Galneda's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Valkyrie Claire]

What is going on with her stage-right leg? It doesn't read as "proficient in several ancient martial arts" it reads like her knee is horribly broken, but she's choosing to walk on it like a zombie. It is wildly distracting just because it's so unnatural looking.

The details on the fur of her boots and cloth draped around her pants are my favorite detail, I love the shine of the leather and metal on her boots, and even the fabric of her pants look great. The anatomy of her abs doesn't look right, and shirts don't perfectly tuck underneath the contour of the breasts like that while maintaining their shape.

If she's wearing a cropped tank top, is the fur around her neck attached to that shirt, or is that a seperate collar she wraps around her shoulders, like a travel pillow? Also I just noticed the three-way strap around her diaphragm- is that attached to a tiny backpack? How is that functional? What could its purpose possibly be?

Come to think of it, is she dressed for cold weather or not?

Her face looks good, I like her hair, the metal hands make less sense the longer you look at them, but I'm sure it's fine. The entire pose just kinda lead to these metal hands that are just "out and away from the body?" But not making a fist or anything, they're just...what is she doing? Is she in mid-sentence? Is she beckoning someone to come closer so she can super-grab 'em?

All in good fun, this looks good. Keep up the great work!

kikino77 responds:

Thank you for the thorough critique!

[One thing he's never seen]

You've really been on fire lately! Keep up the great work, I love your style and attention to detail!

Sony-Shock responds:

Aaah!! Thank you very very much! I'm going to keep trying my hardest! >v< *flexing emoji*

[Cut Man]

Is no one going to say it? No one's going to address that Cut Man bulge? This dude could pose up in a calendar for robot masters. Everything else is really cute about him, right down to the appealing and thematic background and his chubby, on-model arms. His innocent and friendly villain-face with his adorable bean mouth....then there's the bulge, and suddenly his furrowed brow and blushy cheeks have a different connotation.

His legs arrangement are kinda peculiar, reminiscent of anime schoolgirls with clumsy fawn-like legs jumbling over themselves. It looks unnatural, but at least it looks dynamic. The overall silhouette is appealing and framed with professional attention to detail. A mature use of gradients, and great looking lighting and shading choices bring the whole thing together, and the metallic effects on his blades are like the metallic cherry on top.

Great piece, absolutely worthy of being frontpage material. Voted 5!

Sony-Shock responds:

Okay, this is an amazing comment *_*

Just because of that, I'm editing the bulge out BUT I'm leaving a link to the original image so everyone can keep having their fun *thumbs up*

FUNNY ENOUGH, I had a female model as a reference, how does this happen

[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

[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

[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!

[Bear With Me]

Enviable hair/fur strand detailing and shading. Wonderful job, and it's evident you worked hard on it. Fav'd and Fived!

TheLoyalMeat responds:

Thank you very much man, took me a long time so i'm glad it shows, appreciate it :)

[Nightfall]

Everything about this is masterful. The sky, the water looks real...the horizon, and the illusion of depth by shading whats closer to be darker, and the further land to be softened. I love the ships, its just...wow.

What is Vue and how did it particularly lend a hand in this things creation?

1600 responds:

Thanks! Vue is software for creating 3D environments that I used to create the sky and water and some of the land. I actually don't know how to use it all that well yet, but it's really convenient for making a base image to paint on.