radiodark's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Parrot]

How about cropping a picture so we don't see things that aren't part of the drawing? We've got a tutorial on documenting traditional artwork up here (http://art101.newgrounds.com/news/post/314936) that i think you might find useful- the current photos make it hard to give your works all the appreciation they deserve.

MattDangerG responds:

You know what thats a good idea. I'll keep that in mind for future posts! I'll repost this picture just for you cropped.

[island cities]

This is a really wonderful piece, but I do feel like some bad things happened to it in the documentation process. The skin especially seems like it's been a bit flattened by color correction, though that may be my imagination. I do think the composition works pretty damned well- I suppose that the lowest figure could stand to be moved a bit more into the picture plane (just because at the moment the foreheads of the top and bottom figures line up along a vertical axis in a way that seems weird to me as a viewer), but it's not something I noticed as a problem until I saw your comment and focused on the composition more critically.

serenekitchen responds:

yeah, i really hate putting colour pencil artworks through the scanner coz it warps everything. Thanks for your detailed comment! the piece does look different in real life.

[Business Time]

Nice job- I love the constrast between the monstrous head and his civilized attire. I do think you seem to have different light sources for the shirt, vest, and head. Unify them and I think the space will be a lot more convincing. Also it'll probably help the cartoonishness of the clothing if you get rid of the black lineart and put proper shadows in instead.

[Mechavian Medic]

Don't forget to mark at least four of your pieces public or you can't be scouted.

[M&A]

I love this piece, but I've got to say I'm pretty sure it's traced. I ran into your reference photos on the lovecastle drawing script, and they overlay with a level of precision that seems unlikely for freehand drawing.

That said, the woman on the right needs a forearm and your composition is gorgeous.

[Eloi]

Awesome piece. Make sure at least four of your pieces are marked public or you can't be scouted and they won't show up in the art portal.

[Son of Neptune]

Glad to see I'm not the only one doing a male nude for the M&A.
You're mostly pretty perfect, anatomy wise, but there are a few problems. I'm gonna be super nitpicky with you, since you've got everything else down.
One of the key problems is that while you've done such a great job on the muscles and bones, you haven't really consider the fatty deposits in the skin much- the muscles have so much definition that the figure seems skinless.

The pectorals are a bit more like horizontal bands than they should be- you chosen to illustrate the upper striations but not the lower ones, leaving viewers with the impression that there's an additional set of muscles above the pectorals. In any case, I've never seen a living man or a photo of a man's chest where the striations are visible- the flesh should cover them up.

Next problem is the muscles on either side of the rectus abdominis muscles (six-pack). There should be two sets- the external obliques and the serratus anteriors. Your figure's side musles have either divided into several shorter muscles or you've attempted to show the ribs under the muscles- in any case it looks like there are many more sets (horizontally) than there should be.

Other problems- the ball of the tibia should a hair more to the right and a little bit bigger and rounder on the viewer's left leg. I love that you included the indentation near the upper trochanter of the femur, but in this pose I don't think it would be quite so accented.

The proportions seem pretty excellent. Might help to add some orange highlight to the rest of the piece, to make his fiery corona more believable.

Flowers10 responds:

I didn't learn the names of all the muscles and stuff and google doesnt allways work when im searching your terms, but the things i did understand are very valid, Thanks!

[Somali Fisherman]

I'm afraid we can't scout you until at least four of your totally awesome pieces are marked public- they aren't at present.

Moors responds:

Aah, I did not realise they were not marked. I will get that sorted pronto. :) Thankyou.

[16 tons]

Sucho I'm madly in love with you.

sucho responds:

eeek girl cooties D:

[Aliena dux]

You've got some real skills showing, especially in the first two pieces you posted. A few things though.

-At least four of your pieces need to be marked public in order for you to be scouted. You've got four up, so some if not all must not be marked public.

-This is by far the weakest of your pieces, primarily because of the anatomy. It seems a bit silly to expect human anatomy of a demonic creature, but you've got the body similar enough to that of a human that I'm assuming that's what you were aiming for, more or less. I'm not sure if the lack of a neck is part of him being a demon or just lack of practice drawing people.

The wrist is posed especially unnaturally, twisted palm out in a way that would require the elbow to twist with it. The hands should end halfway down the thigh, rather than a few inches down from the hips.
Anatomy-wise, there's a system of proportions most artists learn before being able to depict the human body realistically. It's better learned in figure drawing classes than from strangers on the internet, but here's some tricks:

The human body (assuming someone is standing up straight and facing forward, arms down), is approximately 7.5 heads tall (although many people choose to draw them 8 heads), and the wrists and the bottom of the groin are approximately halfway up the body. Knees are a quarter of the way up. For faces, the eyes are halfway down the head. The nose ends halfway between the eyes and the chin. Split the area between the nose and chin into three. I'd put the lips on both sides of a third of the way down, and the narrowing of the chin on the other third.
The face should be five eyes across, with an eye's width of space fitting between the two actual eyes. Assuming the mouth is relaxed and not smiling or frowning, the corners of the lips should line up with center of the eyes.

Hope this helps. I like your first two pieces quite a lot- I'll be delighted to scout you on their merit if you fix your stuff so they're marked public.

Xetos responds:

Thanks for the review and the scouting it actually worked :)

The issues you've raised are due to both lack of practice and some perspective failures (especially for the right arm).
I never learned drawing in others ways than by myself and I've really started less than one year ago so I have all the time to improve my skills I suppose. ^^