Art Critique Thread

fx

moon tourism
is an Artist Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Approved by a Bumalicious Bum

Welcome to the official art critique thread! Here, anyone may post their art to be reviewed or give critiques on a piece in order to help someone grow as an artist. Whether you are a beginning or advanced artist, there is always room for criticism on your art, so don't be shy! Before we jump right into it, there are some rules to follow.

Rules for Critiquing Art

  • This is NOT a place to shower someone with compliments. Applauding someone for something they did well prior to legit criticism is one thing, but if you don't have anything to suggest in regards to improving an image, please use the Like button instead.
  • Don't be rude. Saying something like "that sucks" or "you're bad' carries no substance for the artist. On the other hand, being blunt =/= being a jerk, if someone took the time to state their thoughts on your work then try to look past their wording and instead consider their points.
  • Be OBJECTIVE. If someone draws something you don't particularly like (subject matter wise) don't let that cloud your vision as a critic, focus on the technical parts of the drawing! The vise-versa also holds true.
  • Be as specific as possible. Saying "the leg looks off" isn't helping anyone. Try to always follow criticism with a suggestion.
  • Multiple input is never bad! If someone's already commented on something and you have something different to say, go ahead and say it!
  • You don't necessarily need to be an artist to give critiques, but just to repeat the above, remember to be specific about your suggestions.

Rules for Posting Art
  • Be able to take criticism. If someone says something you might not agree with, then take it with a grain of salt. Anyone posting in this thread should be open-minded to any suggestion made. Simply put, if you don't want criticism, don't ask for it.
  • Similarly with the first point, if you keep posting work that hasn't dealt with something someone has addressed before, your commentators will be frustrated, so consider taking some time to improve your art before returning to this thread with new creations.
  • Don't post too many images within a short time span, and only select artwork you put effort into so that we're not evaluating something that was done in a hurry.
  • This thread is entirely voluntary. If someone doesn't get to reviewing your art right away, then consider sharing your work in our Discord chat instead of bumping this thread.
  • If possible, ask specifically about something that you find wrong that people can address.


That's all for rules (for now). Remember that this thread is meant to better you as an artist, not attack you. Happy posting, and feel free to ask any questions if you feel we haven't covered something! :toast:
 
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MiniArchitect

Detail Disoriented
is a Top Artist Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Hope you all don’t mind if I kick this off! I’d like to get some feedback on this piece:



This is one of first pieces I’ve done where I tried to create a tangible setting for the featured subject. I’d like to know how successful/unsuccessful I was at this.

You don't have to respond to all of these, but here are some specific areas I'd like to address:
  • Does the setting look believable? Do the pokemon feel natural in the setting?
  • Does the setting feel like it’s an actual environment with which the pokemon are interacting?
  • What can be done to make the environment feel more real?
Hope I've articulated all that correctly. And of course, I'm open to hearing any other thoughts about the artwork as a whole, or matters entirely separate from the setting.

Thank you!
 

Vederation

Ascension
is an Artist Alumnus
Hope you all don’t mind if I kick this off! I’d like to get some feedback on this piece:



This is one of first pieces I’ve done where I tried to create a tangible setting for the featured subject. I’d like to know how successful/unsuccessful I was at this.

You don't have to respond to all of these, but here are some specific areas I'd like to address:
  • Does the setting look believable? Do the pokemon feel natural in the setting?
  • Does the setting feel like it’s an actual environment with which the pokemon are interacting?
  • What can be done to make the environment feel more real?
Hope I've articulated all that correctly. And of course, I'm open to hearing any other thoughts about the artwork as a whole, or matters entirely separate from the setting.

Thank you!
Hey MiniArchitect !

In terms of how the Pokemon would behave in the natural setting, the ways they are behaving in this piece are the strength of this piece. The background, however, still have rooms for improvements in terms of realism and depth. Considering that the setting happens within a jungle, it would be more believable to incorporate more trees and bushes in the background as far as our lines of sight go rather than leaving it blank with the lime/yellow gradient. Doing so will give the impression of entirety and wholeness –– as well as a a somewhat 3-Dimensional feel which can be game-altering as far as the quality goes.

Secondly, while I consider the lower-half of this image as nicely done in terms of distance and the use of space (the ground where everyone and everything rests on), the upper-half part of the image doesn’t give the same vibe –– and one of the reasons is the distance between the two tree stalks in conjunction to the main tree in the left. It’s difficult to tell how far those stalks are in the distance because they virtually share the same highlight and tones; making this part of the image seemingly ‘flat’. My proposed solution to that is by using a perspective grid. What it does is that it allows you to differentiate the distance between spaces; creating awareness on how the tone should appear as objects go further and further outside of our line of sight. Here's a quick example I just made to show its application:


Notice how the tone of the balls progressively fading the further they are from our view? That's what I was referring regarding space/distance and how grid helps differentiating it. So, in case you haven't use a perspective grid before, then I’d recommend using one for all drawings that involve scenery!

That's all for now. I hope this brief criticism does help shedding some light on some areas. Good luck and, of course, I shall be looking forward for your next pieces!

---

Also, great thread OP -c-b
 

FellFromtheSky

and started walking.
is a Top Artist Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Seeing as how this thread needs more activity and I'd like some feedback on a piece, here's something I'd like some feedback on:

Waltz for Moths3.png


It's still a WIP, and I don't often draw humans or do pieces in greyscale, so critique in general would be appreciated.
 
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Vederation

Ascension
is an Artist Alumnus
Seeing as how this thread needs more activity and I'd like some feedback on a piece, here's something I'd like some feedback on:

View attachment 73212

It's still a WIP, and I don't often draw humans or do pieces in greyscale, so critique in general would be appreciated.
For something you don't draw often, you certainly did the shapes and facial features quite accurately. Perhaps it has something to do with the lack of influence from anime or cartoon-ish style during the process, which are crucial to AVOID while still learning the fundamentals of human face and anatomy. From that, I can tell that you won't have much issue in this regard.

Moving on, since this is a WIP I will look at the story delivery rather than the overall quality, so my issue with this piece lies with the ambiguous eye focus from the guy on the right: where is he looking at? What state of mind is he in? Using the cues available such as the direction of the hand and the positioning of left man's head, viewers will end up having their attention locked right to center point of this piece, which are the eyes. After looking at the eyes, their attention will wander towards his vision line to see where they will lead them to, which is almost nonexistent in this piece. That puts the storytelling to a stop and resulting to a considerable loss of meaning that was intended to be conveyed. Keep in mind that an ideal piece will let viewers wander continuously throughout the image in search for meaning.

As such, realigning the location of their pupils to their respective targets may help strengthening the visual cue to provide a clearer message. For the man on the right, it would help adding a dark pupil right in the center of his eyes in a way that will make his eyes seem focused to the left man's eyes. Same thing goes with the left man: since it looks like he's staring at the right man's mouth while holding his chin in such a tender manner (quite ambiguous considering how dark the theme seems). This will circulate the viewers attention towards both of the subjects and possibly the whole picture rather than the man on the right alone. Also, whatever the original intent of this piece, a strong eye contact is always a powerful indicator of bond, kinship. or even hatred, so take advantage of using that to strengthen the emotional aspect of your work. It may not look much of a suggestion, but even the loss of the smallest core details will lead to completely different realm of interpretation.

That's all I have. A bit long indeed, but I do hope that it gives you at least a fresh perspective. Show me the finished work once you're done!
 
This is a piece I did for FB art, originally. However I'm afraid of commitment so I never reserve anything and someone else reserved decidueye. But feedback is always good for people. Have at it!



I'm mostly unhappy with the head. Doesn't seem dynamic enough to me. But that's just something I happened to notice. Any criticism about any of his body parts or otherwise are most certainly welcomed.
 
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FellFromtheSky

and started walking.
is a Top Artist Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
This is a piece I did for FB art, originally. However I'm afraid of commitment so I never reserve anything and someone else reserved decidueye. But feedback is always good for people. Have at it!



I'm mostly unhappy with the head. Doesn't seem dynamic enough to me. But that's just something I happened to notice. Any criticism about any of his body parts or otherwise are most certainly welcomed.
Hi! The textures and effects in this piece are really well done! My biggest complaint has to do with Decidueye's anatomy. In particular, notice its arms/wings. They look basically like noodles! This is because you defined no joints or any hard edges that would make it look more natural or real. The legs and torso face problems as well, but those are more easily fixed with some touch ups to the ligthing (the issue is mostly that they appear very flat). The other notable issue with the piece is Decidueye's cape/feathers, which flare out in such a way that makes them seem incredibly stiff a though they're stuck unnaturally on its arms/wings.

Other than that, you did a lovely job picking colours and composing the piece; the slanted composition is pretty cool. Angling it differently so that there would be more foreshortening could have made it more dynamic, but it's still really cool like this. The background could be more detailed, but as it is, it still gives me a neat murky, misty forest vibe. At any rate, great job! It has some issues, but it's a huge step above of what I've seen of your other work.
 
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This is a piece I did for FB art, originally. However I'm afraid of commitment so I never reserve anything and someone else reserved decidueye. But feedback is always good for people. Have at it!



I'm mostly unhappy with the head. Doesn't seem dynamic enough to me. But that's just something I happened to notice. Any criticism about any of his body parts or otherwise are most certainly welcomed.

Looking at the concept art and in game animations Decidueye's arm do look like noodles and don't have well defined joints, They are designed to form a curve just like a bow. This is more of a nitpicky observation but the bow the decidueye is forming is off center, that can easily be fixed by changing the direction of the arrow turning it a few degrees up.

I agree that the lighting and the leaves on the hood look weird and make it look stiff like a helmet. Also in my opinion the pose it has doesn't match well with the apparent direction the tree branch has. Maybe some shading and adjusting the thickness of the branch on the left side would make it look more natural maybe even show another part of the tree there. I do have to praise the textures you put on the tree branch they look really nice and the small lights look like forest spirits/ghosts which fit the theme of the Pokemon. The whole ambience of this piece reminds of the Lost Forest of TLOZ which give you extra points :P
 
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