Coop's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Bahamuts Playing Poker]

Why five of them?

Seriously, I thought you knew about the folklore of Bahamut's potentially estranged friends / associates / relatives. I personally would have thought that getting this filled in with Bahamut (Blue); EmoDragon (Black); Fagamut (Pink) and Wyvern (Green) would have given you four of the five. To complete it, Tiamat is the goddess of evil dragons, or you could have found a red one for a laugh.

Still, this does evoke some very good emotions with the original piece by Coolidge. I think that there could have been slightly more detail with the chips on the table, but other than that, you've done a pretty decent job. A little more work could be used on some of the edges and the detail on otehr pieces, but don't go overboard, as you need some parts where it isn't as sharp, for the effect of the image.

[Review Request Club]

reverend responds:

Coop, that's a brilliant idea. I really should have thought of using at least Emo and Fagamut with Bahamut. I think in the future works I will. Thanks for the review!

[All Mine]

Lumpy limbs

Hmm, this piece seems indicative of some of the issues that we have had with previous pieces - the thighs are still a little far apart for my liking and given a chance, I'd like to see them a little fuller figured, as it might appear more natural. I'm not sure why you've gone with the lumpy look to the legs and arms and perhaps these need rounding a little more, as the edges can appear quite angular at present.

I love the wicked grin and the menacing setup of the equipment, which reminds me of a rogue in D&D with some sort of bionic arm. I think that there could be a little more detail included here just to highlight this fact, but other than that it'sa good image.

[Review Request Club]

Aigis responds:

She is wearing both a shirt and pants. They are a noticeably different colour to her skin colour, which is very pale green.

[Cold Symbol]

MUST BE FULL SIZE!

I'm becoming accustomed to the brush strokes of HeavyTank here and I must say that the standard reaction is to look at a piece and click for the full size offering, thus immediately justifying the thumbnail present before me from the get-go.

This is no exception, as what begins as a little painting of some Eastern wording along the lines of "fuck it's cold", becomes the incredible detail of the brush strokes and the way that the paint has been spread across the paper. The outlines even look realistic in the way that it represents a piece that someone has drawn in a second or two, then magnified to see what's really happened in the interaction of the paint or ink and the paper or canvas.

While there might have been a little too much emphasis on the "brush running out of paint in places" effect, the overall look of the piece is good and it does look a little icy in that layout. I would suggest more use of whites and light blue-greys in order to give a better range of colours and shades, but it does look very impressive.

[Review Request Club]

HeavyTank responds:

Ah, I thought you guys at the RRC forgot about this since there were no new reviews for a while...
Really great review, thanks a lot.

[Maiko (Glamorous)]

Can't get over the eyes...

A very good work, but the main issue that I can see here is that the eyes look too enthralling - shouldn't they have a black pupil, as opposed to a wholly purple iris and pupil combination? It just doesn't seem to work and keeps drawing me away from the rest of the detail of this piece. I know we can put some of it aside as the bounce back from that twinkle, but the whole eye was a little much for my liking.

You have an interesting outfit for her here, with the straps that look like something designed to support roofing girders, as opposed to her top. Compare this to the stark contrast with the lace up effect across the cleavage and you end up with a garment that someone like Alexander McQueen would design.

Finally, the other thing that left me slightly uncertain was the glossy finish to the skin - has she been oiled up especially to get into this? It does certainly seem that there is something there to draw attention towards the breasts (why would you only grease up the inner breasts if you were getting her into an outfit with that help?)

A nice pair of glasses and it might have looked better if she were looking over the top of them in a more sultry post while this magic or whatever effect you wish to call it is taking place.

[Review Request Club]

Vortex00 responds:

Thanks for the feedback

I just like glossy skin lol, there is no logical reason explaining why she has glossy skin in this picture.

[Yang-Ying]

Scale / mosaic

An interesting piece, where you have two different drawing styles to make up the two constituent parts of the Yin and Yang. Personally, like the way that these styles clash, though I think that it might have looked better if you'd have used the same style, just with a reversed colour scheme for the two sides.

Finally, for the fact that this piece is hand drawn, you need to work with the statement of making it a decent circle to start with - a plate or a pair of compasses will help with this, just to pencil sketch a faint outline. From there, you will be able to develop the picture much better and see a much better finished piece. Relatively speaking, you did a better job with the "s" through the middle and the smaller circles. If this is all hand drawn without circle drawing assistance, kudos.

[Review Request Club]

MonoFlauta responds:

i did with a compass XD lol i suck doing them :P, the "s" was done with compass 2

Anyway :p thanks a lot for reviewing! :D

[Dragon Eye]

I feel like something's missing...

Don't get me wrong, this is a wonderfully detailed piece. However, with such a level of detail, I think that you would have been missing one of the more 'traditional' features of such a reptile - the second set of eyelids underneath the first. I know, it's just me and I like to set really high bars for your work, since you're one of the best artists here.

The lack of sharpness and overall clarity of this piece is one of the features I like, since it's so easy for artists using computers to get their images so crisp and clean cut with relatively little effort - something you would struggle mightily to do as a painter. You know, I think I would like to see the finished piece, as the dragon itself, rather than just the eye on it's own.

[Review Request Club]

EchoRun responds:

I am loathed to over sharpen a traditional painting - it just looks pixelised or too 'clean'. So I am glad you like that.

Do all Reptiles have second eye lids? I know at least some birds do, but I didn't think all did, in either case. Oh well. From an artistic point of view it simply isn't a detail I have thought about before, to be honest. Maybe for a future project.

[This Rose Has Teeth]

What happened to her legs?!

Dear God, this woman must have been deformed at birth - her legs are all out of proportion and the way they bow like that, she looks to have some serious problems.

With the length of the legs, please concentrate on the length from hip to knee and knee to ankle - both measurements should be practically the same - the lack of distinguishing for the knee joint does make this look rather weird. The curvature of the legs themselves lead me to think two things - the bow legged stance and the fact that her thighs seem to be quite a way apart. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but her vagina must be absolutely massive.

I think that given a choice, I'd have made the shoes heeled, as opposed to platformed, so there might have been a better look. I like the colour scheme and the glossy effect that you chose to give an impression of a PVC clad dominatrix. When it comes to the lack of detail and the relative simplicity of your drawing style, it does look a little flat around the cleavage area, so I am led toward thoughts of "should I really be interested in this?" as the girl does look a little young. How much detail would you be able to add without adding too much is the question and I feel that there is still room for manoeuvre on that front.

[Review Request Club]

Aigis responds:

I don't remember requesting reviews for this picture in that club.

I certainly wasn't trying to make this picture sexy. I was trying to make the girl look as awkward as possible.

And, while it might not be clear in the picture, the thighs curve and end up at a reasonable distance apart when the lines get to the crotch area.

[Inxdemia]

NG Sketchbook tour?

Seriously, with a piece looking like this when you've drawn it in pen on some lined paper during a school lesson, I think that you're showing great potential. Obviously, you would need to spend some time developing the drawing like this on proper sketch paper, with pencils and perhaps even a splash of colour, to bring it to life.

With pieces like this, the abstract nature of the piece does tend to leap out of the page, showing that there is a bit of clutter around, which could lead to something being plucked from the relative obscurity of this doodle sheet and in turn being developed into "the bigger picture", so to speak.

As you progress to pencils, feel free to let your wrist become a little more loose, allowing for more expansive strokes, which will in turn let the piece develop better. It is all a part of the learning curve, but you have what looks like the energy and the passion to do this, so good luck.

[Review Request Club]

MonoFlauta responds:

haha i know how to use pencil and all that stuff :P i went to drawing clases many years but some time ago, anyway this was just to kill the time :P

Thanks for reviewing!

[Italian Paper Mola]

Start with a circle ;)

The main missing piece here is the fact that the face looks misshapen. If you'd have gone for a perfectly circular backing, I think that there would have been more conventional acceptance of it.

With this in mind, I think that you need to look at that, but the rest of the drawing is pretty good. The limited colour scheme really shines through and you can certainly give us a good set of shapes that symbolise more than a face. Warpaint, ambivalence, surprise are all words that I pretty much randomly think of when I see that visage.

[Review Request Club]

Fro responds:

"drawing"

It's not really a drawing. More of a craft project since the only tool I used was a knife. Yeah, the circle wasn't too great and it's probably something I could improve on.

[Crazy lines]

Corroded snowflakes

Hmm, a very different concept, I'll give you that. What I think you need to do is zoom out, for more impact. Don't go too far, just leave us with the oily, crystalline style structure that you're on at present and you will have a totally awesome piece.

Perhaps it is symbolic of the damage that we are doing to the earth, with oil and pollution? Maybe a tribute to the darker areas of humanity, but still something very worrying and almost upsetting.

[Review Request Club]

HeavyTank responds:

Haha, I never thought of it as a corroded snowflake, but then again, I never said it wasn't ;)
I really like how everyone interprets a picture in a different way because that was my initial intention, and it's working pretty well :P
Thanks for the review.