't always better).

Yes you can't make everyone happy but you should strive to try your best to even if it means it won't
be 100% consistent but then people probably wouldn't care because it's so different from the basic colors
and that's why they love it in the first place, because it stands out from the rest.
Again I'm not taking a shot at the artist in case someone thinks I am because they usually do a great
job with a lot of the site art and I respect that entirely. I'm glad you posted that bonecrivan, I really didn't
think of it that way until now since most of the time my pets aren't the ones getting revamped that often.

[Jax]

I am personally not a fan of this revamp, but I don't care for the original either. But I agree that revamps are an incredibly picky subject ESPECIALLY with angelic pets when you consider most people pay real money for them

I am all for artistic freedom, but I like the idea of research prior to a revamp to see maybe what people love most about a species. Like with this Kora, it seems most people prefer the pose and feet of the old one. Although really, it's the artists say of what goes and I cannot imagine it's easy revamping a pet, especially one that's well loved

As for it needing a revamp, I can't judge since I don't care for it new or old, but I think there are other pets on the site (ANY of the Serpenths for example) that need one much more

[ZomgethMew]

On its own, I think it's really cute (if I could get over the baby thing). But... as a revamp... I dunno. That's much harder. I can definitely see that if someone had one, the things they liked might no longer be there. That always hurts. =(

That's.. pretty much how I feel about this |D I didn't want to say before in case everyone loved it, but yeah. It's adorable, but if I had to pick one, I'd pick the old one :B.

[AngharadTy]

As for it needing a revamp, I can't judge since I don't care for it new or old, but I think there are other pets on the site (ANY of the Serpenths for example) that need one much more

Just a minor note, Rah is not the Serpenth artist, so whatever she does is not taking away from Serpenths in any way.

[thelonetiel]

One of the things that bothers me I suppose is that back when Rah first decided that koras didn't have mouths, she mentioned something about the Angelic Kora being speshul with Angelic powers that it could have a mouth... I suppose that was just a made up mock excuse and was long ago that she probably didn't think seriously about revamping Angelic anyway. But even so, I had it in my head that at least when the inevitable revamp came (I knew it wasn't "up to par" with the current art trend of Subeta, though I find that an annoying reason to revamp a pet), that at least the hopeful open mouthed expression would stay the same.

I wish owners could be given compensation for their pet. Have it returned to the common color and be given back the Angelic potion, so I could turn mine into something more fitting, while not losing the ridiculous amount of money that Angelic potions cost. Meh. xP

[Enriana]

Let me start out by saying that I think the pet is actually quite adorable. It has an almost Chibi feel, but if there were a stuffed animal version of this on a shelf in a toy store, I would pick it up and hug it and take it home with me and name it Squishy and it would be my squishy. (Can you tell I just watched Finding Nemo?)

That said, it doesn't mesh at all with the feel of the old Angelic Kora. Like Topher said, revamps should be very similar to the Glacier Escalade revamp - tweaks and upgrades in terms of lines, shading, and other small details. Big changes, like pose, expression, and anything else that falls under that category are really troublesome.

I agree that keeping consistency shouldn't be at the top of the priority list. No, a pet shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb amongst its fellows, but nor should they look like a line of clones. A lot of the details that make a pet unique, or pop out, or give it some oomph are being phased out. I think giving an artist a certain colourscheme, theme, and mood and just letting 'em go draw to their heart's content would work just as well.

Also, I am sad that the Angelic wings of old are being phased out. They were fluffy and ethereal and reminded me of clouds.

This is my contribution.

[AngharadTy]

The color scheme can be a problem, too, actually. It's really noticeable with graveyard pet revamps; the artists have a particular palette to work with and they can't deviate at all or else. It meant my graveyard keeto turned from a great blue-green to the standard graveyard green... which is a great color, but it wasn't the right color! Color palette limitations also affected the sheeta and demi, which have been mentioned in the other thread.

[Enriana]

I don't think the color scheme should be written in stone - the details given to artists would be more of a guideline than "YOU MUST DO THIS".

[Wingsrising]

Gotta say... they look almost the same to me. I guess the old one does look more like a little baby than the new one does, but otherwise they seem pretty similar.

[bonecrivain]

Well, the main differences I see are: ears, wings, paws, feet, headgem, mouth, nose, eyes, posture, body shape, belly, fur, general personality/expression...

Whether the pet needed a revamp or not, it's very difficult for me to look at the two and NOT see how vastly dissimilar they are. Your post just made me scrunch my forehead in confusion.