radiodark's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Eye II]

suggestions

Huge improvements here, I'm quite impressed.

The only suggestions that come to my mind are that the eyebrow could probably afford to be a bit farther away from the eye, and that the lower eyelashes could afford to be a little finer.

The artist Katherine Dinger has a number of very helpful tutorials on her website, the one for eyes is here: http://www.pocket mole.com/tutorials/eye
(remove the space)

Other than that, I'd love to see you tackle a more complicated composition, like a whole face or a still life.

[Mouth]

suggestions

Pretty excellent for someone who has just begun to draw. You've got an excellent eye for values.

Tips i can think of off top of my head:
The human face has a part called the philtrum, which is the indentation that runs from center of the upper lip to the nose, which usually expresses itself as far as the lips are curved in the form of a slight inverse curve on the upper lip: speaking poetically, if the lips are a cupid's bow, than the curve is the bow handle. While in this position philtrum would be pretty flattened and barely visible, the lips in this drawing is missing any presence of one.

The teeth look a little wonky. When I open my mouth in a similar position while staring in a mirror, I can see between four and eight teeth depending on how i stretch my lips before the position starts to look really unnatural, a bit different from the fourteen visible now.

Also, either the bottoms of the top teeth or the tops of the bottom
teeth should be showing. In this position, you'd probably see the tops of the bottom molars receding into the back of the mouth along with the tongue.

Other than that, I recommend drawing from life or photos when possible. As much as I tell myself i remember all the proportions and features needed, human anatomy is hideously complicated and it's a lot easier to start out cheating and get things placed right the first time then to struggle to fix things the rest of the drawing.

[Burning Bright]

What immortal hand or eye

could frame thy fearful symmetry? Yours and ours, apparently. I'm not sure we deserve the complement, but this is very well done.

[Eagle]

Lovely

Excellent color palette, and I love the way the trees frame the scene- very impressive.

[kabaw o baka?]

Bulls

Female cattle are cows, fertile males are bulls. Castrated males are steers.

Wonderful painting: it's a pity it isn't better photographed.

[Street Gangs of Gotham]

Suggestions

Problems I see with the image, since you ask:
1. Anatomy- the faces. The bodies are close enough to okay, but the faces need work. Harley's lips need to be redone so they look human, her ear is a bit far up, and it looks like it's got a bunch of different but similar perspectives jammed together. Both faces could use more modeling. Jokers' hand also needs work- don't forget to put in the bump where the ulna (wrist bone) sticks out a little. Try looking at your own hand in a similar position with similar lighting while you draw it- hands have a great reputation for being impossible to draw, but they're not so difficult when one has a model to refer to.

2. Composition- if you move joker a little to the right (you might have to make the image a little wider) you'd have a nice triangular composition formed by harley's head, the gun, and joker's head, with harley's thighs leading the viewer's eyes around. As it is things feel a little cramped.

3. bit of text on harley's leg- doesn't look like a tattoo, it's too bright and doesn't conform to the leg as much as it should. Try putting it on so that the tips of the letters are out of view (like you did with the heart and spade- quite effective), or better yet, just get rid of it.

4. Try giving Harley some black boots so that her legs don't seam to be being eaten by the chairs- I'm not sure whether the red things in front of her knees are meant to be boots or chairs, and it would be clearer if you change the color.

Also, the jacket's fine, and you've got a great color palate going. Good luck.

[Black Hole City]

Bacon

I'm sorry, but I can't help but see bacon in the swirling mass of meat and fatty streaks- ahem, clouds. Otherwise fairly well done though. The composition would be more dynamic if the black hole weren't so centered, but I love how you warped the buildings.

coughing-dog responds:

wow, you just made me hungry

[Woman]

fairly good

The head and torso are quite well done, but the arms and legs are wonky. The arms are too skinny ( one is a flipper with no elbow), and the knees are both too low and appear severely bent in spite of her standing position.

[Old Man]

decent

Decent, but the lips are set too high (too close to the nose) and are quite thin. That said, your shading is wonderfully done, and that eyebrow is superb. When I cover up the figure's lips and chin with my finger, all the troublesome anatomy problems magically disappear.

Sawke responds:

Hahaha oops. Well believe it or not this was my first value drawing. I have another one. But it's quite large. I'd like you to look at it when i upload it tomorrow.