Galneda's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[sniper in the night]

WOW! Cool cool cool! The shading on the character is pro! The RAIN looks fantastic! Maybe they go a little too persistent, in-a-row, those rain lines that are 8-in-a-row over the rock in the pond? But they look fantastic, the rain drops....and hell, I'm impressed that you actually found a TASTEFUL usage of the Lens Flare. I've never seen that effect done with the lens flare, and of course it would be as simple as just tuning down the opacity.

You are RAPIDLY growing as an artist! If you carried on the same density of the shadows into the background and among the foliage and even some of the lake, this would be PERFECT. While I understand the creative decision to hide most of the animal carcass, I kind want to see more of it...y'know...challenge yourself with animal anatomy. lol

I'm so stoked for you, I can't wait to see what you do next! Keep that momentum rolling and kick some ass, dude!

justice511 responds:

thank you :') i didnt know too much on how todo the rain but studyed for like an hour and i guess it payed off :) i just love your reviews they are the reason i improve :)

[A skull]

Strong, great composition on where everything is laid out. You got a great feel for the "Rule of Thirds."

It leads the eye. The skull is dominant in the frame because the eye is lead almost DIRECTLY to the bleached skull amid all of these vibrant water colors. What immediately becomes apparent is the misshapened top of the skull. In my personal opinion, I think the skull would work better if it were more rounded off.

What happens instead is, from the stage-right eye, it goes straight up (like it should) but keeps going and then it elbows in a sort of acute angle to flatten out the top. To take into consideration the black line that outside of the stage-left eye, running up and detailing the temple, provides dimensions on where the front of the face begins and ends, it makes it appear that this particular skull has a nob at a high, frontal part of its skull...and it just looks weird.

With the proportions that you've given us with the eyes, nose, mouth and chin of the skull...it IS BELIEVABLE that the top of the skull could END at that point, where it elbows out, creating the nob...what I think is making it look askew is the angle that's creating the top of the skull, facing the left of the frame...makes it look like he's got a flat head!

You'll note that there's a thin line of purple, from the background, that runs along the top of that surface I'm talking about. I'm willing to wager that if you filled in all of that white, and extended the skulls cranial dimensions out to the two distant tree things in the background? The lower tree would be completely consumed, and as long as the top of the skull is slightly curved, that would look a little more correct.

To counter that! That skull's face is goddamned impressive. To the missing teeth on the side...it provides details that hint at a greater story, and I'm an avid fan to those kinds of details because it's stimulating to the imagination.

The water colors themselves help add to the mood. I'm not exactly a fan of the line of orange on the left side though...it doesn't do anything for me personally, and there's not enough of it to really be bothered with....that whole thing of orange could've easily just been more purple, and that would've been fine. You would have had a consistent cool-color theme going on, and that could lend with the gloomy dark plantlife imagery, and the skull to help entice some grimmer moods.

Intentional or not, I particularly enjoy the hidden face within the blue water color. We can see her profile, facing right, nose inches away from the mid-right border, her eye right below the lowest major branch of the tree. Its a nice touch!

Finally there's the graphite trees. They lend a bit of necessary atmosphere to piece, but could use some expanding upon. For instance, we see no plantlife rooted, no real idea of horizon or background besides neat colors. Even if it were just a nice, brushy, horizontal line implying solid ground, that would've helped a bit....even if it didn't fully commit to the right border. (but, I guess if you did that, it would compromise the hidden face, so idk wtf I'm talkin' about)

You had the right idea for adding additional graphite scenery in the top left...but I begin to wonder what came first...the plants or the skulls? Or was it JUST graphite? Because I'm beginning to feel like as you were fleshing out the skull's dimensions, you cut it in a little short so you didn't compromise those top left background trees...hence the weird flat top, am I wrong?

Regardless, down to every detail, this is some COOL art, dude. In the future, take greater detail in the pre-composition concept stage. Make it so your filesize is larger, your palette larger, so you can stretch and breathe more detail into every piece. Make no mistake: this is STILL good...but its an even better platform to launch upon higher.

Voted 5! Keep up the awesome artwork man.

372 responds:

Thanks so much! The original design actually extended to the left and went from green, light green, yellow, orange, red, and then purple and blue with very dark brown strokes as trees overlayed in the color but I didn't like it and chopped it down to this. As for the shape of the skull, you're right it does make a rather odd shape. The skull came first then the trees and the watercolor
I appreciate the great reviews!

[Heart Tattoo]

Its a fantastic idea for a tattoo!

I find it odd how it turned out, though....you mention that it was drawn, then colored digitally. But the blotted, reflective liquid effect around the inkwork would lead me to believe that this was all painted. Thats where things get weird when there's this odd artifacting going on around the black lines...but this could be a fault of mine for looking too closely at the canvas.

What effects were used in Photoshop when you mastered the piece? Whatever it is, its effected everything...there's a sort of a blur or a mosaic effect that I personally think was added on a little too thickly...if it were more moderate, it would be stronger.

...but that's only referring to the effect, if there was one, used. The color choices are perfect, and as a tattoo, it looks strong and believable. I especially like the detailing done with the coloring inside the heart and leaves. Its high in craftsmanship, and there's no denying that. I only wish that the upper corners didn't cut off where the rest of the flower's leaves extended, so we could really see the full picture. Try to avoid chopping off the entirety of a tattoo design...especially since when it actually goes on the body, its very rare to document the entire piece on the person, because it bends around dimensions and it'll take several pictures at different angles. Y'know? Unless she's getting a tramp stamp, that is :D

Good job, definitely keep it up! I'm sure you'll hear lots of gushing urging you to become a tattoo artist...every artist gets that, take it with a grain of salt. (Though it IS good money...ehhh, do what you want.)

372 responds:

Thank you for the review! This is the original sketch http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/ebce3d41035138a899750e19cb74d820
I went over the lines I wanted to keep with the paint brush tool, and colored it in with high opacity in many layers. Then a water color effect was applied, although I agree it did come out almost mosaic looking lol.
This is a phone picture of a printed out copy. The white spots are blotches of missing ink, which I don't understand. I agree that I may have made the outline to thick, when making it I guess I sorta brushed it off because of the concept of it being a tattoo. Although looking back that dosn't make much sense haha.
The corners are missing of because it's instagramed' , which forces me to cut it 606x606. I'm gonna try and get a better copy up.
As for being a tattoo artist I sort of decided I wanted to it at a young age. I like the history and the style, the way the body looks as a canvas and how the shape of the body can complement or break a piece of art. Also I have no clue how else I would make money through my artwork

[deserted mystery]

Very nice color palette! The foreground dune which dominates the shot is shaded very efficiently, it looks really good, and there's no denying that's sand. Tops on that.

The midground dune looks really good, of what we can see. You did a great job at making it seem like it's waaaayyyy back there, and you were wise to make it a much lighter hue than the dune in front of it. My only problem is that as you follow it from right to left, it just kinda drops off and ends behind the peak of the foreground dune. If it had continued going, flat as can be, to the other side of that peak, it would've been stronger in my personal opinion.

The clouds look fantastic, almost oil painted...that sky is truly a thing of envy. My only other negative criticism is the yellowness of the sun, but take that particular critique with a grain of salt; every artist does things their own style...so your sun happens to be yellow. Happens to be spiky. Happens to bleed out a yellow aura around itself, and that's totally acceptable. If it were me, and the sun HAD to be in the shot, I'd make it a diffused white orb. But like there's no mistaking that's SAND that you've drawn there, there's also no misconceptions that the thing in the top left is absolutely the sun.

The positioning could also be improved...like, making it not cut-off into the corner would've lended some additional strength too. I want you to google or wikipedia research the "Rule of Thirds" which is a very strong and important rule of thumb when it comes to composing your art. It would really hold you over to implement the Rule of Thirds in the future. That way the frame, in it's entirety, really pops and nothings cut off.

You're doing great, man! Never stop!

justice511 responds:

thank you :D the sun was definitly the part i wasnt too sure of in then end but i had the shadows done and all so i thought shit... to i tried to make it work and i honestly think it turned of alright not grate but not bad either and the clouds :'P the clouds my fave part i spent the most time on those to give them a really satisfying look :') and im gonna go and look up the rule of thirds right away :)

[Midnight Mountains]

Look great for mountains! The blackness of the sky and the greyness of the rock, though, makes it kinda feel like we're looking at a Lunar landscape though...we could easily be pointed to the clouds to indicate, hey, it's not the moon, we got an atmosphere to work with. But even for a night shot, I think it would still retain SOME color beneath the moon-light.

I really like the geometry of the backing mountains, and how the light source helps us out with the mountain range's shape.

Keep it up! Push yourself, and let's see what ya got!

slinkie7 responds:

hey, thanks. i realize its a little devoid of color, but im still getting that fine tuned. the support is really appreciated.
hopefully ill be posting again soon.

[Smug looking Grin]

Feminine faces kick my ass too, dude. But like all things, it's a practice! Here's my two bits:

You absolutely NAILED the jaw-line, mouth/lips, and nose. ALL THREE OF THOSE features I royally screw up when trying to draw a female, so I take extra notice when somebody gets it right, lol.

I should also add the skin lighting/shading is top notch; it looks believable and compliments the art style.

The eye might (MIGHT!) be a tad too high on the cheek and right of the nose. I'm trying to conjure where the left eye would be, and if we could flip the bangs up to see the forehead for reference...how would that skull look? Still though, I can't stress enough that this is a BIG MAYBE, because everyone's art style is unique, and intentional creative license with a characters anatomy is absolutely okay to lend one's individual artistic flair to a character. ^ This paragraph? Merely my observation.

The long, slender neck is actually kind of eye-grabbing...and it was a wise move to abstain from adding lines or implied dimensions of the neck. The more details on that neck, the more aged she will look...this character is young, so good deal :D

The collar-bone is a good touch, the popped collar helps steer the eye away from paying attention to how long that neck might be, but open enough to maybe invite some teeth to sink in (right there. RIGHT ON HER JUGULAR) but I'm having a bit of a ponder with her breast shape. I understand with the oval-ness of her left breast (stage-right breast) with the bold line probably implies that her jacket is tight enough to sort of push those babies up...maybe a little mushing action going on...but if that were the case, then the seperation between the breasts (the "V" or "Y" if you will) would look different.

The angle of the slope downward on that (stage-right) breast would imply that her tits sag down and out. By being pushed up, they would kinda level out flat/plateu at the top as they're pushed up by the jacket. Why am I going into this much detail about it? Because the conflicting detail is on the outer dimensions over the jacket on her left breast. I can dig that she's got a HUGE rack, but the slope of that outer line on (stage-left) titty would imply that the tits rest a lot higher, and this (rather large) jacket is mushing them inward. This would lead to a tiny "v" at the top of an elongated "Y" cleavage, methinks.

Either way, however you intended it, you TEASE US into thinking that she has an EPIC RACK and then you cut off the picture at the bottom so we can't see the entirety of her splendor? I am mildly disappoint...lololol

Wrapping it up, the hair looks fantastic; I'm particularly impressed with the detail in coloring and remaining consistent with the lightsource (in front,, chest-high, pointed up slightly). And USUALLY I'm kind of at a loss of ideas on what to do with the background. This sort of flower-petal design is not only stylish, but actually LENDS to the overall piece, and helps it pop. It's vibrant, but not so vibrant that it distracts us from our Busty Grin-Gal.

5/5, great work!

Luceilos responds:

Finally some decent review! I've been craving for actual feedback.

I see what you mean on conflicting detail for the rack there. Most likely due to the fact i didn't draw MORE of the body originally, which is what probably screwed me up. I didn't see that they were irregular shaped till now, and i'll keep in mind your pointers to make sure that consistency will play part int he future. Her rack is indeed very irregular shaped, now that I look at it. As well as the neck being a bit too long and the irregular angle/placement of the one eye we can see. Given your feedback, now I can see why and how to fix it.

And you're definitely right on cleavage orientation there in terms of that "pressed together" shape. That was just my folly to not pay attention to it.

Either way, thanks for the feedback, mate. Stuff like this, and taking time to actually give me your two cents on what you think rather than MINDLESS COMPLEMENTING is exactly what I was hoping for from this community, and you have definitely delivered on that. I can take this to improve in my next piece for sure.

[Light of the World]

Frame-able! That sky is a thing of ENVY, dude! I'm also really digging the distinct differences in texture from the mountain, to the tree line, to the plains. Top notch work, man. I'm voting 5 really hard and violently on this bad boy when I have the chance.

Luceilos responds:

Oh man, now I feel all empowered now. xD

Thanks man, I'm REALLY glad you like it. Actually being able to do landscapes and hearing that it was done well feels really awesome.

[Agent 47]

Fantastic! I love the "paint bleed" as it goes down. The shading on the guns are really eye-catching, all kinds of enjoyable little details make this very, very strong art.

I even checked out the video. I'm gonna ask a noob question, it doesn't look like Photoshop, so what software is that? Also, what tablet do you use?

JoshSummana responds:

Haha no it is Photoshop CS6 - i have just moved some of the pallettes/toolbars etc so its more convenient for me! :) Cheers for the kind words

[Heavy Metal zombie]

It's your one way ticket to midnight! Call it! HEAVY METAL!

Everything looks good, except, if I'm to be perfectly honest, the random white scratches all over the place. There's nothing wrong with trying to do grit, but these white lines fail to do that. Like, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about them...they look added in at the last minute.

Everything else looks fantastic. Keep up the good work!

afiboy69 responds:

o dude i agree i kinda tried to make it much more retro looking, but sadly failed lol, thanks a bunch tho =)

[Coat da Arms]

Warpaint comes to mind...and it looks damn good.

kalabor106 responds:

Thanks