Coop's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Natalie Portman]

9 Hours?!

Wow, I would have expected a lot longer to see a piece like this take shape. I love the detail, particularly how you've captured her eyes in such a fashion that they follow you around the room - a difficult achievement, even for a photographer, but you've been able to duplicate it yourself.

I would say that the mouth looks slightly off-line, as if you've moved it all to the left of the picture just a little. You've captured her features well and the whole impression that the image gives is rather pleasing all told.

Perhaps if you did something like this again, I'd go for more of a "bust" image, where you see perhaps down to her shoulder-tops or even a whole torso-shot. Yes, the face has been well worked, but surely, you're capable of more, what with how you've played the lighting and other such areas into the piece. Maybe it's just me, but a better background might also be more desirable.

[Review Request Club]

JoshSummana responds:

Haha yeah 9 hours it took :) I started it around 4pm and finished up around 1 in the morning (I had a pizza break in between XD).
But yeah see I was going to find a 'bust' image but at the moment Im just trying to get my actual portrait skills up... Just want to get to that photo realism stage lol. Im not there yet so I shall work it more. As for the background, I just wanted something simple considering it was mainly a portrait study. I will get there eventually ;)

[Rain]

Abstract, but innovative.

If I ever tried to get something like this done, I'd have such a problem getting it all to come together. I wouldn't know where to start, like would I work on the girl, or where she was standing first?

The abstract nature of the flowers compliments the girl well and the crescent moon of an umbrella is a nice addition and it shows that you've got great awareness when it comes to shapes and that you're not afraid to push boundaries, because it wouldn't fit in a conventional sense.

The girl's head looks to be inclined a little too far for my liking and I'm not entirely sure where she is looking - to regard the flower that she is nearly caressing, she would have to look through the top of her skull - sorry, but physics gets in the way there ;)

The fact that the umbrella's cane isn't straight was the only other niggle I could have with this piece - you've done some stellar work and I look forward to seeing more pieces.

[Review Request Club]

saramary3 responds:

Unlike the other pieces that I've done, this one I had a definite Idea what I wanted. Instead of "winging" the girl I sketched her out first. (She's actually looking at the ground) Even though I tried not to make her too exaggerated there were some features that I still end up doing unintentionally. (Big hands, no eyes...) I also messed up the umbrella by having one side smooth curved (the moon) and the inside bubble curved. I really appreciate the review! It's wonderful to get feedback!

[Stripe]

Good use of shapes

I like the way this one works out, with there being one main outline around the whole picture and everything within that outer line is just detail. The way the main girl's arm makes up the jaw and face line for one of the background characters is clever and the effect is pleasing.

The character to the right of shot appears to have too much neck hidden away, as her shoulder seems to come out of the base of her skull, as opposed to there being a discernible neckline... or is it the same character on the other side, just her body continued? Wow, that's impressive, as there's the whole question of what you see, a vase, or two women facing one another. Now that I think about it, I can see both, which is freaky.

I think that the crowning glory of this piece is probably the hair lines that you've used, as they can lead so easily into something else and mess with our minds, as a result, thus making us consider perhaps a little too much about the piece.

[Review Request Club]

saramary3 responds:

Thank you so much for such an in depth review! I definitely liked the way the faces in this one worked out.

[Taste]

Hmm...

At a first glance, this reminds me of something to do with Picasso, then I realise that there are two subjects intermingled in this piece. It's a powerful piece, with overtones of lesbianism and indeed with the fact that both "halves" of the character look the same, self-appreciation.

I think that if it needed anything, a splash of colour would certainly not go amiss here and there. Keeping to the black and white does make it more than a little confusing to look at, but filling various parts of the piece in one colour could give you a real switch from Picasso, to a more Warhol look, which would work well for a piece like this.

[Review Request Club]

saramary3 responds:

Wow! I didn't really catch that I'd made the two girls identical. Nice! I can't wait to finally re post with color! Thank you so much for the wonderful review!

[piggeehh]

Marshmallow?

I'm sorry, but that was the first thing that leapt to my mind when I saw the shape of the pig - a giant pink marshmallow.

I think that you've done a decent imitation of the Newgrounds aura background, but if you were trying to make it effectively, I'd suggest more rays from the centre point. That would certainly help and lighten up the pink of the background, rather than having large swathes of pink, followed by large swathes of beige, or white.

Your piece thrives with little detail, which is effective, to a point. Why not just add a little more, like a quick sprig of hair, or some sort of marking on the pig's back - they usually have that at some point on their bodies. I'm just saying that with this level of detail, you could churn out dozens of these images within a day. If that's the case, brilliant, but only if you're using it for a comic strip.

[Review Request Club]

supersexybeast responds:

thank you for the critique!!

[Radius Discharge]

3D was ruined by 2D

Well, I was encouraged by the background and the purple tinge to the lightning, being nicely offset by the moon itself. That's the real beauty of the piece.

This piece sadly has one major flaw, which is where the two-dimensional tower stabs into the picture, really taking something away from it - there is little indication of perspective, as if the building was three dimensional. Don't underestimate this, as the lack here really hurts the overall impression that the tower gives to the rest of the image.

Where you seem to have done something along the lines of the perspective, you've mucked it up - try getting the tower ever so slightly side on, so you see two faces. Remember, if one is in view, the one behind it won't be on a square plan building. The roofing sections have let you down and working to resolve them would help a lot, along with showing a little of the left or right side of the building.

Play about with it and see what you can produce.

[Review Request Club]

MCarsten responds:

Hey there Coop, thanks for review :),

"Well, I was encouraged by the background and the purple tinge to the lightning, being nicely offset by the moon itself. That's the real beauty of the piece."

Thanks, I also liked the purple lightning I made :)

"This piece sadly has one major flaw, which is where the two-dimensional tower stabs into the picture, really taking something away from it - there is little indication of perspective, as if the building was three dimensional. Don't underestimate this, as the lack here really hurts the overall impression that the tower gives to the rest of the image."

The difference beetween 2D to 3D space probably happened because the light effects I leaved in some spherical area, and the clounds in the backgrounds, thanks for tell me about this piece.

"Where you seem to have done something along the lines of the perspective, you've mucked it up - try getting the tower ever so slightly side on, so you see two faces. Remember, if one is in view, the one behind it won't be on a square plan building. The roofing sections have let you down and working to resolve them would help a lot, along with showing a little of the left or right side of the building."

Yeah leaving 2 faces would turn the building more into 3D but for some reason I think I kinda prefer in this ~2.5D vision.

Thanks again for review :)

[Alien Muse]

Anthropomorphic aliens

I love the preconception that all aliens will look in some way, shape or form like humans. It's not a shot at you, merely just an observation of the human race as a whole. Granted, it's worked well for us, but what's to say that the conditions won't be radically different for them on their homeworld?

Still, what we appear to have here is some sort of desert planet based structures, possibly scorched hills, or even ancient Egyptian or Inca style pyramids. The construction looks rather random and haphazard, thus indicating that the builders (?) would have the ability to move the blocks, but not to shape them, which would be consistent with certain civilisations of Earth-based society, so why not elsewhere?

Right, the indigenous species, which has traditional green hue, as per the tales of yesteryear, with little green men and so forth - how quaint. The tentacles are a nice alteration, as is the additional appendage on the throat area. On top of this, the feet appear to have opposable toes, which are a nice evolutionary step forward, I suppose. Good curves and use of shading there as well, with the colour of hair blending into that of the clothes that she (?) wears.

[Review Request Club]

InsertFunnyUserName responds:

Thanks for the review. Yeah, I'm more inclined to do more anthropomorphic characters simply because humans are what I'm best at drawing.

[The Ozzman VS The Batman]

Nice interpretation

I love the symbolism here - Ozzy's most talked about antic, plus the look of sheer fear on Batman's face. He fears no man, not even one as huge as Ozzy.

The use of pastels is a great boon to the piece, as you can give the piece a darker overtone, despite the soft lines of the pastels fading into one another - symbolic of the non-conformity that is Metal. We aren't going to jump because you say so, but we will consider jumping if we feel that it is what we want to do.

The teeth were a nice addition and while you've clearly gone for a younger looking Ozzy, it still resonates with the modern Metal fan here.

[Review Request Club]

Merol responds:

Thanks for the amazing review!

This was my first attempt at realistic (kinda) painting using pastels, I think it's decent.

Sorry for the short response, I don't know what else to say other than THANKS AGAIN!! and i'm very glad you like Metal too!

[Pushing Onwards]

Comic book hero!

A nice little snapshot here, complete with Andy Warhol style background, this piece really takes his inspiration just a little further, making the work more colourful and away from the limitations of the printing that he did back in the day.

With the driving force of the character themselves, you have really made the most of maybe 4 colours, but blending subtle shades in here and there has made this piece much more. I can see this sort of character being made into those rub-on temporary tattoos that kids wear every summer.

Running with some weighty bag across the shoulder is commitment and I am impressed by the shape of the body, though suggesting more of a movement with the bag might help - at the point that the body is, the bag might be behind the hips more, with the right hand stride would bring it ahead of the body some.

What are you planning to do with this character? Aside from the comic, I'd love to see you give flash a go with this, as the bionic arm seems like something I want to see move.

[Review Request Club]

Aigis responds:

Thanks for the critique.

With the bag: I have run with a satchel bag on my back before. They are very hard to predict the movement of. They really just fly all over the place.

And I don't have anything planned other than the comic for the character. I suppose if I decide I want to get into animation proper at some point, I might use it?

[Mr. Buisness man]

Nice use of shading

I think that we can definitely see some potential here, with the way that the guy seems to have been shaded very well, but there were one or two areas that I wished to focus on:

1) The briefcase - is it too much here to get one that is a uniform shape? I think that with making it a proper square shape, you would be able to make more use of your curved and informal lines on the suit aspect of the character.

2) Socks / shirt - is it too much for this executive to afford proper socks, or even a shirt with a collar? These are two areas that stuck out to me as a man who works in a suit. I take pride in my appearance and as such, small details such as this should be noted.

It's almost as if the focus is concentrated on the bottom half of the image, with crisp lines seeming to be the order of the day, whereas in the upper part, it seems almost to have gone "soft focus" on the piece.

[Review Request Club]

StalkerGuy responds:

Alright, thanks! :)