Ahkihoun's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lüge (Lie)]

Oh this is such a cool idea! Really creative the way you executed this theme. Great work!

Nersul responds:

thank you very much

[Mikasa]

oh so nice! The lighting and lineart is really clean! The only sadness I have about this piece is the background. Are those stock photo clouds that have been blurred? They look like it and if they arnt, then wow you're photo realistic. But there's a bit of dissonance here, and I think either illustrating the clouds yourself, or at least following the same shading structure would help to bring the two together.

Hell though, this is gorgeous. Keep up the good work!

cavalier-renegade responds:

I used ps brushes for the clouds

['Groovy']

Haha! What a funny expression, but a real style is developed here and I absolutely love it. Your coloring technique is quite beautiful and unique as well. I've never heard of Artrage. Is it any good?

That hair gets a little lost with the dark background, but other than that, real spiffy. Keep up the good work!

BloodyAngel88 responds:

Thanks for your input! ^_^

Artrage Studio is great! I love the way it mimics real paint and other media; plus, the fact that you can open/use Photoshop files and filters makes it easier to do exactly what you want with a piece, instead of having to settle for something that you didn't really envision.

Also, I was kind of worried about the hair too...but the look ended up growing on me.

[mutants]

Now these guys are cool! Arms feel a bit short anatomically on the two on the elft, but awesome all the same! Can't say I've seen many characters with shark heads. :3

wash responds:

thanks, this are studies to be made into latex masks and props for a film proyect, although the only one that passed the director was the first, he said the others were too cartoony. So hopefully Ill soon have more designs like this and maybe a pic of the actual mask as it comes out

[Lighting The Way]

Your background is actually quite beautiful. I think you're too hard on yourself honestly, and thats whats holding you back.

ProbablySinged responds:

Thanks for the review! I might be too hard on myself, but if I settle for something I don't like I'll never get any better. I have to keep improving, so for now, I can never settle with something I don't truly like.

As long as I keep working at it, I think that anxiety will go away with time.

[Chara (2006)]

Quite the style! I like the body form on her. I would have loved to see longer facial anatomy on her, as he facial features feel a bit squishy. But its not a huge deal. Will you ink this later? Or color it? This picture needs more life!

allcreator responds:

This is an old drawing. I do have a more recent digital version but it was one of my earliest tablet drawings I did on paint bucket witch didn't have an adequate paint tool.

[sewr mutant stage 2]

Your lighting and coloring is pretty cool. It looks like you copied and pasted most of the heads on these sewer mutants though, and thats really a pity. Also with a blurry background, your creatures in the back should also be blurred, to bring focus to the front. The one guy to the right and smack in your face, is alright, but doesn't really feel needed.

If you're looking to improve I would focus your efforts on more geschult, relying less on technological tools, and understanding how non visual, visual paths are formed. Figure out where you want your viewer to look, and direct them there purposefully. I see some real promise from this style. Keep up the good work.

wash responds:

thanks for the comment and critique, some very insightfull recomendations I will definatly keep in mind. As for copying the heads, I know I should avoid that, but this was a quick exercise witha time limit, so I sort of had to rush the bg and extra charachters as the exersise was acttualy meant to be only a character study.

[Identity]

I like this a lot, and how it leaves to the viewer's imagination. Great piece!

AbissLake responds:

I really think about doing something simple but kind abstract in this. Thanks for your kind comment!

[Red Priest]

Despite the things you've mentioned, this is still a pretty bad ass piece. Of course you had an idea of how it was SUPPOSED to look in your head, but then if everything came out looking perfect, our jobs would be boring hmm?

Anyways, out of all your critique on yourself, the two I could really agree with, was the lack of depth (particularly with the fire though, because honestly the human looks great. ) and your contrast. Quite simply, I think both of these critques can be fixed if you nail out some of that white. I find a white background extremely flat, and so bright in comparison with your character, then my eye is easily drawn away. I would have made the background black, and messed with the colors in that way. Or at the very least put it on a transparent background.

Or mess with the negative space a bit more! You have the white tapering off on the bottom as if its smoke, make it more purposeful.

Still though, I see the predicament you were in and I empathize. A job well done; at the very least for being honest with yourself.

MarikBentusi responds:

There is actually a transparent version in the link (tho at least on my end it looks like tumblr f'd up the png-transparency on the fullview), but it didn't have effect of the guy fading into the background via smoke, which I perceived to be more interesting.

In retrospect probably not worth the trade tho. Since both comments I received pointed out the background, I think I'll just replace this version with the transparent one. That one's lower contrast, too.

Thanks a lot for your feedback, it's been very valuable!

[Plague Marine]

A minor detail that probably doesn't matter much, but I kinda love the cartoony style that you pulled off, while having a smoke effect from the acid that's not really the same style. It works though, and thats what makes it interesting. I'm disappointed with the size of the canvas though; I feel like it was cropped short of something that could have been a really sweet full body piece. But then again, I know I don't have much time for fan art in general, so I could understand.

Great work though, really enjoyed taking in the rust details as well.

Kkylimos responds:

Hello , thanks for the comment. Im self taught so i am not following any "how to" guidelines. The smoke is a bit different because this is how i "invented" drawing smoke :P And i think this is why it blends well with the otherwise "cartoony" style.

As for the canvas size there are two reasons why its small. First , i planned this to be a smaller piece , like an avatar or card design. As you said , time is always pushing and you have to set priorities. Also , and more importantly , i had a conversation with an artist i really admire and we were talking about his use of small canvases. Basically he told me that its fun to highlight a character enough to make him characteristic while also leaving a lot of material to the viewer's imagination. I was really tempted to try my hand on this theory and i think i am pleased :)