I'm looking for some advice. Some of the users on here regularly get their themed designs picked for the contests, but even though I put a lot into designing mine, I've never gotten one picked. Can someone share some tips on how they get chosen?
I try to make mine pleasing, and make sure that most combinations of traits still look good. And when getting feedback, I find that other people like my designs as well. What am I still missing?

Hmm that's a bit of a tricky subject, but I'll do my best to explain how to potentially get a design chosen. For a majority of the ones picked, I've noticed they have really nice color contrasts, they sort of branch off typical ideas of the season, and they look nice on the species itself. For the colors, what I mean is they not only work well with each other but also support the overall look. I'll use one of the newer winter themes as an example.

For the first case, I'll be using the Redwood Griffi to support both of my ideas.


At a first glance at the colors, you would think, "Oh god another brown Griffi theme, and it looks more like a gingerbread sculpture than an actual Redwood". Well that may be somewhat true, notice how the Griffi doesn't use the exact colors of said tree. The brown is slightly lighter than the real life bark found on Redwoods to make it look almost fun and enchanting. Yes, trees are quite a frequent subject for the winter contest for the Christmas tree, but remember if people wanted a themed exactly based off a winter tree, well don't expect a lot of bright (disregarding icy-blue and bluish-gray) colors. Plus, who says you can only use Evergreens as Christmas trees? What makes this design really stand out is the brilliant green color. It makes the Redwood look like a fundamental and magical aspect of winter.

Now onto the next aspect- naming. This is just as important as creating the design itself. Sure, it's easy to go for the most common themes, but if you want to stand out, you'll have to think outside of the box. For this, I'm going to go away from the winter festival and look previous themes for the other seasons.

In this case, I'll be using the Sunken Ship Nytekrie.


I have seen questions on how a sunken ship is relevant to summer. Well, many people think of the ocean and all the tropical creatures one can see. But what else is in the ocean- sunken ships (and possibly hidden treasure 8D). I know obvious right? Well maybe not to a typical person. When they think of summer, the most common ideas are sunbathing, ice cream, heat, and/or possibly anything under the sun (pun not intended) related to the beach or the ocean itself. If you go just beyond the standard ideas, you might also find a new side about a season. In this case, the SS Nykte kind of presents summer as a great time for adventures into the deep, deep ocean.

Okay once you have those two ideas down, it's time to put it all together. But which species? That's the final way I've seen designs get picked. Not only does the theme sound and look nice, but it should look nice on the species you're using the design on.

In this case, I'll use my own Lava Vents Ryoris.


Please understand I'm not trying to be narcisstic, but I have an easier time explaining if I used my own thought process. I was running out of ideas and decided to turn to the ocean (see not even I think too far at times) for help. That's where I found a nice picture of an underwater vent. Now Ryoris are mostly portrayed as spirits, and of course that's how their lore is written. However, I did notice their whisps/ cloud things looked like the smoke from the vents and tried to see if they'd work. But that was only a small part of the puzzle. How do i make the traits look nice when I know some overwhelm others? Granted, other species face this problem, but I digress.

If I wanted others to see the Lava Vent aspect, how do I do that? This is where I would go through each slot and choose the best color. This is where I started with the 4 main slots. The orange eyes reference the small openings of lava that sometimes burst out of the seafloor. Their bodies are dark blue-ish green to almost greenish gray to make up the seafloor itself. Granted, I had a reference picture, so I didn't need to look too far in terms of color range, but I think you get the picture. Once I had figured out the basic, traitless look, now it was time for me to make it look like an actual lava vent. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I would first start with Gene 1, pick a color that was within range of the basic slots. This is where you kind of need to know how slots work on the chosen species. I know Gene 1 on Ryoris shouldn't be too overwhelming, but they still need to stand out somehow against the body. So I chose a lighter sea-green for it. Next comes the accent markings. Granted, Rose Markings are nice, but they can also destroy a look if the color also doesn't work for Kitsune and Petal Markings. That one was my hardest slot to work with simply because the two markings looked awful when I flipped between green and orange. This is where reference pictures can come in handy as I had forgotten about the slight golden-yellow that slips out in the picture. That's when I placed it on Gene 2 and it actually looked nice for both markings. Kitsune was too simple to be regarded as a factor for me, but I still checked it as it was still one of the possible traits people could get. And then I moved on through each slot while also making sure various combinations worked. Once I figure that out, then I save a complete image into another tab while I switch the design to the Lunes to get the most fitting accent colors. Yes, Ryoris have not had the need for those, but I couldn't just leave them white right?

Fun fact: I named them Seafloor Laveplume Ryoris as an ocean- contest entry. Talk about a mouthful right? xD

And there we go. Granted, some might have put in more thought into their design process, but those three ways are the more common ways I've seen designs get picked. Sure it may seem like a lot of work, and for some people, it is. Keep in mind, covering these three cases doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get picked. But if you put in the time and creativity into your entries, you really can't go wrong. And hey, even if they don't get used, you can always save them as future projects. ;)

Thank you! That was a good look into your process. I think the important thing is to keep trying, because I do try hard to be creative, with both the concept and the names. I think one of the main things I need to try is to incorporate more complementary colors into my designs, as they almost always tend to be monochromatic in color contrast, for instance:

My Glacial Waters Sylvorpa:


But using this as an example:


This is my "Winter Rose" Aeridini. It has a somewhat unusual concept, a rose blooming in the winter at night and then snowed upon, and a contrasting color scheme of red, blue, black, and red. "Winter Rose" may not be the most creative name, maybe "Frozen Rose" which adds a little rhyming to it?
It's also highly based on the Aeridini being a flower inspired species, and works with it to make it a winter theme. Do you think this is a good example of a themed design?
I'm just asking, does my process seem satisfactory, and I just need to keep trying? Or is there something I need to change, like thinking about the colors differently? I do know my inspirations tend to end up with very monochromatic or even clashing colors. (How do you get more than two colors out of snowdrops? Green, and white. And more white, for the snow. XD)

I will admit the Aeris are very pretty and I like the name, but they look more like personal project designs to me.

Not to say that it's not creative enough, but when you make a themed design, try to think of the entire species as an easel. By that, I mean try using the entire body (including the traits) of the pet into the design. Just because I don't feel like looking through the contest entries again, I'll use your Aeri design to help me explain.

I love how it looks on the female because the traits definitely remind me of a snow-covered rose in the middle of a blizzard. On the male however, it kind of loses that feeling due to the strong white floral henna. Also, keeping in mind that Aeris have different tail mutations, the overall design should have the feeling of a winter rose without requiring the tail to be Rose Tail, otherwise that limits the potential of this design. A lot of personal projects use specific traits which the name of this kind of implies that as well. If you wanted a unique-sounding name, maybe try Winter's Bloom or Frost Blossom.

I also took a look at it on the generator and traitless it looks pretty nice. However, once I looked at the slots, I saw there are a lot of white. Granted, white is okay, but to a limit. Too much white and it looks incomplete, especially when you test out the color on other traits in the slot. This is why sometimes you'll see "snowy" designs use a subtle gray or light blue color. It still gives off the look and feeling of cold snow without being so in your face.

I'll admit, snow and ice are kind of tricky to really portray due to their limited color pallete. Maybe it'll be easier if you expanded on the rose itself. Roses come in many colors, with red, white, black, pink, and yellow being more well-known. However, you can do a slight twist and instead of using plain black, perhaps try using dark purple, or if you want to make an impact, try an icy or brilliant blue somewhere. Just plain black can be a bit too dark and can even result in making the creature look almost flat due to the lack of visible shading.

I'm still unsure what you're going for but I played around with a few of the colors.


I used the same traits as you posted and noticed you repeated a few of them. When you are posting entries, try using different traits for all slots so to give examples of how a potential 6-vis project could look. Doing this can also help you find whether you need to change a color or not. So the above examples I posted look nice with those traits, but I noticed it came out rather odd when I used Day Gecko instead of Glitter Dust:


One odd looking trait can offset the entire look, which that unfortunately did. xD

So I went back to the drawing board and decided to lighten the redish-pink just a little bit more and got this:


Alright, so that doesn't look too bad, but how does it look when I got back to Glitter Dust?


Okay it still looks nice, so let's try different traits:


Well you can decide for yourself. Personally, they don't look too bad. Regardless of whether you like it or not, I do hope this helped you see the potential your design had. It just need a bit more to entice the admins into considering it.

It was kind of a personal project pet turned themed, actually! And yes, white is a bit difficult, and unfortunately I very much like white themes, which means I tend to design a lot of them. And I did use different traits with my actual themed submission, I was just lazy here.
I like how your re-design ended up, although I think it needs some white left for the snow look. But really, I was just using those as an example, maybe it would be better to see my designs in general: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=40610&page=4
Although you don't have to if you don't want to, you've already been very helpful.
I think another thing I need to do is spend more time looking at pictures for references. I've come up with somewhat more unexpected colors from them.

Ah now I see. Since it's your project, you can keep or change it. You don't have to use the changes I made. But if you wanted to make it a potential theme entry, just keep the points I listed in mind, and you'll be good.

Looking at your thread, you do have a lot of nice designs. I remember you posted the Hellebore Fae as an entry and that was one of my favorites from your entries.

I really love how the colors just pop on your Labrodorite and Black Opal Kelps!

I also like the colors you used on your BF Harvest Moon Kelp and Ethereal Moon Vuls. They seem divine in a way. So divine that I feel unworthy to look at them.

Ah yes reference pictures can be your best friends as there'll be tints and shades there that you wouldn't think would look right together. That's how I found my LV Ryoris after all.

If reference pictures don't help, a couple of people have used wild pet encounters as their inspiration, which I believe that's how Bar and Sav got a few of their's picked. For myself, I made a Desert Nomad Ligh entry based on a wild Aurleon I encountered a couple of weeks ago before the contest. Granted it wasn't chosen, but it gave me something nice to work with, including a lead for another idea for the Nytekries. That's how my Desert Drought Nytes were born.

_{I've never got one picked before so i probably won't be much help, sorry!}

For me when designs get picked or made, I prefer designs with 2-3 colours that have depth to those selected colours.
For example, here's a Sylesti i own with some traits added:

If I put all her colours to the brightest/ top she looks like this:

Now if i greyscale that one and the original:

What I'm really getting at is if you greyscale your design, does it still look nice? if not, try tweaking some of the greyscale and then tweaking your coloured design.

Another thing is that the colours do need to be contrasting but look nice together. Green and red looks better than Pink and red, for example.

I do remember someone telling me that for themed designs, the colour shades all tend to be in the same place. I'm not sure what places though, if I find out I'll tell you.

I guess this post ended up not being directed towards you exactly but sorta something in general. It's a bit hard to put my thoughts down on it. I hope this makes some sort of sense.


I aim to try to come up with pleasing colors that have some contrast to them. I also try to be sure that as many colors work with as many different traits as possible and look okay by themselves or as a multi-vis. This is really hard since there's so many traits and more added all the time and not everything likes to play nice. Certain colors also seem to look better on certain species to me.

I try not to make things too bright. It should usually be a bit easy on the eyes. It's not that bright never works though. It might be what's needed for a particular design.

Yellows can be difficult to work with. I see some people go into some of the greenish looking yellow colors. Browns often look a bit better I think going more towards red than to yellow as well. This of course isn't like absolute. Just something I think people need to be careful with for their designs. I do like using yellow though. It's often a great contrast color that I think works well with a variety of other colors. That said I'm not sure how many of my chosen designs have yellow. I'd have to check.

When I use blacks and whites I usually try not to use pure black or white unless the design really calls for it.. Particularly black. I often try to go a little bit into some other color. It's still dark but I think it gives a bit more something when not fully black. You can also see the details of the pet better.

I also try to make examples using different traits of both the male and female. They don't have to be fully 6vis. But they should give a good idea of how things will look put together.

As far as theme designs go!

Creativity: Vulpie couldn't be more correct on the creativity end of things - the concept for the season in question should be as original as possible. Not to say you can't do go to seasonal things, but thinking outside the box makes your entry unique and memorable. So for things like winter fest, I try to stay far away from overwhelming blues as blues tend to dominate the theme submissions. Including reference pictures for visual concepts or descriptions for more abstract concepts also help others visualize and understand your ideas. If it's a more common idea, try making it as visually stunning as possible to set it apart!

Coloration: If you go with a fairly similar color palette, make sure your design has great color contrast - the more color variation you incorporate, the less contrast is necessary. If you're designing from an image don't be afraid to drop it in a program so you can use an eye dropper tool and pull exact colors from the image. Sometimes colors appear slightly different in the big picture because our eyes use other colors and shadows to interpret colors. Sav makes another great point with using true whites or blacks. Try using a very dark almost black from your palette or perhaps just a straight dark blue or purple - it creates more depth. The same it true of whites - try using an almost white variation of something in your palette or like a light orange or light blue (the almost white emphasized!). I personally use a lot of high saturation colors - definitely not required - and avoid yellows like the plague. If you need to use a yellow - try something a little more orange like a dandelion yellow.

Unpopular Species: Popular species see a lot of design love and it's tough competition! The more unpopular species, such as nytes or morks, might be a great gateway into getting designs in. Once in a while, I see a design that makes me absolutely love a species I previously had little appreciation for. If you spend a lot of time and create something visually stunning for one of these you have a great chance of getting it selected. Quality over quantity with designs - though if you can make one for every species that's quality - definitely increases your chances!

Traits: Your designs need to be flattering on a range of traits! Posting two different 6-vis isn't required, but is definitely recommend - totally different traits though. It's also recommended you avoid the use of restricted traits because it's fairly unlikely any of the restricted traits will actually appear on the theme.

Start Early: I start working on potential designs for the next fest the fest before it arrives. Winter fest just started and I just started designs for spring fest!

Be Knowledgeable: Know what themes already exist for a species - don't do duplicate names or do similar color palettes to already existing themes. Also try and remember what the themes are for the sylesti making for each season. Fall Syesti Brewing is for Spooky themes. This Winter Snow Sculptures seem to be centered around snow and cold. Spring Gardening is for flowers. Summer Fest Sand Sculptures is typically for beachy themes. Fabled species will only receive a theme in these categories unless it happens to be their season - some of which don't get seasons. In fall, ryoris have a zone theme. In winter, griffis do. In spring, aeris do. In summer, ligs do. Zone themes are fair game for anything to do with the season!

Hey Lone, i'm just going to look at your post specifically rather than give general tips because I feel a lot of people already gave good general tips, so I want to express what I, as a designer, see when I look at your post.

The first thing I see: You are really not displaying your designs well here. Now I cannot tell you what Krin and Fai's thought process is, but I would scroll straight past that Aeridini. Why, you ask?

Your choice to display it with only Nature guard Traits, which is won't ever come in on it's own, is a good starting place. This makes me immediately think to myself 'did this person look at what this design looks like in anything it would naturally come in?' I personally never use a restricted trait to display my entries, because I don't think that showing what it would only look like a year from now on Black Friday maybe if someone feels like it, is at all doing your design any favors. I know this doesn't always disincline Krin and Fai, but I wouldn't personally be surprised if it makes it much more difficult to visually impress. Lets be honest here. You only get one glance to make it into the short list, so I wouldn't want to do anything to immediately lop points off, personally! :)

Since we only get that one glance to make the shortlist (the ones that they will actually take into the generator and play with.), we want to be displaying variety to maximize our chances! That trendy thing of displaying same traits on both gender? Anyone who reads this, please do yourself a favor and don't! You get one glance! Don't throw it away!

Now we will move on to the design itself past just the display not being eye-catching. The design, is pure white. Now I know you said you like to design with white.. but white does not have to be leaving the FFFFFF hex as it is. In fact, try really hard not to do that. Find a pleasing natural looking white to show you've really worked hard on your theme! It gives it just that bit more special uniqueness.

Now, if this had been my design, this is what it would have looked like (Changing yours very minimally here, because there was a good design there. And it is a shame you basically hid it under Nature Guard traits that were not doing anything for it really.) I made a natural feeling white, and I tweaked the green just a bit to be more aesthetically pleasing to my eyes, and literally that was all I felt it needed. Good design, bad display.


A second example if you wanted to do a more minimum palette. Try to make sure you get a bit of each of the colors into your minimum palette as the display problem this had was mostly getting rid of the nice contrast of the pinky-maroon colors (The Nature Guard gene, especially, didn't display them very well).


Hopefully this helped and didn't come across too harshly. ^^ If I had seen this design displayed like I showed, I would have stopped to look at it! Sadly, I did see this design while looking through the thread and I really did just whisk right past it for the above reasons.