So a pixie custom item I am working on was denied a 3rd time and I need some advice on how to go about fixing this to get it approved. I have 4 other items on site and it's always a mixed bag on whether your item will be accepted or not. Here is my overlay and item art, description, references, and denial reasons:
Pond Pixie Essence - Pixie companion
This is my 2nd companion in my Elemental series, the first one being my [item2=Earthen Clod]
She is a Water Pixie based on the fairies from the classic game series The Legend of Zelda.
The item description will be as follows: "Bottled from the legendary Pixie Pond, this essence will mend your heart."



1stDenial Your custom clothing Pixie Pond Water was denied for the following reason(s): OVERLAY: Artwork does not match Subeta style, quality, or level of detail in general ITEM: Sharp and/or pixelated lineart OVERLAY: Thick or heavy lineart OVERLAY: Gray artwork, likely from shading with black and/or highlighting with white OVERLAY: Shading is too faint ITEM and OVERLAY: Item does not accurately represent the wearable ITEM: Tribute reference and/or four changes from the tribute reference were not provided NOTE: Overall, the quality on this is not up to Subeta's standards. The lineart on the wearable is very thick; the lineart on the item is thin and pixelated and the animation is choppy. The overall appearance of the overlay is very gray and not crisp and cell-shaded like official Subeta artwork. NOTE: Although the item may be a reference to the game, it is not represented anywhere in the overlay and therefor is not acceptable. NOTE: Although you are using a Zelda fairy as a reference, this item has extreme resemblance to Tinkerbell- http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/24500000/tink-tinkerbell-24563094-409-575.jpg to the point where we cannot consider your original reference and the changes from it.
2nd Denial Your custom clothing Bottled Pixie was denied for the following reason(s): ITEM and OVERLAY: Tribute reference and/or four changes from the tribute reference were not provided ITEM and OVERLAY: Not enough changes from original tribute reference; there must be at least four changes ITEM and OVERLAY: Changes from the original tribute reference are too subtle
3rd Denial Your custom clothing Pond Pixie Essence was denied for the following reason(s): ITEM and OVERLAY: Issues from previous denial were not sufficiently addressed NOTE: Please see the denial reasons for the very first denial of this item. Many of those denial reasons still stand: The overlay is not up to Subeta quality. It is soft-shaded rather than cell-shaded, overall blurry and thickly lined, and it will need to be brought into Subeta's style before it can be accepted. NOTE: The item still does not represent the overlay. Just because it is used in the game for a fairy does not mean it can be used here to represent the overlay.
I am a little confused, because the 2nd denial didn't mention that the "Subeta quality" issue was still an issue. Also I am using cell-shading, like I have for all of my custom items. I guess the size of the pixie is skewing that. I am kind of frustrated, especially with the item art not being acceptable to represent the overlay. For the actual overlay though I am thinking that I will have to enlarge my original artwork and then redraw the lines. I am thinking of completely removing the Zelda reference and making it a Wind Pixie with a very literal item art of her wing or something. I would appreciate any advice or assistance you can give.