SuperBastard's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Careful What You Wish For...]

My dark side is insensitive, callous, and cruel, but somehow we always end up seeing eye to eye. We've been on some crazy adventures together.
I'd say we've grown close over the years.

It's always fun to see different sides of us personified in art, and the design you chose to show yours is original and interesting. It leaves me wondering why your dark side is represented as a tongue, and making the viewer think is a strong power to have. (Don't explain the choice to me; it'll ruin the wonder!)

I docked some points because, right off the bat, the piece looks unfinished. You've still got a million vestigial sketchy lines everywhere, the colors look flat despite some minor effort to show form, and you have no defined light source, despite that red moon looking like its more than willing to fill that role. The randomly-placed highlights on the creature bug me as well. This looks closer to a thumbnail or concept sketch than a finished work of art.

I'd love to see you revisit this some time and turn it into something truly impressive. Let me know if you do!

qweeirdo responds:

Thanks for the review! i was a lot lazier a year ago, and this piece really reveals that. lol. i think it would be worth it and interesting to to give this piece an update. XD thanks for the idea!

[Charcoal Owl Skull]

You could use a little bit more definition; charcoal is great because it's good for expressing value. I don't see any defined light source here, which would really help you out, and you wouldn't have to rely so much on using lines to define shapes, which in turn would make it look much more realistic.

The smudging you did on the top of the beak turned out well.

It's good that you're willing to draw with different mediums. Keep practicing and you'll be a pro eventually.

Kevrake responds:

Gracias for taking your time to give me some input. This was my first time trying charcoal, as you figured. I SHALL DO BETTER NEXT TIME.

[Drogon]

The pose, many of the details, and the fire remind me a bit of Chris Scalf's work.

You could stand to put a bit more work into the teeth. I can see what you were aiming for with them, but when you zoom in close they look flat and their lack of form contrasts with the rest of the image.

The other issue I'm noting is the position of the bottom jaw. It's running parallel to the top while it's open, which isn't realistic. The jaw opens on a hinge, so while ajar it should be at an angle relative to the rest of the skull.

This is a good starting point though, I hope to see more from you in the future.

["CL4P-TP"]

I rather like the color choices.

However it doesn't look as though you planned the painting with a sketch first, what with the robot not being symmetrical. The upside-down triangle that frames its eye - being off-center - really throws the whole piece off for me.

There are some shadows you could stand to darken, I'm looking particularly at the back of the wheel where it appears to be beneath the robot and facing away from your light source.

I can't quite tell if its night or day. Your sky tells me its night with its moon and horizon, but the colors and shadows on the robot say otherwise.

One more thing: when you're photographing your paintings, try to fill the entire space of the photo with the piece. Leaving un-cropped edges is distracting and really takes away from your composition and impacts the viewer's overall impression of your work.

The one thing that really bothers me about this is that upside-down triangle on the robot's face. Overall though I think its pretty good.

greyswizzle responds:

Thanks for that detailed critique. I'm really gonna take that and improve my art further. Just what i needed!

[The Team]

Hey this is pretty awesome! I've been thinking of doing something like this too, just haven't pushed myself to yet. I like your style, and this functions well as a desktop wallpaper! Solid-looking team, too. I'd almost guess you could use it competitively.

[Vending Machine]

I've used that texture before, too!

Very nice detail, cool concept. I recognize the texture you used, though! :P

G-i-b responds:

Yeh deviantart texture, pretty sure I tagged em when I first finished this a few years ago.

[Custom Snowboard]

Whoa!

This thing's cool as hell! I'd love to shred some mountains with this thing, your girlfriend is crazy lucky! You have a lot of talent.

[Rudolph's Secret]

That's a new one...

I'm trying very hard to resist the urge to say "Jewdolph the Crook-nosed Reindeer."

Oops. Shit. That can't reflect on me well as a person.

Great punchline; the reindeers' expressions really bring it home.

ToonHole responds:

You'll never know how many Nazi's you just pissed off by coining the moniker "Jewdolph".

[Santa Claus Preps...]

hilarious

So THAT'S what Santa gets for Christmas...

Kudos man, this is hilarious! Well-drawn, too. Now excuse me while I check out the rest of your stuff.

ToonHole responds:

How do you think he keeps his beard so white?

[Typical Alien]

That detail

That's some intense detail there, looks to me like you put some serious time into this.
I like the composition, it seems to adhere to the rule of thirds, and while the lighting seems a bit abstract it does its job and provides plenty of value. The anatomy is really neat, and I'm really digging the slight expression on the alien's face; it definitely helps to set up a mood. Not much of a background, but I can let it slide because of that nifty green smoke. I'm particularly impressed by the attention to detail you gave his head and face. That little bit of fuzz is, to me, the jewel in the crown.

I'm curious; how did you do the smoke? Did you paint it? What about the hexagons in the suit?

SmokeryDots responds:

Thank you very much, I'm very happy that you like it, and thank you for the nice review.
The smoke and the hexagons are simply masked out, and then tweeked to follow the shapes I wanted them to. I found some flat smoke on the internet and then gave it some depth and color. I cheat everytime I can :D I made the "Hexagon mask" by hand though, a small sample in Adobe Flash, and the threw it in PS, and then duplicatet it several times and gave it shape.
-Hope that helps :)