Coop's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Alatheina]

Dark and malevolent.

A difficult subject matter to capture the essence of, with the dark skin and the light eyes, meaning that the lighting struggles to show the features off. Couple that with a dark background and you have issues with projecting the piece out. This difficulty could be compared with that of drawing a ninja sneaking about.

The level of detail on the gossamer wings is fantastic. I love the intricacy of them - the only shame is that I can't quite get close enough to see the level of detail. I wouldn't personally have had the wisps off the wings, they look a little weird.

The stripe of stars doesn't seem like anything I've seen outside of a deep-space setting, so to see something in an inner space, or perhaps galactic outer space setting just seems slightly unusual. Though it's just a personal preference, I'm confused by what I've just said and shooting stars, which would indicate a meteor shower, most certainly an inner space phenomenon ;)

The gas giant in the background was a nice touch, though with the light, this does dominate and distract from the fairy, so focusing on the main detail needs to be what you concentrate on in future pictures of this particular femme.

Finally with regards to the lighting again, the staff seems to be iridescent. If this is the case, it could have helped to illuminate the facial features of your character here - I want to see the cold, emotionless visage in more detail, so that I can assess what she is trying to think.

Now, get on and draw a Shaktar!

[Review Request Club]

[Classic Pokemon]

Skillfully done.

There are still issues, such as you not using a full piece of white A4, which you can then fade the coloured background into. If you're drawn elements of this 50 times over, you have invested a lot of time and effort into the piece and, to be fair, you have been richly rewarded with this end product. You could have trimmed the picture down a little, to cut out most of the outside influence from the carpet, as that would have helped a lot. Perhaps lie it on a table, with a cloth on it, then take the picture there. You're taking it with a webcam, so why not badger your parents into getting a proper digital camera, so that your pieces can be uploaded in higher quality and detail?

I hope that you recycled all of the waste paper afterwards, young man. You do have reasons to be proud of this, so why not try and see if you can create something original, rather than fan art, for your next piece? This is a good way to progress, but from there, you need to take it to another level.

[Review Request Club]

JimmyTheCaterpillar responds:

Honestly, I have degraded a bit, because I didn't spend as much time on my other art as I did this one.

Oh, and yes.I did recycle the excess paper. Because I HAVE THE POWER!!!

Thanks for reviewing.

[Skull is Happiness]

Decent, but...

Right, the paper looks untidy to start with - I'm not sure that you did it deliberately or not, but it doesn't matter. If you're going to do a background, something more tangible is preferable, but if not, leave it blank, I feel it looks better.

The skull looks a little flat - front his angle, both the rows of teeth on the upper and lower jaws should have the impression of "curving up the page". This will give the illusion that they are going deeper into the image, as you've done with the lower jaw. Use a mirror and look at your own teeth for reference, or Google some sample skulls. You should have four teeth "flat" across the front of the face, both top and bottom then start the curving process. The canines are too central as well - four teeth between them, giving the distinctive vampire look.

You could stand to make the fires bigger within the eyes, giving rise to something more dramatic and perhaps even a change of lighting within the recesses of the skull. Perhaps even a splash of colour would be appropriate there. As it stands, the flames are far too small, being dwarfed by the massive black expanses, which only serves to remind me of an effort at Death by Terry Pratchett. Those eyes were meant to be pin-pricks of blue-white light, so quite different from your concept. Look at that and see what you can come up with. Sink the cheek bone definition and put a little more detail into the nasal area, skulls are quite a bit trickier than I feel you've anticipated.

[Review Request Club]

[Peter Sallen: A Colored Man.]

Full of errors.

The overall quality of this image is quite limited, as it's either the camera quality, or the image itself, which is of poor quality. I'm not sure if it isn't both, to be honest. If you're going to take a picture of a piece such as this, lie it down flat and get the camera balanced, to minimise shake. Most modern digital cameras have an auto focus, which they use, but this one seems not to have used it, or to have the settings switched off for it.

Your idea about using the writing alongside it would have been great, had either have been of good enough quality. Saying that a soldier fought in the Cold War would be like someone trying to pretend that they were in the SAS. There was little-to-no actual combat during that period of political and military tension, it was all a big stand-off, regarding who was going to launch nuclear weapons at the other. Fortunately, neither of them did. I'm playing the BS card.

On to the drawing, which is clearly a face that has seen abuse over the years. I can see the age lines, the bags under the eyes from lack of sleep, plus the bruising that you've added around the eye. I have no idea about the massive black void beneath the smiling mouth, so that's pure confusion, as with the wispy grey around the chin - if he's homeless, think of it along the lines that he's less likely to be able to shave at all, so hair on the cheeks and upper lip as well. The mouth seems too uniform, with perfectly square teeth, although they are yellowed and some of them are black, as if to portray cartoon gaps. Perhaps with the light on the front of the face, you would be able to see a tongue, or some of the inside of the mouth behind them?

The colouring is messy, as if you have attacked it from all angles, which does take away from the quality of the piece, as if you were rushing it. Take your time, spread the colour evenly, in the same direction (side to side, up and down or diagonally, but not a mix of all three) and the piece will look better. You've got a bloody smear under the guy's nose - why not have some sort of stain from the corner of the mouth, that was wiped away with the back of a grubby sleeve in the immediate aftermath of the fight?

[Review Request Club]

[Plea From a Crisis Suit]

Okay, so the Tau look like they shopped at the same boutique used to sell Storm Trooper Armour in Return of the Jedi and the Dark Angels Green looks a little too Emerald to me, but other than that, the essence of the piece certainly captures the moment well. From the little details, such as the "Temporary Techpriest", inscribed on the tool box, the roll of gaffer tape there and the smoke rising from the barrels, this is clearly something that you've put a lot of thought and effort into.

What really stuns me is that you're written a passage to go with it and I'm struggling to come up with enough words of a review, to compare to what you've written. Did you write the concept first, or draw the image and tell the story around it?

On the hyper-critical side of things, you could have made the background a little more involved, as a misty / cloudy skyline just doesn't do much, compared to the high levels of detail in the rest of the image. A distinct lack of blood was the other thing, as even though Space Marines wear this fantastic armour, they still technically have blood, or blood like fluids pumped around their systems, so losing it would look pretty cool, as well as dismemberment, by cannon fire, or just tearing from the mech, in front of the Commander.

Clearly a subject that you have a passion for, keep up the great work!

[Review Request Club]

Galneda responds:

I had considered poolings of blood beneath the space marines at one point, but I've already forgotten why I didn't do it; the black smudged around the Crisis Suit's foot was supposed to be a guide for the blood kicked up from stomping the marine underfoot.

What had started when I roughed this was just a Crisis Suit having a sort of a standoff with a Space Marine...then that became a Crisis Suit with his army behind him...then I thought, "Well, surely the Space Marine wouldn't be alone, so I gotta include them somehow." and what happened was a scene played out in my head where the Space Marines were either in midbattle or about to lose, and it would be a lone badass about to avenge the hell out of his fallen brothers.

So in short, the drawing came first, and before it was completed, I opened up the submit Art Portal page, and started typing. A couple of dozen edits later so I could fit the damn thing in the alotted "Author's Comments" section, and I added a few details to the work in progress to make it better match the story I impatiently jotted down. The last two details being the cloaked Stealth Suits and the two "stun missiles" sticking out of the ground.

I really do need to start drawing more original work, but the lore behind 40K is an interesting one. If I were to do it again, I'm thinking of doing Necrons next. :P

Much appreciated for the review! It's not the word count that makes it a good review, it's that it's honest, critical, and helpful...so thanks again, Coop!

[Rebellion Festival Poster]

Reminds me of the album artwork for Never Mind the Bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols and similar sleeves for singles and other releases. The one thing that I would suggest on occasion is to use a double letter in your newspaper cuttings, since that's exactly what the letter would have used from various publications. I like the style of different fonts, sizes and so forth, as it works and works well!

The central figure reminds me of a Banksy work, with the majority being an outline, which could easily have been stencilled into place. The detail in the eyes and mouth seem to belay that, but coupled with the mottled hair and the rose tattoo, it looks quite good.

The rose is totally out of keeping with something like this and a perfect sign for anarchy - a symbol of sweetness and beauty, combined with a forceful rebellion doesn't gel, thus is is a little piece of chaos in the symbolism.

Had I made this, I would have started with a school desk, like they used to have for exams, with decades old scrawl over it in pen, ink and pairs of compasses marking them by the students that suffered there in whichever year. Then put the newspaper and the figurehead over the top of that. This would be kind of a nod to Alice Cooper and his iconic piece, School's Out, which could be viewed as much of an influence on Punk as the Pistols, themselves.

[Review Request Club]

[Royal Flush]

It looks great - from the detail of the wood grain to the faces of the playing cards on show (nothing happening with the tattooed player's ace high), this leaves only diamonds available for the grinning player, since the title would indicate he has Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten. The poker player in me says that it's a waste, as he could have taken that pot with just a pair of 2s, but that's largely immaterial.

I'm not sure about the "uranium ashtray" - the only thing that I can think of that would glow like that would be green glass, but the green would be much deeper than that. Turning my attention from the table to the walls, I note that the wallpaper seems a little out of line, as you head up the window. Perhaps it's a perspective thing, but looking at the circular detail, it's as if you've tried to squeeze one in alongside the window and it's pushed a little too much to the left. The subtly covered wanted poster of the poker playing hustler was a lovely touch, that took me a while to notice as well.

Would there really be beer barrels that close to a group of folk playing cards? Is this a back room at a saloon? If so, why is there a wanted poster on display - something doesn't add up there. Finally, I can see why the tattooed player has a thing for you, but why are his hands so feminine? The fingers seem too long and thin and the nails seem impeccable, for the time that this sort of piece is set.

Yes I'm picky, but I do love good art!

[Review Request Club]

[Ink Dragon]

Was the coloured effect ont he paper intended, or a side effect of the scanner? The way that there's an almost oily colour pattern over the white, as if with some damp ground and a drop of oil or petrol. It would be interesting to see how you created this, if it were intentional.

With this piece, the intricate level of detail does create a rod for your own back, as replicating this for each and every facet of the piece is incredibly difficult and the slightest mistake can be costly. By and large, this is not an issue, until you peer really closely at the underbelly, or flanks of the dragon.

How long did it take you to draw? The other thing I wanted to know was which came first - the inspiration to draw the dragon, or the border around it?

Normally, I tend to favour drawings that have colour, but in this case, I can certaily make an exception for this piece which transcends cultures and certainly gives a clue to things inspiring your life - Chinese (dragon's head), Nordic (the body) and Celtic (border) themes all belnding together, which need to be managed well to avoid unsavoury clashes. I don't think that there are such clashes this time, but be wary of this if you are attempting such things in future.

[Review Request Club]

EchoRun responds:

That slight oily effect was one of the tweeks I did on the computer. I cant remember exactly how I did it, but it involved, filters and a lot of messing arround with the propoties of that layer.

Yes, trying to keep up that level was difficalt, but once I had started on the head I didn't want to stop, I really liked it. The dragon came first, the boarder was created to finish it. :)

I will certanly watch my styles if I do this again. TBH, I wasn't thinking about it at all this time round, it was just "I like this, so lets do lines like this!" without even thinking where else that kind of line had been used before. Compleatly unplanned.

Thank you for the review. :)

[Quote and Curly]

Robot trucker hick?

An interesting blend that you've come up with here, as the character on the left (quote?) seems to be decked out as if he's ready to drive a truck, albeit with some sort of cravat tied around his neck...

I like the euphemistic post of Curly, as she is leaning on a suggestively placed large piece of ordinance and giving him the eye. Looking at what he's brandished, she's looking for a higher calibre gun than that :P

Smooth lines, good colours and a nice (almost metallic) background, that completes the look for the pair of them. I wonder what radio station they are listening to...

[Review Request Club]

[Nami]

Smudges hurt this piece.

An interesting idea, clearly of something close to your heart, but the shading / smudging over on the left hand side of the picture really makes the piece look less than it could do. I can understand the shading effects, but keeping the graphite off your fingers, while you're working on other areas of the image is a must, so you don't spread it to other areas of the page, which won't have anything on them.

The shapes are decent, though I wouldn't personally be drawing something of the Manga genre, with massive eyes, which take up most of the head. I wasn't impressed with the perspective of the character, as the torso looks out of proportion with the thighs / hips and the breasts look too high up - I know that her posture lowers her head, but they still look too close to her throat, for my eye. The hips look massive in comparison and, compared to her scrawny shoulders, it's like you've cut her along the line of the mini skirt and bolted two different people together, which is very strange.

[Review Request Club]

Thedark responds:

thank you Coop i will try to improve later on