Haggard's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Clarice Burnstein Intro]

Things you should look into:

One of the shadows has to go. I'd say, the "first" shadow (the one, that is as big as the character). The other one, where we can see her a bit bigger in the background is ok. But two shadows is too much.

The character's name should not be hidden by the character. Especially, since the black shape at the bottom is in front of the characters legs, the name is in front of the black shape, but the letters are behind the characters legs? That doesn't work out.

The anatomy is a bit off. Her waist is too slim, especially since her hips seem to be quite big.

Things that I like:

The yellow/orange background looks good. It brings some colour into the image and the bright colours work really well here.

The bose Clarice strikes looks good to me. But I think the smoke should be coming from the other gun... but that's just a minor thing. The gun hin her left hand smoking is just as well.

The character itself looks interesting. Maybe a bit clichéd, but much more interesting than yet another "halo like" soldier, etc.

Overall, this piece needs more work, but you are on a good way.

{ Review Request Club }

KiwiSundae responds:

Thank you for your feedback. It's very much appreciated.

[Celx Requin's Anamnesis Cover]

It looks quite cool. At first I thought the image of the character was just mirrored, but then I noticed some minor details are different between the left and the right half.

Also, the background is very good. I like, how you notice more and more stuff the longer you look at it. Some of those lines seem to be pretty random at first, but then after a while you notice a pattern... and then, there's suddendly something you didn't even saw before. Very cool stuff.

{ Review Request Club }

Celx-Requin responds:

Thanks man!
- Celx

[Jillian on the Ocean]

A nice young lady sitting on a rock in the ocean. I wonder how she got there? The shoes she's wearing don't look like she could go rock climbing with them, heh.

Anyway, I like the clouds in the background. They look very realistic. Maybe it's because they are in fact real? It's hard to tell, and that's what I like. Nothing worse if you add a real picture to a drawing and then anybody can tell instantly that it is a real picture... anyway, the rest of the background is a bit lacking. I would like it better if we could see an island or maybe a beach in the background. This would also explain how the nice young lady could reach the rock with those shoes. ;)

{ Review Request Club }

DragonPunch responds:

Well, you do have a point...Perhaps some time in the future, I can work on another character in the same setting.

[Crossing the Alps]

Some people already complained about the elephant just not "looking right" and I think I have to agree with them. His head looks very strange. A bit "too long" to be really realistic.

Anyway, what I really don't like about this picture is the blurry background. Sure, it is way more realistic this way. Now it seems that I am standing there, watching the people and animals move by. That's why I cannot focus the background, because I am focusing the foreground. But paintings give us the opportunity to create something that isn't bound to be "realistic". So, I would like it better if the background wasn't so blurry. Besides, in full resolution, the blur for the background doesn't "feel right" anyway.

Ok, that was a lot of criticism right at the beginning of my review. Now to the things I do like: I like the people in this picture. They are not standing still, but they are moving across the picture and you managed to capture this "movement" in it. It really seems as if they are just walking past me. Maybe I am one of them, moving along with them. Or maybe I'm just an innocent bystander and they ignore me.

I'm not too sure if I like the illumination of the picture. On the one hand, it prevents me from seeing the figures clearly, as they are mostly in the dark. On the other hand, the dim light creates a very good atmosphere. It's impossible to tell if the sun is about to rise or to set. Both leave room for some nice analysis, but if I type them out I run out of character space in this review ;). So I just finish it with saying: This is a very interesting picture!

{ Review Request Club }

samulis responds:

thanks for the input, Haggard. I was rather proud of myself for at least attempting to capture movement in an image.

Perhaps it's my poor eyesight, but I like distant blurry things. XD

Do note that the blur helps with any rogue pixels in the photo as the resolution is larger than the image, I believe.

[Plea From a Crisis Suit]

This picture almost makes me regret I never was too interested in Warhammer 40k. Neither the Tabletop nor any other stuff from that Universe.

This picture looks amazing. I like just about everything about it. The sky looks pretty cool and I also like that mountain in the background.

The only thing I can criticise on (and I'm really nitpicking here): The robot in the center of the image looks a bit too clean. I think there should be some scratches or other marks on the robot that indicate that it was fighting a battle just a second ago.

{ Review Request Club }

[Ink Dragon]

Wow, this one looks cool. I like how there are only two colours used: The white of the paper and the black ink of the pen (I guess the blue colour shades are a side effect of scanning. It doesn't look too bad either way ^^). This creates a very nice effect: The lines seem to move in front of my eyes, so it seems as if the dragon is moving as well. Very nice.

I also like the details here. The dragon looks very nice and I like the "adornments" around his head.

What I don't like too much is the border of the picture. It looks too kitchy in my eyes. Also, the one wing of the dragon appears in front of the border, which is a bit confusing. Is the border there to frame the picture or is the dragon sitting in front of the border? But then, it wouldn't be a border anymore...

{ Review Request Club }

EchoRun responds:

The slight colour in the background with one of the tweeks I made to it after I scanned it - the pure white of the paper was very stark and harsh with just black lines on it, so gave it a subtle effect to ease it.

The boarder and the dragon were done seperately, dragon first then combined on the computer. The dragon does overlap the boarder at points, mostly to add intrest and tie the two together, more of an artistic statement. I usualy prefer boarders that are not seperate fraims, if that makes any sense, as I don't like the notion of the rest of the art being contained and restrained by the boarder/fraime. If I do any more like this, the boarders will be different, probably different in each peice. :)

Thank you for the review.

[With A Little Help]

Different style, same characters

A more cute approach to the characters than what we could see in the other picture "Friendship is Paramount". While the characters still look good here I liked the other picture better, as the drawing style was more appealing to me.

Anyway, this is not to say that I don't like this picture at all. This submission shows that you are capable of using a wide range of drawing styles, which in turn shows your abilities as an artist.

{ Review Request Club }

[Friendship is Paramount]

Good pic

I like this drawing style a lot. It is pretty realistic but yet very comic like, so that "overacted" facial expressions or movements wouldn't feel so out of place, if they do happen from time to time. And yet you could use this drawing style to adress more serious topics, something you couldn't do so easily if the characters where drawn like they are in your other picture "With A Little Help".

I also like how the poses of all the characters are different here. It may reflect their personality a bit, but it also creates the impression that all four just came together for this group picture to be taken. So, in a way this image also creates the feeling of "movement", which I quite like.

{ Review Request Club }

[Vikings!]

Review Request Club

I like this picture, it caputers a moment of heat (literally) in a single image. I also like the "blurry effect" of the things that are outside of the main battle. First, it draws attention to the things that are not blurry and second, it creates a feeling of movement, as if I was running through the scenery (either as an attacker or as someone who got attacked) and my focus lies on the burning village. The rest is kind of suppress by my mind.

Anyway, I think the smoke needs some more work. Right now it just goes straight up into the night sky, but I think this would be very unlikely. There has to be some sort of wind blowing, moving the smoke either to the right or to the left. I also think, the smoke could be a bit thicker, darker. That way it would even strengthen the atmosphere of "battle" and "menace" it is creating right now.

{ Review Request Club }

samulis responds:

ya, the smoke effect wasn't really that good. I did darken it significantly from what is was, but I see that I probably should have probably even replaced the template effect with my own more detailed image for the particles... throw some sparks and flashes in there too. I'll work on some new smoke effects for my next big entry.