Galneda's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Oath of Dagon]

Ohhh man this art is exactly the kind that I need more of in my life.

Effective restraint with the colors, beautiful composition and I love everything about it. Fucking metal, dude. All of my five.

Ccrawler responds:

Thanks a lot man!!

Tried to put as much expression as I could on this one, to really enjoy myself doing it...so knowing that people enjoy watching it makes my day! :D

[Ichigo pencil 1]

There's something to be said about how anime typically handles proportions. Just look at Hellsing Ultimate; running on the presumption that if you become an ancient vampire, your limbs will continue to grow and the next thing you know you're the lankier than a giraffe with huge branches for forearms and you're 9 feet tall.

The fact that we have a human skull for reference with this character really drives home just how disproportionate this guy is. And while the wardrobe choice isn't a fault of your own, (you're paying homage to an anime character), its structured in such a baggy way that it conceals the rest of his anatomy, so we don't fully understand where his legs begin. Because his feet are cut off at the bottom, we don't know where they end either, but that's not that big of a deal.

What really emphasizes this disproportion is that arm. I have a mirror in my room, and because of this picture, I've been comparing my forearm's size in relation to my head. Maybe I have a huge head, and maybe my forearm doesn't belong to a character that's extremely tall, but I could say that roughly my elbow aligns with my chin and my forearms aligns with the top of my head.

This guy could decapitate four clones of himself, align each of their heads neck-to-scalp, and his entire arm would be the length of all four of those heads. Moreover, there's a crooked bend to the sleeve that almost wants to imply he has an extra elbow. The tricep trails down from the shoulder, it bends at the first elbow, we get down to the belt (right about where the wrist should be) and it crooks out again to finally deposit the wrist down below.

This problem could've been avoided by roughing out the composition of the character using the shape method. Its like lightly tracing a mannequin to ensure the proportions of the limbs look correct. On paper, you can lightly erase the unused lines and draw atop the useful lines. In Photoshop, this could be a layer beneath the ink, where the opacity can be lightened, and then altogether deleted once you have the character how you want it.

If he is a naturally tall character, then his head would need to be bigger. This would help out in a lot of ways, especially since there's been a lot of time and shading dedicated to the kimono; his head/face is comparatively cleaner, absent of shading and detailing, even in the hair.

While probably restricted to the size of the paper you started this on, the tatters of the cape/cloak going the way it is would mean it would be angled weirdly if it was just resting, without wind blowing it into a cascade. At first I thought you forgot to continue the belt established on the front into the back, and then I realized the cloak is sweeping around and behind him. While there are a few divots and creases around the small of his back to better establish this, it could've been more pronounced. Especially with shading on the interior of the cape closest to the character's body. Depth, dimension, shading and color is your ally to better carry these concepts across to a viewer.

The hand looks sufficient, it could be stronger. The blade of the sword lets us know it is, in fact, a sword, but it too can be made too look stronger; shading that implies wear of its metal, if its sharp and sleek or rustic and old, if its seen battle, if its supposed to be shining brilliantly with chrome or if its a muted silver. The chain, I'm not sure why its there because its not really attached to anything but the pommel, and the way that the chain is drawn implies its thin and fragile. There's no density to it, and even if their were, its function remains unclear.

Once again, keep challenging yourself! Step outside of that comfort zone and try new things. Only then will you grow as an artist!

[Ichigo pencil 2]

I've never seen Bleach, but this definitely looks correct. The hand atop the grip looks a little funky; the crease following the middle finger's knuckle on top of the hand to the wrist seems to veer off in a direction that a skeleton shouldn't allow, and it seems to extend too far into the wrist.

Anime faces are easy; they're kept simplified so its easier to animate, so it wasn't very challenging to nail his face. The baggy kimono is a lot harder to get right, and it looks great. I particularly love the twists of the sash coming off the sword...but those arms and hands need some work. Like I said in my first review of your work, anatomy practice would benefit you greatly.

You're demonstrating skill, and I'd love to see you practice and improve!

[warrior and druid]

Not bad for a first. I can see why you're not so sure about it, though.

For one, there's no environment. There is light shading off to the right of the characters implying a light source over our left shoulder, but the way the shading is dispersed makes it seem like these characters are on a white sound stage. Y'know, those sets with the curved transition from floor to wall? So these characters are staged atop and in front of nothing. It would behoove you to practice with even minimalistic environmental elements to imply size. Are these children, elbow height with an average bed? Are they tall? Are they kaiju sized? Maybe they're like Galactus and these celestial titans are battling on the edge of existence itself? We need context.

Another weak point could be anatomical decisions. There's not a whole lot to go on with the wizard, because with their back turned, concealed with a cloak (as wizards are won't to do) not much needed to be done with him. He was a simple addition to a scene with a minimal amount of appendages protruding out from the cloak...if you were to challenge yourself, you could add dimension to the fabric of the cloak; wrinkles, tatters, weathering, layering as if it wasn't just one piece of cloth bought from a Halloween store.

But from what we can see of the wizard, the boots seem to be pointed in the right direction, and his thin arm is definitely clutching his staff...Staff of Lemons? Is that a Lemon wedge at the top of the staff? Perhaps an Orange? Is this the Citrus Wizard? (I'm kidding.)

Now, it makes sense that the wizard's arm is thin. Wizards don't rely on brute strength, they're cerebral, other-worldly, and what makes them powerful is magic. A knight, on the other hand, has to travel through battle weighed down by heavy armor...swinging heavy weaponry hard enough to cleave armor, flesh, and bone...The decision to make HIS arms as slender as they are were a creative mistake I think.

It makes sense that his chest is broad. But if you look at the distance between his shoulders, and then you look at the thickness of his arms, it doesn't seem to go with one another or make sense. Especially as the forearm/bicep transitions into that unnatural looking elbow fold.

The most valuable research and practice an artist will EVER invest their time into is anatomy. Anatomy of each sex, anatomy of each body type, its a CRUCIAL skill to know. Do you want to be Adventure Time or do you want to be Frank Frazetta? Stylization is perfectly fine, you just need to know what you want to become.

Having said that, his face and legs look great in composition, but his arms throw it off. The sword looks great, but its distracting that his hand is clutching the dead middle of the grip, and not closer up to the hilt where he would have a sturdier hold. The shield looks fine, but with no detail added to it, it seems like a prop to conceal and save you from drawing a third hand in this shot. I applaud you for drawing all feet, however.

Make no mistake, this is a great first submission. Keep practicing, and keep challenging yourself by stepping outside of your comfort zone.

-1 star for scanned in pencil sketch
-.5 of a star for lack of environments
-.5 of a star for anatomical decisions

TDKSparda responds:

Thank you very much for your feedback. It is highly appreciated.

[Skate deck design]

Very cool! I especially like the color pallette, but I love the skulls.

HeartlessArts responds:

thanks man im a fan of your shark kaiju gig poster :)

[R2-D2 Zombie]

I love it! I especially laughed because with the missing third foot, he would have to do that back and forth wiggle as he lurched towards his victims.

Slowed down and distored "WOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!"

Easy Five...not sure whose blood that is on him, but the less I know, the better.

PKShayde responds:

Thank you so much, I'm really happy about your enthusiasm XD

[Wild and Blue]

That's impressive! I've tried sculpting with foil before, and it's very difficult to get the intended shape to translate. But everything about this sculpt looks deliberate and on-point. I love the cartoony proportions and animated stance. The helmet looks wicked too...well-done! I can't wait to see how you grow as an artist!

[Street Sharks]

Jawsome work, dude! Looks great! I'm paricularly fond of the arm musculature looking DECIDEDLY not like clay. The feet look like clay, the shin-guards look like clay...the belt looks like rope and the abs are teetering on that fine line of looking like clay and looking like abs...but the arms and the neck up look uncanny. Great job!

[Vacation For StrawberryClock]

For an MS Paint job, this is actually pretty good! I like the choice of colors.

If you needed to improvement, I'd keep an eye out for shadows in relation to the light source. You kinda had a little bit of that going on with the highlighted contours of StrawberryClock facing the sun, but the illusion is dropped because of the lack of shadows on the sand. Even if you just did an eye-drop tool on the sand, opened up the color pallette, and made that color SLIGHTLY darker, it would've worked.

Nicely done, voted 5

TheGamechanger responds:

I'll take your tips into effect. Thanks!

[Brock Samson]

*swoon*...He's my hero.

Well done! And nice creative decision to reference the pilot episode!