00:00
00:00
Octoraffe

4 Art Reviews

4 w/ Responses

Do you sketch out your drawings before going into them? It might help with the placement of the neck, shoulders, and arms if you do a basic anatomy sketch underneath everything. The neck comes out of the base of the skull and the lower jaw, but it looks here like it just comes right out of the back of her skull, and it flattens her. Reference photos will do good, I use them ALL the time. It's not cheating to reference stock photos! I like the colored lighting, but there are some inconsistencies. For instance, there is a highlight on the shaded side of her face that is behind her hair, but there is no blue highlight on her lips, which are not in shadow. Also, the lighting seems to be coming from slightly above, but the brim of her hat doesn't cast a shadow. Everything with mass will cast some kind of shadow, and shadows aren't always just blobs of darker shapes. If you look at people on sunny days, you'll see that things can sometimes make crisp, definite shadows.

Overall, this is very good, but just needs a little bit more work to push it further. Great job, fellow artist!

BryanV responds:

wow, your'e good. Thanks, just what I needed. Oh and I did sketch it first , but the head back then was too big so I resized it, which may caused the weird neck . And very helpful advice too on shading and stuff. thx.

Speedpainting is the best way to get an idea down in more than just a doodle that will later be forgotten. It's definitely a great thing, but it's also a very useful tool. You now have the foundation for an image that can be fleshed out to completion with ease, because everything is right in front of you.

This is great for a speedpaint, and I would love to see you take it further, into a finished piece!

love, anne.

krissalus responds:

Hey, thanks! Maybe I will go further with it someday, but for now, it was just some good practice. Thanks for the review! :)

I love this for the idea, and that you remembered Googie, who is not a very well remembered Scooby Doo character. I also love the attention to detail and the lighting hue that make it obvious its movie night at Shaggy's house despite the fact that the television is not shown. You stayed very true to the look of the characters, and Scooby seems especially accurate. His design is simple, but the line placement is key for him to look like himself. You did a great job with that.

However, I find that the composition lacks a bit. The characters are very small in the frame, and get swallowed up by the horizontal lines of the background, couch, and foreground. Cropping the picture closer to the characters will pull the focus in to them, and make it easier to see Velma's jealous, sneering expression. With so much empty space, the feeling of "Look out, she's behind you!" disappears because the eye can look so many other places. The empty space seems unnecessary for the work.

Nice job overall, and keep it up!

StevRayBro responds:

Great Advice, will keep that in mind on the next piece.

This is great, but there are a few inaccuracies regarding the lighting and how it is hitting her body. The light source here is a sphere, and the light it not blocked by any object or lampshade, which means the light is sort of going in every direction. Because of that, the light coming from the upper hemisphere of the light would be hitting her hair stronger than it is currently. It would also be bright on the bone structures of the left (our right) wing.

Because of the strong light, the shadows are also going to be stronger. It's all about the play of light and dark. If the light is hitting her left arm (our right) so strongly, her arm should cast a dark, solid shadow across her wing, but it doesn't. Her hair should also be casting a shadow over part of her face. Adding in shadows will help the illusion of light in this piece be more believable. A good rule of thumb is for every light spot, there should also be a dark spot in the picture. In other words, for every highlight, there should be a shadow. Right now, you have highlights and midtones, but no dark shadows.

This is a great piece though, and the choice of making the light source low adds a lot of very nice drama. Design and composition wise, this artwork is very strong! Nice work, I really like it!

HypnoSquido responds:

woah thanks for taking the time to write all that! x D
yes I completely understand what you mean, good work!
I will keep practicing! <o/

again, thank you for taking your time on writing such a useful review ^^

Painter, sculptor, illustrator. I play way too may games on Newgrounds, and upload art roughly once every 100 years. Nice to meet you!

Age 32, Female

Painter/Illustrator

USA

Joined on 2/23/12

Level:
3
Exp Points:
70 / 100
Exp Rank:
> 100,000
Vote Power:
3.11 votes
Rank:
Civilian
Global Rank:
> 100,000
Blams:
0
Saves:
2
B/P Bonus:
0%
Whistle:
Normal
Medals:
685