Coop's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Wizard]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Mark Twain. *applause*

Alright, first impressions aside, this is another fantastic piece that really catches the eye and presents a very definitive description / illustration of a wizard or a druid, as I saw him in the first place. Certainly a few things about him look pagan inspired, complete with the sun staff, though from the pagans I have associated with over the years, I think it would be more of a pentagram on the staff, perhaps making that a little more plain, than gaudy as well. Hell, it might not be pagan, so I'm not saying it should be changed.

With the art itself, the painting should extend to the edges of the canvas - an effect which I loved like in the norse village, thought the complaint about not extending to the edge of the canvas is the same. Some sort of frame, though a simpler carved wooden effect would do the trick, as opposed to the gaudy renaissance thing that I suggested in the viking scene would suit this better, I feel.

The colours used look natural and freely available at the time, so that's a sensible use of the palette, an easy oversight, with pieces that have an historical aspect to them, such as this. Keep up the good work and extend it to the borders!

[Review Request Club]

samulis responds:

Thanks, on the next piece I will make the image closer to the borders... I explained the reason why there's some blank space on the other review (the concept art is designed to look like paintings in an old book, so I can't give it a frame sadly). If you have any other ideas for this sort of scenario, I'd love to hear them, as I work by the eye, not books (I REALLY need to study art and design :/).

I tried to tone down a lot of the colors that the filter/program generated, but in doing so, some of the contrast was lost (well, this does happen to old paintings).

I was rather proud of the costume after I textured it. The character itself is a royalty-free template piece that I modified to fit the role, as is the mesh (structure) for the clothes.

[Just Chillin']

"Closing my eyes shut"? Yes, keep on doing that, your grammar will get better, too :P

That aside, this is a good effort, with some nice lines - I feel that the curves need more work, just to smooth them out a little, as without them, you will find that it makes the image look a little odd and unfinished. I like the look of a polished gem and without that effect, it doesn't quite have what it takes.

That said, the curves that you've added to the glass at the front seem brilliant, so you are capable of it. Try ironing out a few more of the detail issues, such as the screen stating "HACK STATUS -OK-", where it appears to be a trapezoid shape, as opposed to square / oblong. The writing on the second screen, "NO ENEMIES |-|" is either too detailed (I can read it) or not detailed enough (I can barely read it). If it is your intention for us to read it, then make it easier to do so, otherwise fuzz it out a little more, you don't need that effort on the detail front.

In the background, are all of the white / grey dashes supposed to be rain? I can't really tell, but it could be dust of some sort, that seems to be throwing me off. A little more of a clue in the detail (small piles of dust, or puddles of rainwater lying around would be a good clue here) would help muchly.

[Review Request Club]

Lintire responds:

Considered closing my eyes open. Didn't work. Had to clarify that.

I actually had to read that section on curves several times and actively compare it to the picture in order to really comprehend what you meant. That part about the glass up front really threw me off, because I considered the glass to be one of the worst things about the painting - completely out of whack with the perspective and whatnot.

Still don't if you're referring to form itself or just that the picture feels too static. Keep in mind that I'm not dissecting your review, I just literally do not understand what you're trying to articulate here. (although if its either of the aforementioned two, then I do heartily agree).

As for the details, totally had the same thoughts myself. Had I spent more time on them, they may have really carried the painting, but instead they made the entire setup seem cheap. Which is a shame. I really did just scribble in the two messages at the end, I was that over the painting (it took a while, my first real attempt at an entire illustration).

My handwriting made it unreadable. Damn shame.

The rain (and it really is meant to be rain) - I can totally see why that would be uninterpretable. Completely unreferenced, and making the whole picture a little... wetter would have really improved it. Something I'll have to watch out for, I guess.

Despite any fuddling around, I do really appreciate the feedback, Coop! Really is the kind of review I need, and thanks! My complements to the Review Request Club.

[Viking Village]

I love the texture of the piece, ageing it to a canvas painting and really making it look classy for a computer generated piece of imagery. This is the sort of graphic design that people can produce to great effect and can also forge a good career from!

While I like the framing effect that you have around this, by not taking the image to the edge of the canvas, perhaps it should be painted like an artist's piece and the colour taken to the edge, perhaps framed by a classical style frame - carved wood with a gold leaf effect, to enhance and draw the eye into the painting. Don't get me wrong, some of these frames are themselves works of art, though not as good as the painting that they encapsulate.

I'm going to sound like a bona fide art critic now, in saying that the lines of the buildings remind me of the work of Constable, although the subject matter is not something that he would have focused on, with the historical presence of a Viking longboat - the structures that he used in pieces like The Haywain are very reminiscent of this piece and only the lack of population really calls this piece into question at all - clever positioning by Constable presented his works with life, but didn't make it too much of a challenge to do so. Subtlety is the key.

[Review Request Club]

samulis responds:

Thanks for the in-depth review... I honestly like the idea of adding a frame, however, the concept art is for rough paintings in an ancient story-book sort of thing, so I had to stick with a painting on parchment.

I may go back and add characters, but I didn't want to add unnecessary polygons when rendering, as my program handles characters really poorly (you can only have 8 or 9 maximum per scene).

I'll look into Constable's work. I am actually not well educated in art history at all, so I may spend some time this month or later looking into that for some self-education... I only know music history. XD

Thank you again, great tips as always!
-Samulis

[Celestia]

So, you traced this?

I can't really award you any higher than this, as if you've used the outline and just coloured it in, I may as well get some of the colouring books out from when I was a kid and digitalise them, before colouring them in and submit them myself.

As it goes, it's a very simple drawing as it is - the outline of the pony, but no real additional detail thrown in there, to inspire or fascinate. I do like what you've done to the hair, with the irregular patterns in the colours and the fact that you've done shading over it, so there is something there.

For a point of reference, the tiara would perch behind the ears, which is the glaring error of the piece, aside from a lack of background. Yes, there is a blazing sun, but that's just a detail on the pony's rear leg, which has been recycled.

In short, it needs more... much more.

[Review Request Club]

PinkRose11 responds:

Thanks for the comment!

(My artwork is bad and I should feel bad) lol. I will get better.

[Men with goals]

Good message, well presented

I like how catchy this looks and it could certainly be a birthday card of some description in the making. I'm not sure that any female friend or relative of mine would really like to see this in a card instead of the more traditional Happy Birthday message, but there you go.

The cheeky monkey message below is a nice touch - the tongue in cheek part of the presentation, giving everyone a lovely message that all is not entirely serious.

I like the colour scheme and the font that you chose for it, as this is functional presentation, that is easy to read - such things can be over or underdone from time to time, preventing the impact, that a piece like this can deliver. The four colour pallet is just what is required for this piece and all is well.

[Review Request Club]

SpunkyDesign responds:

Thank you Coop. The monkey is my part of my logo. It is the spunky monkey, symbolizing just what you just said. Thank you. :-) Feel free to share if it is good enough for a card. :-)

[With A Little Help]

Almost Yaoi

Not as good as your usual style, though not lacking in substance, that's for sure. The four characters are portrayed in their usual outfits, though drawn and scaled to this alternative style and taking on board the differing levels of detail, as required.

The background is sparse again, but I don't necessarily see this as a problem with the more "minimalistic" approach to detail. The splashes of colour really do give depth to each character in different ways, though violet or purple blusher spots for the character I identified in my previous review as either a goth or emo just doesn't seem to work and she start to look so harmless, as opposed to threatening, despite the eye patch.

[Review Request Club]

Aigis responds:

Yaoi means gay art or fiction.

[Vikings!]

Very impressive

I think that this piece demands a little more, because you keep pushing the bar upwards, due to your skill with this program. The lighting is fantastic and it shows off what sort of potential you have for this, in capturing the feelings that go hand in hand with Viking raids, some 1,000 - 1,500 years ago.

I feel that there are still some imperfections, like a gravestone being that close to either the riverbank or the coast, as that's just a silly place to be buried six feet below the surface, as the surface will wash away and expose your bones (and and grave goods) to the wider world.

The flames are merely glows, without form - the randomness associated with the shapes and patterns of flames make them very difficult to get just right, but I feel that you can still do better than this.

With the longboat, where are the oars? Yes, the Vikings are on the shore, busying themselves with rape pillage and sacking, though the oars would not have accompanied them onto the shore, surely (sorry). They would be left in some random fashion protruding from the side of the longboat, as the struggle to disembark quickly and the call to arms took place.

Perhaps a little more in the way of corpses could have been strewn about the place, just to add realism, since the scene looks a little "clean" for that sort of time, when no-one seemed to care much about personal hygiene.

It looks better than your stand alone Roman Villa, but still not quite there for realism, in my eyes.

[Review Request Club]

samulis responds:

Thanks for this great review, I understand where you come from with the realism part 100%. With anything 3D, realism is a huge issue; we consciously perceive things in real life and miss other things completely, thus removing much of the clutter of the world. I'll keep my eye out for some good general filth to add about... I have a few props, but not too many.

The funny thing about the corpses... the program freaks out if you get too many (5+ in a scene already with a bunch of stuff) characters. I loaded in a prop-version (no animation/bone structure/etc.) of a character in the T-pose and placed her around on the ground. I hope I can find some sort of corpse props that will work better for this.

[Roman Forum- Full]

Reflective floors - uncommon in Rome

Lavishly detailed, lovingly textured and well designed through diligent research, this piece has good function that could be used in some way to give a potted 3D history of certain structures in Rome, such as the Colosseum, for example. Now that's an immense project that I'd love to see, with the building being built, used and slowly falling to disrepair and reaching today.

But I digress here, the image before me is what I should focus on. Why not try such things as putting a more traditional dusty cobbled floor in the courtyard and perhaps just around the outside, as while the reflective surface works well, it just takes away some area of detail that you could add to. I'm not suggesting that you populate this piece with people, but it needs a little something else to spice things up.

It reminds me of schemes rendered by architects for construction projects (in fact, it's probably more detailed than their schemes for us at work, but that might be down to budget!)

There's a good scope for utilising this in various aspects, but the program practice that you've had will be invaluable, so that you can use it to design other street scenes, which could be used for images or maps in games, for example. Stick with this, I think the possibilities are huge!

[Review Request Club]

samulis responds:

Thanks, I did work on a few other basic Roman buildings, and I might head back that way in the future eventually. Thanks a ton for giving some conceptual ideas on projects in the future... I did consider the colosseum, but at that time it seemed far too complex. I might be able to make something close to it now with some work and time. :)

The lack of people is a big thing... I could have added a few at least, although the program doesn't support that many (at least, not with my aging computer). I think I need a bunch of dummy characters now. XD

Thanks for the review!
-Samulis

[Paarthurnax Bust]

Imposing visage

I think that this is a good image, well displayed, with a good unimpressed or even slightly angry looking dragon sitting there in front of me. Sorry, I've not played Skyrim, so I wouldn't know any better.

As dragons go, this is good, but not the best - the image could use a little tightening around the neck / jaw flap, which seems oddly elongated down to where the shoulders would be. I do like the fact that you've put detail on there such as the horns / spikes, one of which is broken and just adds to the effect. The one tooth sticking out at an odd angle is a nice touch, but I'd suggest that you take it further and do more unusual angles, particularly towards the back of the mouth, to make it fit better with other similar creatures that we can use for reference, such as a crocodile or alligator, for example.

The eye catches my attention and I have to say it reminds me a little of the eye of Sauron, from Lord of the Rings, with a suitably evil glint put in there to give away a lot of the intentions - "I'm either going to kill you, eat you or both."

The main issue that this piece has is that there is no background, which does go a long way to undoing your fine work - the game Skyrim has got fantastic artwork, from what I've seen and without a background, it would look awful. Though awful is not a word I would use to describe the piece, its effect is somewhat lessened by the absence of background entirely. With something suitable behind, such as a craggy mountain, ruined fort, or a burning village, there would be a lot more to talk about with the picture and so many more ways for you to tantalise the viewer.

[Review Request Club]

SuperBastard responds:

Thanks for the in-depth review! Looking at it now, it might have been interesting to have more of the teeth actually sticking out, and would have given me the opportunity to put in more bizarre angles. I'm glad you got some kind of vibes from the eye, since I consider eyes to be the focal point of any portrait, regardless of who or what the portrait is of.

I really do regret not having some kind of background, or even just making this a .png with a transparent one. I'll be sure to work on backgrounds in the future.