★ RMA #2: Rate My Art!

[strawberry]

parts of the original thread taken from Andrew, approved by Bummer

RMA: Rate My Art!
​

Much like the RMT forum, the Rate My Art thread will serve as a place where people can submit their artwork and get some constructive criticism and input from various artists. While we try to spark discussion about how the artist could further improve, you can learn a handful of things after acknowledging suggestions from different people. These critiques could be useful to all of us, so I'll keep track of and add all the submissions and good rates to the op.

You can feel free to post some of your work at any time, whether if you're in need of some tips or advice, or if you want to discuss an aspect of your artwork that you think you could improve on. There's plently of smogon artists around eager to help you out.

Things to Consider when Rating/Critique

We will try to get to the meaning of these pics; feel free to discuss composition, technique, inspiration, appearance, etc. Don't be afraid of critiquing art that you consider to be excellent, or poor - there is always something we can learn from everyone's insights, whether it be praise, artistic suggestions, or in-depth critical review.

Since general art thread comments are usually pats on the back and good jobs, this thread will be more devoted towards discussing meaningful insights of submitted pics. One liners and such will be deleted.


The community contributor badge can be given to anyone who provides good advice and solid critique to the submitted images and WIPs. If you feel you deserve a badge, feel free to contact Kaiju Bunny with links to your posts or artwork, and we'll see if we've simply overlooked you or if there's still something preventing you from being badged.

Suggested questions and categories to consider:

1. Lines/Strokes : Consider the line art or strokes(if painting) Are they bold and powerful, or weak and hesitant? Are they smooth and perfected? Are there loose ends and imperfections?
2. Colors and Light Source: Consider the color palette. Does the artist use the official palette (if Pokemon?) Are they saturated, desaturated, do they clash? Are the colors calming? Does the artist use interesting color combinations? Are the shadows uniform? Is the lighting warm or cold?
3. Form/Positioning/Pose : Is it natural? Are the proportions correct? Are parts accentuated? Is there depth?
4. Purpose/Message : Some artwork doesn't have a specific message, but if it does, what do you think it is? This category is a bit more hazy than the others
5. Suggestions/Tips/Tricks : What suggestions would you make to the artist for improvement?


Current Discussion

Hide

This is a selection of the more recently showcased work that could use your insightful advice, feel free to discuss these!

Fusion Flare

Zephyri

Previously discussed

Hide

HanSoloIndie

MiniArchitect's critique

What a good thread to bump!

My favorite of these is Yveltal: I like your use of dark purple to pink shapes, combined with the pink-to-maroon gradient to convey the idea of light building up from underneath its skin. The sharp angles of the claws on the tips of its wings also feel tense and energetic, which lend even more energy to the piece. And while I think I would normally be against the pink outlines around the darker shapes of its body (due to the way they flatten the artwork), they lend a nice graphical quality to the piece that just heightens the energy that I'm feeling from it.

I'm uncertain how I feel about the laser, though. The layered, transparent effects kind of clash with the otherwise sharp rendering of Yveltal itself. I can't really think of a great solution to rendering it off the top of my head, but I would consider revisiting it and seeing what else you can do to make it feel more consistent with the style of these pieces overall.

Below are some additional thoughts:

• I like the way you use gradients to convey light and energy coursing through these Pokemons' bodies. It makes them feel powerful.
• For the Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings Necrozma, try varying the tone of your blacks to define the shapes a bit better. The chunks of Necrozma on them are meant to be thick and crystalline, with multiple different sides, but it's hard to tell that from how they're rendered here.
• Try not to rely on Illustrator's stock effects too much, like the charcoal brushes, the flare tool, or blurring. For instance, I don't think the charcoal textured brush for the rings beneath Zacian and Zamazenta really fits with them, because the shapes used otherwise are so smooth and clearly-defined. The bumpy edges of those rings clash with the bodies of the Pokemon to me. And instead of transparent lens flares, maybe try drawing your own custom shapes to signify a glint of light reflecting there.
• Try adding hints of darker or lighter colors around the edges of their bodies, depending on the light source, to make the Pokemon feel more three-dimensional. Adding a little maroon to the edges of the spikes of Zacian's tail, for example, will help define each of those tufts of fur as distinct, separate forms, rather than one, loosely-defined form. Similarly, adding some bright white highlights to the edges of Dusk Mane Necrozma's hind legs and back will help contrast it against the sunburst behind it, and convey the amount of light being cast by it.

Don't let any of this critique stop you from completing this series, even if you don't listen to all of it. These are all really cool, and I respect you taking on the challenge of drawing such complicated Pokemon designs all in Illustrator. I'm looking forward to seeing them finished!

andii53

princessofmusic

Falgaia

Koriko

Magistrum

brightobject

King_m0b's critique

Pencil Piece: This is very well done! The eye, or mine at least, travels from the arm to the fabric then up the body in a very nice way. The fabric has extraordinary detail and shading, and for the most part the entire left side of the gentleman is well proportioned and shaded. The legs however are where some of the proportions become unrealistic. The left shin is well done however the thigh is a bit too thick even if it is resting on the chair and the right leg seems well proportioned just too large for the rest of the body. I would presume this is due to trying to add perspective but it's bit dramatic. The pose is also quite natural and fluid.

Pastel Piece: This is equally as good, if not better! The first thing I noticed was the use of the background to create the headband which is very creative, the proportions are great as well. The only things that stand out are that the background, as well as other areas that are a solid color, are not layered thick enough so there is white spots that appear where color is absent and you can see variances in the color. The back of the figure is also rather flat. The dramatic shading and abstract-cubist style really make them pop though!

Magistum's critique

#1: As King_m0b said, the leg proportions seem out of place, even if you consider perspective. This is because the raised leg is larger (not to mention more muscular) when the other leg should have been the larger one.

I like the hatching done throughout the piece, however a bit of advice: I know that hatching tends to get a bit of a bore overtime, but do avoid making some of the lines squiggly (most notably on the dark shade just above the ankle of the raised leg) because it kills consistency. Also if you can, do avoid applying too much pressure on the pencil because it gets harder to erase them when you want to adjust something (as seen on the hand on the right side of the piece).

#2: First of all, I'll base my critique on the assumption that the medium used is oil pastels. If I'm wrong then please tell me so I could revise my critique, thanks :)

I like the cubism x pop art feel of the piece, although some parts make me think it's unfinished. First is the whitespots/grain especially on the background, which exposes your strokes more and thus makes it look inconsistent (point in case:pink on top right). Oil pastels tend to leave a lot of white spots unless you use a circular stroke on it (which is also the best way to blend colors with it). Next is the green square on the background that seems out of place.

As opposed to King_m0b's statement though, i like how some of the parts of the man are flat or pointed, as it is one of the quirks of cubism. However I would have preferred if you used the strong black cubist shading of the man's skin on the chair and on his clothes, too. As it is, the clothes seem like just typical shading and does not mesh with the skin and the chair well.

unfixable

King_m0b's critique

M-Steelix: The simple design is very appealing and the three colors in the crystals subtly bring life to the artwork as well as the pulsing blue patterns. The body segments have nice detail and shading that work well with the rest of the piece and I wish that this was carried into the head, as the head seems very flat and out of place.

Magistrum's critique

First of all I like the simple style, because it tends to draw my focus on the animation. Although, it would have been better if the shading was more consistent. Mega Steelix's head has smoother shading compared to the rest of its body. It might be better if you add some craggy shading on the head as well to make it less stiff and flat.

On the animation though, there's definitely something wrong with the flow of the pebbles; it's either a missing frame or a frame that got repeated. If you watch it closely, there's an inconsistency just after the pebbles make a full clockwise flow which plays tricks to the eyes and makes it look like it went counter clockwise afterwards. I suggest checking the frames again if you missed something/duplicated an earlier frame.

 

[strawberry]

Alrighty, it's time to start off the first week of discussion with submissions from brightobject and unfixable. The discussion will last for a week, and the most helpful rates will be added to the OP. Meanwhile, don't hesitate to send me a Private Message with your artwork that you wish to be discussed for the next week, since submissions are opened during the discussion as well!

Week 1

brightobject (two pieces)

unfixable

We certainly have some interesting submissions, with one being animated as well! Feel free to post your critiques and spark discussion now.

 

[King_m0b]

brightobject:

Pencil Piece: This is very well done! The eye, or mine at least, travels from the arm to the fabric then up the body in a very nice way. The fabric has extraordinary detail and shading, and for the most part the entire left side of the gentleman is well proportioned and shaded. The legs however are where some of the proportions become unrealistic. The left shin is well done however the thigh is a bit too thick even if it is resting on the chair and the right leg seems well proportioned just too large for the rest of the body. I would presume this is due to trying to add perspective but it's bit dramatic. The pose is also quite natural and fluid.

Pastel Piece: This is equally as good, if not better! The first thing I noticed was the use of the background to create the headband which is very creative, the proportions are great as well. The only things that stand out are that the background, as well as other areas that are a solid color, are not layered thick enough so there is white spots that appear where color is absent and you can see variances in the color. The back of the figure is also rather flat. The dramatic shading and abstract-cubist style really make them pop though!

unfixable:

M-Steelix: The simple design is very appealing and the three colors in the crystals subtly bring life to the artwork as well as the pulsing blue patterns. The body segments have nice detail and shading that work well with the rest of the piece and I wish that this was carried into the head, as the head seems very flat and out of place.

 

[Magistrum]

This seems interesting so let me take a whack at it :3

Brightobject:

#1: As King_m0b said, the leg proportions seem out of place, even if you consider perspective. This is because the raised leg is larger (not to mention more muscular) when the other leg should have been the larger one.

I like the hatching done throughout the piece, however a bit of advice: I know that hatching tends to get a bit of a bore overtime, but do avoid making some of the lines squiggly (most notably on the dark shade just above the ankle of the raised leg) because it kills consistency. Also if you can, do avoid applying too much pressure on the pencil because it gets harder to erase them when you want to adjust something (as seen on the hand on the right side of the piece).

#2: First of all, I'll base my critique on the assumption that the medium used is oil pastels. If I'm wrong then please tell me so I could revise my critique, thanks :)

I like the cubism x pop art feel of the piece, although some parts make me think it's unfinished. First is the whitespots/grain especially on the background, which exposes your strokes more and thus makes it look inconsistent (point in case:pink on top right). Oil pastels tend to leave a lot of white spots unless you use a circular stroke on it (which is also the best way to blend colors with it). Next is the green square on the background that seems out of place.

As opposed to King_m0b's statement though, i like how some of the parts of the man are flat or pointed, as it is one of the quirks of cubism. However I would have preferred if you used the strong black cubist shading of the man's skin on the chair and on his clothes, too. As it is, the clothes seem like just typical shading and does not mesh with the skin and the chair well.

I like the headband-blending-into-the-background idea, however it might be better if you made other parts of the man blend into the background too (like making the pants pink to blend it to the pink background) because doing it on the headband alone seems like a last-minute thing.

P.S. If I would compare the two artworks I like the first one more, since I am biased towards pencil drawings (and i absolutely abhor whitespots on traditionally colored artworks lol)

Unfixable:

First of all I like the simple style, because it tends to draw my focus on the animation. Although, it would have been better if the shading was more consistent. Mega Steelix's head has smoother shading compared to the rest of its body. It might be better if you add some craggy shading on the head as well to make it less stiff and flat.

On the animation though, there's definitely something wrong with the flow of the pebbles; it's either a missing frame or a frame that got repeated. If you watch it closely, there's an inconsistency just after the pebbles make a full clockwise flow which plays tricks to the eyes and makes it look like it went counter clockwise afterwards. I suggest checking the frames again if you missed something/duplicated an earlier frame.

I hope that helps! ^_^

 

[strawberry]

Alright! King_m0b's and Magistrum's critiques have been added to the OP. We're ready to start off the second week of submissions (slightly late), with a non-pokemon-featuring piece from Koriko and artwork from the ATA#3 from Magistrum!

Week 2

Koriko

Magistrum

 

[King_m0b]

Koriko:

This is very well done! The first thing I want to mention is the awesome background, the curve, colors, and shape of the clouds are great. The gradient in the sky is also well done but the bottom right corner is a bit of an abrupt change in color compared to the rest. As for the figure, the head is fantastic and I love the detail of the hair with the dramatic shading! The clothing is good and I have nothing to really say to work on there besides perhaps the next thing you should work on is making the transparent cloth a bit more realistic looking in the way it curves. You have the right idea with curving the lines to follow the motion, but also remember that when it folds in on itself and layers, the transparency should be lowered because the cloth is thicker there. Other than that the arms need only a little bit a work; the left arm looks right but it's placement doesn't quite match that of the hand. This is an easy fix by either moving the hand more to the left or by making the arm "come closer" to the viewer to decrease the leftward extension. You can also give the fingers more curves to help show the different segments and make them seem like blobby. The right arm is perfect, but you should either move the thumb or add more shading to make it seem less attached to the index finger. The pose is very good by the way! ;D

Magistrum:

Wow, just wow; this is really fantastic! I love the style of light-or-dark shading with no gradients and very clever the use the lens flare from Barbarel as the light source. The poses of each pokemon are all different and go well together and there isn't a piece of the work that feels left out or forgotten. You definitely seem to have this style down and there isn't much I can say to improve with. I would love to see you use this style with more detail and perhaps highlights as it is quite beautiful in this simple form.

 

[strawberry]

Koriko

It's always nice to see peeps around here working on something other than pokemon-related pieces. The few suggestions and nitpicks that i might have are these: Even though you considered that the left arm should have less detail since it's far away from us, you should have invested a bit more time on shading it, as it right now gives me the impression that it's unfinished, with the thumb being almost completely attached to to the index finger as well. That piece of jewlery on the arm also seems like it could use some work, adding some darker shades instead of that lighter outline would be nice, much like you did with her necklace. The background seems fine, although you went a little too far with the light change on the bottom. You probably wanted to suggest that there is a light source from that angle, and if that's the case a good thing to do would be adding more and stronger yellow shades to her body. King_m0b nicely covered what needs to be done about the transparency of the cloth, so I'm not going to go further on that topic.

Anyhow, I've extended this second week of submissions in case of some more critiques getting posted, but we'll certainly move on the 3rd week with more submissions tomorrow!


I haven't commented on Magistrum's work, because that's truly fantastic.

 

[strawberry]

Week 3

aXl

This time around we have only one submission (not less important, of course!), but if I stumble upon more submissions during the next 24 hours I'll throw them intro the mix as well.

 

[strawberry]

I'm giving this thread a shameless bump, and a little change in rules: We'll skip the whole "PMing me your artwork so I can feature it in here" part, so you can feel free to just make a post with some of your work here if you need tips, advice or want to start a discussion about an aspect of your art that you think you can improve on! It'll make things much more efficient and easier for both me and those who want to participate in the thread.

I'll still keep track of the most recent art that's posted here in the OP though.

EDIT: I'll also organise the list of artworks a bit differently from now on since the art won't be divided by weeks anymore, so i'll be making changes to the op later today.

 

[MiniArchitect]

I'll see if I can't get things moving in here

aXl Over five months after its posting date but here goes :V

The first things I notice here are Gallade's active pose and the sketch lines left partially intact surrounding him. Though unrefined, the pencil lines help define the motion Gallade is caught in the middle of. You really get the impression that he's in the midst of a turn, which is defined further by the shape of the blades on his arms; they form two segregated curving arcs of an imaginary ellipse. The sense of motion is aided further by the steep curves of his billowing cape, the shape of which provides a nice sense of volume.

As for the painting style, the colors used are a bit too unsaturated, and the way they're blended makes them appear muddy. I imagine this is the Smudge tool at work (if I'm wrong feel free to call me out on it), which, while good for some tasks, blends colors together in an unnatural way that makes them look watered down. Additionally, there could be some greater contrast to help distinguish areas of Gallade's anatomy. Darkening the underside of his cape and lightening the white areas that are closest to the viewer a bit more would help to cement the viewer's impression of the space he's taking up.

With that said though, I'm very much a fan of the inclusion of some purple tones on the blades and gems. Those features become translucent as a result, granting them some visual depth. You also did well to include some green and red highlights on his legs and cape, showing that the light reflects from the other parts of his body.

And that's that! Hope it helps!

Since it seems we can post our own work here for discussion now, I'll go ahead an leave my own here too:

Hydreigon

Though I typically stick to vector art, I'm looking to work on some other areas of weakness; tablet drawing being a big one.

 

[princessofmusic]

I shall continue the chain

MiniArchitect Some things I like about your Hydreigon image include the colour palette and how the contrast between the highlights and the base colours is higher than the shadows, which helps to make the subject "pop". What I like most, though, is Hydreigon's pose and the relationship between positive and negative space, something that's vital in logo and graphic design work. On the left side, the body forms a relatively smooth curve, while on the right, the silhouette has a bunch of indentations, sharp points, and extrusions, which makes for a varied and visually interesting silhouette. The scribbly background is nifty, but perhaps you could've chosen brighter or more contrasting colours in order to help Hydreigon stand out more (since the whole image is rather dark).

Although vector artwork isn't generally my cup of tea, I'd say this is a strong example of your work as well as vector artwork in general and I can't really think of anything negative to say (which is weird because I'm a pretty merciless critic sometimes). I feel like this critique wasn't particularly helpful u__u;


If you have time to spare, feel free to comment on my penguin (no larger resolution available).

 

[andii53]

Was looking to hear people thoughts on my Fantastic Pokemon Team Design! I was also wondering what pokemon team I should do next open to suggestions

http://www.redbubble.com/people/andii53/works/16581284-pokemon-team?grid_pos=3&p=t-shirt

 

[Falgaia]

If you have time to spare, feel free to comment on my penguin (no larger resolution available).

Waiting for a school project to load import some footage, might as well comment on things.

Aside from the resolution issues causing the piece to be somewhat blurry, the piece is fairly well composed as a whole. One thing that bothers me a bit is how on parts of Piplup where the yellow splits (mostly the toes, but also the beak to some extent) there is a very bold, almost outline-like line whereas the rest of the piece mostly appears lineless. I'd look into ways to either smooth down the line or maybe trying to find alternative means of portraying it.

On the plus side, the shading uses a pretty natural and diverse pallet of colors that blends together nicely and gives the painting good depth. In addition, where there are outlines, they work well in separating Piplup from the background or easing contrasting colors into one another. I also really dig how the background gets brighter to create a penumbra behind Piplup's head; very nice detail that really helps give even the light itself some volume.

 

[Falgaia]

Was looking to hear people thoughts on my Fantastic Pokemon Team Design! I was also wondering what pokemon team I should do next open to suggestions
View attachment 50694
http://www.redbubble.com/people/andii53/works/16581284-pokemon-team?grid_pos=3&p=t-shirt

Not as familiar with critiquing/analyzing this style of art, but a few inconsistencies do catch my eye. One thing that bothers me a bit is how the silhouettes all showcase the team's faces except for Arcanine (and Lugia but given its roll in the composition I can understand it being an exception). Maybe you could add the silhouette of Arcanine's face so that it is more define able against the bg?

Other than that, there are a few parts where the background gradient eats some of the team's details, due to it getting lighter towards the center. Some examples of this include Dragonite's claws and Lapras's shell. I'd consider either darkening the backgrounds on those two or possibly making the gradient less prominent towards the center. One last nitpick, but Gengar's art seems to weirdly cut off his lower half at around the teeth; I'm not familiar with the source image so I don't know if it actually does that or not, but having it more natural round out at the bottom similar to Gengar's body shape would be an improvement I think.

oh yeah and leave a penny take a penny and stuff

 

[HanSoloIndie]

Hi everyone I hope everyone is having a good week and everything.

andii53's art is fantastic editing, especially in my book. The lineless figures are well defined, and make great use of the colored background to fill in the gaps. This clearly shows an excellent skill in clip masking. My only and possibly nitpick is I wish the grey background surrounding the pokeball was darker to increase the contrast.

Here's my WIP of my rendition of all of the box cover legendaries. I am almost done with the modern era ones (guess who I am working on currently), drawn exclusively in Adobe Illustrator. I do not intend to add backgrounds because I plan to use the art for an even bigger project in mind . And of course, everyone knows how vector programs enable stealers and illegitimate tracers, so I also have proof that I did this entirely

My proof

 

[MiniArchitect]

What a good thread to bump!

My favorite of these is Yveltal: I like your use of dark purple to pink shapes, combined with the pink-to-maroon gradient to convey the idea of light building up from underneath its skin. The sharp angles of the claws on the tips of its wings also feel tense and energetic, which lend even more energy to the piece. And while I think I would normally be against the pink outlines around the darker shapes of its body (due to the way they flatten the artwork), they lend a nice graphical quality to the piece that just heightens the energy that I'm feeling from it.

I'm uncertain how I feel about the laser, though. The layered, transparent effects kind of clash with the otherwise sharp rendering of Yveltal itself. I can't really think of a great solution to rendering it off the top of my head, but I would consider revisiting it and seeing what else you can do to make it feel more consistent with the style of these pieces overall.

Below are some additional thoughts:

• I like the way you use gradients to convey light and energy coursing through these Pokemons' bodies. It makes them feel powerful.
• For the Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings Necrozma, try varying the tone of your blacks to define the shapes a bit better. The chunks of Necrozma on them are meant to be thick and crystalline, with multiple different sides, but it's hard to tell that from how they're rendered here.
• Try not to rely on Illustrator's stock effects too much, like the charcoal brushes, the flare tool, or blurring. For instance, I don't think the charcoal textured brush for the rings beneath Zacian and Zamazenta really fits with them, because the shapes used otherwise are so smooth and clearly-defined. The bumpy edges of those rings clash with the bodies of the Pokemon to me. And instead of transparent lens flares, maybe try drawing your own custom shapes to signify a glint of light reflecting there.
• Try adding hints of darker or lighter colors around the edges of their bodies, depending on the light source, to make the Pokemon feel more three-dimensional. Adding a little maroon to the edges of the spikes of Zacian's tail, for example, will help define each of those tufts of fur as distinct, separate forms, rather than one, loosely-defined form. Similarly, adding some bright white highlights to the edges of Dusk Mane Necrozma's hind legs and back will help contrast it against the sunburst behind it, and convey the amount of light being cast by it.

Don't let any of this critique stop you from completing this series, even if you don't listen to all of it. These are all really cool, and I respect you taking on the challenge of drawing such complicated Pokemon designs all in Illustrator. I'm looking forward to seeing them finished!

 

[HanSoloIndie]

What a good thread to bump!

My favorite of these is Yveltal: I like your use of dark purple to pink shapes, combined with the pink-to-maroon gradient to convey the idea of light building up from underneath its skin. The sharp angles of the claws on the tips of its wings also feel tense and energetic, which lend even more energy to the piece. And while I think I would normally be against the pink outlines around the darker shapes of its body (due to the way they flatten the artwork), they lend a nice graphical quality to the piece that just heightens the energy that I'm feeling from it.

I'm uncertain how I feel about the laser, though. The layered, transparent effects kind of clash with the otherwise sharp rendering of Yveltal itself. I can't really think of a great solution to rendering it off the top of my head, but I would consider revisiting it and seeing what else you can do to make it feel more consistent with the style of these pieces overall.

Below are some additional thoughts:

• I like the way you use gradients to convey light and energy coursing through these Pokemons' bodies. It makes them feel powerful.
• For the Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings Necrozma, try varying the tone of your blacks to define the shapes a bit better. The chunks of Necrozma on them are meant to be thick and crystalline, with multiple different sides, but it's hard to tell that from how they're rendered here.
• Try not to rely on Illustrator's stock effects too much, like the charcoal brushes, the flare tool, or blurring. For instance, I don't think the charcoal textured brush for the rings beneath Zacian and Zamazenta really fits with them, because the shapes used otherwise are so smooth and clearly-defined. The bumpy edges of those rings clash with the bodies of the Pokemon to me. And instead of transparent lens flares, maybe try drawing your own custom shapes to signify a glint of light reflecting there.
• Try adding hints of darker or lighter colors around the edges of their bodies, depending on the light source, to make the Pokemon feel more three-dimensional. Adding a little maroon to the edges of the spikes of Zacian's tail, for example, will help define each of those tufts of fur as distinct, separate forms, rather than one, loosely-defined form. Similarly, adding some bright white highlights to the edges of Dusk Mane Necrozma's hind legs and back will help contrast it against the sunburst behind it, and convey the amount of light being cast by it.

Don't let any of this critique stop you from completing this series, even if you don't listen to all of it. These are all really cool, and I respect you taking on the challenge of drawing such complicated Pokemon designs all in Illustrator. I'm looking forward to seeing them finished!

Thanks for the critique of my WIP! You're the best!
I try some of your suggestions on the Adobe Illustrator stock effects on Zacian/Zamazenta and perhaps revisit Zacian's tail. I bet you noticed I was also rendering each legendary doing their signature moves. When I approach the end of this project, I might remove them doing their signature moves if it clashes with the style, so I'll keep it in mind. For the Yveltal, wow, thank you so much. That guy was my most ambitous and hardest pokemon to render appropriately in Adobe Illustrator, and I will certainly try to modify the Oblivion Wing effect (that was extremely hard to render appropiately, and if you are a master of Adobe Illustrator yourself, sometimes it sucks rendering crap that is easier in Photoshop.

Hence why I wanted to do the entire series in vector, because I wanted to dispel the notion that "Vector=only simple drawings, = that's for tracer noobs, = only renders plastic properly, etc." and stand out against the numerous other drawings in this forum. There has been an alarming decline in the interest of vector lately, and most people only use it nowadays for autoCAD, art experiments, or stock photos. I hardly see any fan art of Pokemon that's not a stock photo or traced in vector, which sucks as someone who loves both raster and vector.

 

[Mr.Bossaru]

thoughts on my shiny mudkip

 

[ChoiceScarfed]

I made Falinks... Yes I am ThisIsAnAccident on reddit and I have posted this on R/Pokemon.

 

[Zephyri]

thought id bump this super old thread w the first non mons artwork ive done in a while. should be pretty obvious, but id really appreciate some critique and would love to see some other pieces in this awesome thread :D

 

[Albatross]

thought id bump this super old thread w the first non mons artwork ive done in a while. should be pretty obvious, but id really appreciate some critique and would love to see some other pieces in this awesome thread :D

Nice to see this thread bumped, its a really neat idea. Stylised stuff like this admittedly isn't my forte, but I'll still try my best with this critique

• Character design-wise, this is great. The lopsided proportions (large body, short legs & medium-ish head) and stylised hands + hair give them a unique silhouette. The line of action is consistent, the blue hair stands out from the warmer yellow and orange clothing and draws the eye straight to their face, all in all I'd say this is a simple but effective design
• The way you shaded this piece works well with the stylised/cartoony artstyle. Additionally, the sketchy lineart plays into this as well, with the thickness of the lines naturally drawing your attention to key parts of the piece. The deep, warm red colour is also nice. One minor issue I have with the lineart is that, with the dark blue hair, it clashes pretty nastily and looks unappealing. The two colours are too close in value/lightness/shade, so I'd suggest either making all the lineart darker or just the internal parts that are touching the blue colouring. I'm not really sure how to explain it, so I've included a handy dandy diagram:

Handy Dandy Diagram

1. The normal lineart, with the colour swatches taken from the hair. Not great, really
2. Suggestion 1: Change all the lineart to a darker shade
2. Suggestion 2: Leave most of the lineart as it is, but change the parts on the inside that are touching the blue

• Continuing on from the shading/lineart point, the colours are all easy to tell apart from a distance. Maybe that doesn't seem like a huge positive, but having separate colours blend together can make a drawing really hard to . There are minor slipups with the shading on the green strap on their belt (there's a name for it, but I can't remember it right now) and their trousers being a little too close in brightness/value, and the aforementioned hair and lineart thing, but otherwise the colouring and lineart is very solid
• My major gripe with this piece is the amount of tangents. If you didn't already know what tangents are in relation to art, then this article explains them in a concise manner with useful visual aids to help. Generally, tangents make drawings feel flat and 2d, and in particularly egregious cases can make it hard to understand what's going on. This is a pretty big problem with this particular piece, as some of the tangents actively hurt the readability of the silhouette (see: point 3 on the diagram). Again I've made a handy dandy diagram for your viewing pleasure, with all the tangents I noticed circled. Tangents don't always make or break a drawing, but when they're bad or there are multiple of them it can really take away from an otherwise good drawing. Look out for them in the future

Handy Dandy Diagram 2

Listed from top to bottom:

1. The left-side coat string and the zipper
2. The right-side coat string, pocket opening and arm. This entire area feels very crowded in general
3. The side of the TV and the coat. This is easily the worst tangent here, as the lack of negative space makes it harder to read the silhouette. It also makes it hard to tell if the TV is in front or behind the character. Its also the easiest to fix - just move the TV a little to the side lol
4. The left-side end of the coat and the arm. It makes it hard to tell if the arm is in front of or behind the coat
5. The thumb and fingers of the right hand
6. The belt-strap-thing and the trouser/trouser pocket. This isn't as bad as the other examples as you can still kind of tell that the strap is in front of the trousers, but its hard to tell from a distance
7. The boots and the trousers. Looks like the left leg should be behind the right one, but the tangent suggests that they're on the same level, making the left leg seem comparatively thin. The boots and the inside of the trousers also line up, which only complicates the matter further

• One final minor criticism; the left hand is in an awkward position. If you try and position your arm like that it feels strained and, while on a stylised piece like this it doesn't look that bad, it does look slightly off putting imo. Using real life references are still helpful for these types of things even when you're not drawing realistically. Additionally, it looks like the left hand had four fingers and a thumb, while the right hand clearly has three fingers and a thumb. Again, not a huge issue, but its a little distracting. Also the coat strings look strangely straight towards the end, particularly the right one, if you could make them slightly more curved that would be cool

Here are some general tips, not just for you, but for anyone reading this:

• Tangents aren't always a dealbreaker when it comes to art, but always avoid them if possible
• Before shading, make your drawing greyscale. This can be done multiple ways depending on the software you use, but making a new layer and filling it with grey, then setting the layer mode to 'Color' seems to be a fairly universal one. This helps you see which colours are too similar to each other value/brightness-wise. As a general rule of thumb, if you zoom out a little and can't make out the individual colours, then you need to adjust their values
• Coloured lineart is cool, but try not to make it too bright. I like to keep mine in the 5-15 brightness/value range, depending on how dark the colours are, but as long as you keep the greyscale tip in mind then really you can go as bright as you want. Sometimes its desirable to have similar-coloured lineart and base colours, its up to the artists discretion, but this is just a general way to make coloured lineart not look unnatural or clash with the base colours

Anyways final thoughts, this is a cool drawing, the character design is great imo, very good work. The only major issue is the tangents and the lineart thing ig, but otherwise its a solid piece


I'll probably submit some art at some point, I just can't be bothered rn lol

 

[Zephyri]

Nice to see this thread bumped, its a really neat idea. Stylised stuff like this admittedly isn't my forte, but I'll still try my best with this critique

• Character design-wise, this is great. The lopsided proportions (large body, short legs & medium-ish head) and stylised hands + hair give them a unique silhouette. The line of action is consistent, the blue hair stands out from the warmer yellow and orange clothing and draws the eye straight to their face, all in all I'd say this is a simple but effective design
• The way you shaded this piece works well with the stylised/cartoony artstyle. Additionally, the sketchy lineart plays into this as well, with the thickness of the lines naturally drawing your attention to key parts of the piece. The deep, warm red colour is also nice. One minor issue I have with the lineart is that, with the dark blue hair, it clashes pretty nastily and looks unappealing. The two colours are too close in value/lightness/shade, so I'd suggest either making all the lineart darker or just the internal parts that are touching the blue colouring. I'm not really sure how to explain it, so I've included a handy dandy diagram:

Handy Dandy Diagram

1. The normal lineart, with the colour swatches taken from the hair. Not great, really
2. Suggestion 1: Change all the lineart to a darker shade
2. Suggestion 2: Leave most of the lineart as it is, but change the parts on the inside that are touching the blue

• Continuing on from the shading/lineart point, the colours are all easy to tell apart from a distance. Maybe that doesn't seem like a huge positive, but having separate colours blend together can make a drawing really hard to . There are minor slipups with the shading on the green strap on their belt (there's a name for it, but I can't remember it right now) and their trousers being a little too close in brightness/value, and the aforementioned hair and lineart thing, but otherwise the colouring and lineart is very solid
• My major gripe with this piece is the amount of tangents. If you didn't already know what tangents are in relation to art, then this article explains them in a concise manner with useful visual aids to help. Generally, tangents make drawings feel flat and 2d, and in particularly egregious cases can make it hard to understand what's going on. This is a pretty big problem with this particular piece, as some of the tangents actively hurt the readability of the silhouette (see: point 3 on the diagram). Again I've made a handy dandy diagram for your viewing pleasure, with all the tangents I noticed circled. Tangents don't always make or break a drawing, but when they're bad or there are multiple of them it can really take away from an otherwise good drawing. Look out for them in the future

Handy Dandy Diagram 2

Listed from top to bottom:

1. The left-side coat string and the zipper
2. The right-side coat string, pocket opening and arm. This entire area feels very crowded in general
3. The side of the TV and the coat. This is easily the worst tangent here, as the lack of negative space makes it harder to read the silhouette. It also makes it hard to tell if the TV is in front or behind the character. Its also the easiest to fix - just move the TV a little to the side lol
4. The left-side end of the coat and the arm. It makes it hard to tell if the arm is in front of or behind the coat
5. The thumb and fingers of the right hand
6. The belt-strap-thing and the trouser/trouser pocket. This isn't as bad as the other examples as you can still kind of tell that the strap is in front of the trousers, but its hard to tell from a distance
7. The boots and the trousers. Looks like the left leg should be behind the right one, but the tangent suggests that they're on the same level, making the left leg seem comparatively thin. The boots and the inside of the trousers also line up, which only complicates the matter further

• One final minor criticism; the left hand is in an awkward position. If you try and position your arm like that it feels strained and, while on a stylised piece like this it doesn't look that bad, it does look slightly off putting imo. Using real life references are still helpful for these types of things even when you're not drawing realistically. Additionally, it looks like the left hand had four fingers and a thumb, while the right hand clearly has three fingers and a thumb. Again, not a huge issue, but its a little distracting. Also the coat strings look strangely straight towards the end, particularly the right one, if you could make them slightly more curved that would be cool

Here are some general tips, not just for you, but for anyone reading this:

• Tangents aren't always a dealbreaker when it comes to art, but always avoid them if possible
• Before shading, make your drawing greyscale. This can be done multiple ways depending on the software you use, but making a new layer and filling it with grey, then setting the layer mode to 'Color' seems to be a fairly universal one. This helps you see which colours are too similar to each other value/brightness-wise. As a general rule of thumb, if you zoom out a little and can't make out the individual colours, then you need to adjust their values
• Coloured lineart is cool, but try not to make it too bright. I like to keep mine in the 5-15 brightness/value range, depending on how dark the colours are, but as long as you keep the greyscale tip in mind then really you can go as bright as you want. Sometimes its desirable to have similar-coloured lineart and base colours, its up to the artists discretion, but this is just a general way to make coloured lineart not look unnatural or clash with the base colours

Anyways final thoughts, this is a cool drawing, the character design is great imo, very good work. The only major issue is the tangents and the lineart thing ig, but otherwise its a solid piece


I'll probably submit some art at some point, I just can't be bothered rn lol

Tysm! I think this is objectively one of the best critiques i've ever gotten: it's specific, to-the-point, and acknowledges the artist's intentions. The tangent thing is something i'd never actually realized before, and its something that i'll be sure to take into account in other art stuff i do in the future.

(would love to see your art as well, whenever you decide to post it :])

 

[Fusion Flare]

tiky

 

[Zephyri]

ky

Hi there! Im going to try and critique this to the best of my ability, feel free to take any of these suggestions. Im decently confident this piece is a reference to something that im not aware of, so Im going to ignore the aspects that dont seem to make a ton of sense at first impression and get to the technical aspects of it :)

I think the appeal of the piece comes from how bold and vibrant it is, and I love how the bright colors and thick lineart help aid that. I also feel that the composition of the piece is great, the lines point towards the arrows and the face, and the positions of the shapes just work (as an aside, i think composition is the biggest strength of most of your pieces, atleast imo). However, I think there's wayyy too much collective saturation. I feel like saturation should be used to emphasize certain specific parts of a piece (similar to lighting), so having high saturation everywhere creates a lot of visual clutter imo. Furthermore, it can make a piece look more artifiicial and less "real". With this piece specifically, i think you could decrease the saturation on the tongue, teeth and the green part of the head.

The other aspect that I think could use some work is the perspective. Assuming the fiery head bits are meant to be on the opposite sides of the head, the perspective there is off, and i think thats what makes it look somewhat flat

(what i feel like it should be more like)

only did top of the head bcs thats all i felt was necessary to make my point

Basically, use foreshortening more often and try to think about whether or not your piece's perspective could work in a real life setting; you could observe real life objects to figure that out

Thats all i've really got to say, my notes here are basically color saturation and perspective, i think you did a good job on everything else (the lineart isnt for me personally but i get that its a stylistic choice and i respect it), and the piece itself is solid; good job!

 

[Zephyri]

recently drew a host of logos for CAPPL and i thought it might be a good idea to get critique on them, since i havent really done tournament art of this scale before. I'd love if i could get feedback on both on the individual logos and also on how well the logos mesh together as a group

cheers! :]

spoiler cuz big image