Coop's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Seaside Sunrise (Colored)]

Basic

For my liking, this piece is just a little too basic - there is not enough detail in the artwork for it to really catch my eye, as I prefer something that's going to jump out of the page and scream that the artist has really put some long hours into this to create. Sadly, this one has a very quick and simple feeling about it.

The shading requires more work - there would be some sort of halo effect around the right hand edges of the tree canopy,a s the sunlight reflecting off the leaves would give a scatter, which would immediately improve the detail for the better. Perhaps making the piece a little bigger would also assist, as with a slightly bigger canvas to work with, you can find more inspiration for additional detail?

[Review Request Club]

[Mike (colour)]

Psychedelic

I think I used to have a pair of shorts in these colours ;)

A wonderfully abstract explosion of colours. The wonderfully bright summer shades, combined with the patches of black look quite surreal and I love the depth that you've managed to encapsulate in the image with the way that the image appears to run off down a tunnel into the top right corner.

Did you create the background separately and then work the black over the top, or did you do it the other way around. The blue and cyan circles on the left look as if they were purposefully drawn after, but then the arch in the middle at the bottom looks like the detail is just picking out background colouring at random. Superb!

[Review Request Club]

NEVR responds:

Done in Photoshop, I put a black layer over a white layer and cut out the details, which resulted in the black and white version of this piece. Then I painted in the colour underneath and played about with it a bit... blurred certain bits, etc.

It's really very simple in theory, but it took a while because it was all drawn with a laptop touchpad.

[Colin]

Just like we used to make :)

When I was at school as a kid (We're talking almost 20 years ago now, WTF?!) we used to do pictures like this - coloured background in wax crayon, then paint over the top in black poster paint. Next day, take a matchstick, or other blunt wooden implement and scratch out the detail you want, which is then picked out in many colours.

But this is much more! It's got a reflection, it's got degrees of focus, between Colin himself and the background and it's got a hell of a lot more skill than a seven year old can produce in school :P

Man, you're one underrated artist - do you do any otehr styles, or just the psychedelic shadow puppets?

[Review Request Club]

[dreamy cloud]

Doctor Who

Kind of reminds me of the time travel sequence in either the Tardis in Dr. Who or in the more obscure Bill & Ted films :P

The cloud-scape has too much purple in it for my liking. I think that the addition of either more colours (less black and white), or thinning out the purple for a more blue approach will make it more cloud like.

[Review Request Club]

kiwi-kiwi responds:

I originally went for the blue approach, but I settled for this one in the end because I liked the outcome more.

As for the Doctor Who resemblance, I guess this would look a whole lot better if I added some depth, thank you for the idea.

[Star Fairy]

Not your best

A shame that you got a little carried away with the background of this piece - a few too many stars and perhaps a little over eager with the spray can tool. Still, let's not dwell on this too much. Perhaps darken that area down a little and pick out one or two, using a corona effect around them, to make use of the background.

The shooting stars look good, as does the fairy. A nice try to pick out the gossamer like wings that this creature has and a good use of this corona effect. Perhaps using a moon would assist with the lighting effects in this piece?

[Review Request Club]

EchoRun responds:

Ah, such is the over enthusiasm of a gal with a new toy... *sprays stars everywhere*

Thanks for the review.

[Demon Scorcery]

Great look

Firstly, let's start with the background - the floor and the walls are so detailed, with the glow of the mantle below showing through. Possibly some minor glowing effects could have been used here to accentuate this effect, but otherwise, it looks great.

The intricate detail of the pedestal is fantastic. I can certainly see passing this to an ironmonger and seeing what he can make of that for a centrepiece sculpture - certainly the focal point for conversations.

Finally, the demonic being itself looks great - I love the shading that you've used on the torso, as it looks really realistic, with the muscle layout. Perhaps it could have used a little more shading on the shoulder muscles, but other than that, it's great.

I'd have had the thighs slightly larger, as he's probably carrying some weight around on them, plus the only other real issue I have is the position of the wings - don't be afraid to have them slightly closer to symmetrical, but with the left hand wing, as we look at it fanning off the edge of the frame.

[Review Request Club]

EchoRun responds:

I suppose my reasoning behind the way he is holding his wings is in his character - he is a proud, pompous, vain, egotistical prick who loves to strut his stuff, even if his audience is only captured little souls he is manipulating. He is showing off, basically. Perhaps some more subtleties in any future illustrations of this character would illustrate that better - like a full length, fancy gold framed mirror (yeah, very subtle!), only the kind of reflections it would make would be a pain to draw.

Thanks for the review. :)

[Servant of the Gods]

Freeze Frame

I think that the main issue that this image has gone through a bit of a time warp - the debris off the tree has been thrown too far in the one instant when the lightning bolt strikes, for my liking.

I love the soft-focus effect that you've used, it really brings a sharper impression to the serpent / Naga / Yuan-ti in the foreground. It's almost a shame that it appears to have mammalian skin, rather than the reptilian scales that you would expect from something that looks like a snake.

Still, a very impressive level of detail all around.

[Review Request Club]

EchoRun responds:

I guess with the lightning struck tree I was just trying to get that explosive power you have by the time you reach that last strike (lightning often strikes many times in one spot over a fraction of a second), just before the tree were to be set on fire. Very difficult to capture in any medium I suppose.

I would definitely be adding more detail to the snake were I to redo this or reuse the character. Probably spines, scales and the like. :)

Thanks for the review.

[Good ol' hank]

Good

A good bit of work on the background, with adequate shading applied this time, making the piece look much better overall already :)

As I've said about your work before, it could use a little colour, but even without, this one is starting to look like the real deal. Perhaps if you started to explore a darker range of shades, it would look better, because Hank has never worn White, has he? He was always a darker shade of grey, so giving him this would give the image more of his "bite me" attitude.

Possibly some sorts of shades of red and orange for the background - the red sky and the orangey sands of the Nevada landscape, just to give a little more realism.

[Review Request Club]