I know that I'm new to both Smogon and this CAP forum, but I do have something to contribute, I believe. I also followed the CAP6 creation closely and hoping to participate with CAP7.
There were many examples where people would say "I would vote for you, but it doesn't look bulky enough", or "How can that have that much attack?", etc. Another controversy came with Wyverii's battlestork and her intention for it to have Drill Peck as a flavor move, but only in the interest of the metagame.
I think that this is definitely the most sensible way to go, but another way that can allow for the process to be lengthened and avoid this problem is to switch the orders. Although it isn't as effective as darkie's method, you can also have the flavor aspects go first and base the stats and moves on the art.
I agree in the sense that CaPs will be produced more efficiently. This idea allows for art to not get in the way of things such as movepool and such, as they usually hindered us competitively due to "flavor" reasons. I like this idea a lot, as it allows for the competitive aspect of CaP to influence the flavor parts of CaP, and not the other way around.
I quoted both these parts from their respective posts. Cyberzero saying on the one part about flavor having some influence and (if I read it correctly) how he says it should be that way. A bit later, we have Plus saying how flavor/art should not get in the way of movepool and such and not hinder us competitively.
Also, in the CAP 6 movepool discussion, various comments were made about "If artwork X is chosen, then move Y would be a great addition". Often, those comments were followed by other users how artwork should never influence movepools and such.
It seems that there are already different views on this and by splitting the process to run both the artwork (flavor) process and the competitive process at the same time, it will only make this harder.
Now, we get to see glimpses of artwork at the same time we discuss abilities and stats and vice versa. This will likely lead to even more discussion about "If artwork X is chosen, then ...".
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but I do think a solid decision should be made over what takes precedence. It's either competitive over flavor or vice versa.
Going back to Wyverií's battlestorck for CAP6, I myself would also have included Drill Peck or another flying move if it were chosen, even if it would hinder competitive play. This is solely for the fact that this is how it is in the game as well. Blaziken for one is in the same position and probably many other pokemon have moves only based on their looks.
Now, I'm not really firm on this view though and understand that CAP's are made for competitive play above all and should be treated as such, but in my opinion, that would be limiting the artists to what to make since it should somehow show in the art what competitive elements are added. Giving it a 200 def stat for one should definitely be visible in the artwork.
When the competitive process is more important than flavor, I think all flavor based process should be moved all the way to the end. I would also urge for a new step in the process to be made: Flavor concept, which should be placed right after the movepool poll. Here, everyone can discuss what at least should be shown in the artwork to correspond the most with the chosen movepool and stats. Taking Wyverii's storck as an example again, if we would have done CAP6 like this and we would've decided on the current movepool AND Drill Peck (for competitive reason because the move just HAD to be added for coverage), this thread would say it should somehow also look like being a flying type or at least have a beak. Thus designers go to work and Wyverii would've made the storck as her assignment.
This way, artists will always know what to look for in their designs to closely match the stats and all (or most) designs would all have a good shot at bringing home the price because all they all work with the competitive part of CAP. That, and it would not look broken, because if Wyverii's bird were chosen but no flying move was added for competitive reasons, that would seriously look broken and unfinished to me.
Summing up, I'm fine with going in the proposed order of the process if flavor DOES have some influence on the competitive part, because if you draw and choose a bird (even if the typing is rock/ground, although drawing a bird would be silly then) as the artwork and not include a flying move, that just looks broken.
Pros of chosing this option. Total freedom for the artists to make whatever they want. This can lead to the best designs and even give the competitive creators some things to think about they might not have if they didn't see the artwork (Wyverii's storck suddenly allowing flying moves on a pokemon typing which doesn't necessarily should include flying moves, water/fighting). So free art can actually create options, even for the competitive part.
Cons of chosing this option. If we actually choose an artwork which just screams for certain moves/stats, I think this should be resembled in the competitive part of the process too, which might not broaden but also limit this part of the process. Which is most likely not preferred and thus that artwork will either have no chance of being chosen
(unfair to the creator, because he never knew his artwork would fail because his artwork was hindering the competitive process, which probably just barely even started at the time he started drawing his artwork) or the artwork is chosen but ignored for the competitive part of the process and will lead to problems of not mixing properly.
Option 2 would be to move artwork all the way to the end.
Pros of this option. Competitive creators will have all the freedom they want to make the pokemon they want (on paper). They can even make moves that might not necessarily work with the chosen typing and let it be compensated by stating it in the newly created part of the process, "Flavor Concept" that the artwork should somehow be able to show that this CAP can also use move X.
For creators, even if artistic freedom is somehow limited, they will always know that their artwork will resemble the competitive side of the pokemon and thus have a more fair chance of being chosen and not fail due to not mixing well with the proposed movepool, etc.
Cons of this option. They are fairly simple, artistic freedom is fairly limited and a lot of the same kind of artworks are made with not too large differences. (of course, artists can still be very surprising in creating stuff within limited boundaries which you may not even have dreamed off, they are creative for a reason) For competitive creators, thinking outside the box will now be their task. Wyverii's storck gave a good hint of using Drill Peck. If they would not have seen the storck at all, Drill Peck will probably not even have been mentioned. (Forgive me if I focus too much on Wyverii, other designs had similar stuff too, like the green guy with the wooden paddle just screaming for Wood Hammer as a move.) Flavor based moves like this can really add some fun to the mix and add options which may not have been thought of if the artwork comes last.
tl;dr. Bla bla huge text. What is more important for CAPs, the competitive aspect or the artwork and which should takes precedence over the other when it comes to abilities, stats and most importantly, movepool.