FD's Art Stuff

I'll just use this thread instead of making multiples.

 

Pokemon: Solosis
Category: Medium (2)
Required Score: 50 or higher

Freshly Hatched



Psychic Powers

 

Freshly Hatched

Let's start off with the good. The theme is really interesting, with Solosis coming fresh out the egg. I love the liquid from the egg that's visible on Solosis - personally, it's one of my favorite little things about this banner. And of course, the Solosis itself is REALLY well done. The shading is perfect in my opinion, and the fine outlining is really appealing as well. A few more small things I liked was the sun glare and the analogous blue/green combination (incidentally, they worked really well together as well).

On the other hand, however, I felt that the background (well, the grass at least; the clouds were a little more subtle than I would've liked but perfectly fine nonetheless) and the egg were lacking a lot in terms of detail and polish. Starting with the grass, my beef with it is that the random straws of grass sticking out and even the ground were grainy. The texture of it took away from your clean-looking focal point and even the smooth sky, and I would've liked a smoother texture for the sake of continuity within the image and overall cleanliness for an image like this.

As for the egg, I feel that it was very lazily done, and it shows. The eggshells are a simple green gradient with minimal texture or design, and the cracked part of them are a simple zigzag, with no deviations to make it seem more natural. Also, the top half was flying away from the bottom half at an unnatural and impossible (and also physically imposible, given its distance from the bottom half) 90-degree angle. A more natural looking egg with detailing both in design and in shape/texture would've been much better to go with your very sharp Solosis, and of course, having the top half of the egg shell flying away at something like 30-50 degree angle would make it look much more natural as well.

Overall, this image to me was a mixed bag with extremes in terms of quality. I really really really enjoyed your Solosis and the sky, but at the same time, the grass and the egg took up an overwhelming amount of space in the image and underwhelmed me as the viewer. It meets somewhere in the middle, and to me, it falls short of a pass. I would've loved to pass you on the strength of your Solosis, which is the main focus of this image, but dominating the area around it with a lackluster field and egg took away from it and the whole image in a way that was just too much to be overlooked.

Score: 41/100 (FAIL)

Psychic Powers

Right off the bat, I loved this image. It was appealing to the eye the moment I looked at it, with a dominant complimentary pair of colors in Solosis' green and the purple psychic waves. Then, the various elements of the image settled into my mind, and I loved them too. The glow in Solosis' eye was very appealing, almost matching the shine on the top of Solosis' bubble and contrasting the dark shadow on its lower half really well. Also, the thicker green part of Solosis' background had a very murky-seeming depth to it, and I actually liked that texture a lot.

The fork, spoon and knife were also well drawn sprites with excellent shading to them, and the idea of duplicating them at lower opacities worked really well with the theme of the image. The overall purple tones across the sky was just an excellent touch, as it really gave this image a feel to it, and made the sky look absolutely brilliant. I also loved the violent red-orange colors of the ground against the sky, and it even fit well with the mellow green Solosis because of the red diamond in the center of it. The color combination was a little awkward, admittedly, but to your credit, you made it work as well as may hae been possible. The fisheye effect was just an excellent compliment to the theme, and I personally loved it.

As strong as this image was, it wasn't without weaknesses. Though I enjoyed the wave effect for the most part, there was a bit in the bottom left corner that stood out to me right off the bat. There was a bright red-yellow flare, and to be honest, it may have worked if you had used it just a little more throughout the ground, but having it only there makes it stand out like a sore thumb and distracts from the rest of your image. Another thing I couldn't help but notice (and this is nitpicky but really bothered me once I noticed) was that the clouds seemed to be more "clear-day" type of clouds. With the purple tones, I couldn't help but feel like darker clouds and a more downcast sky would've worked better, to make your banner seem brooding and really complimenting the psychic energy in the image.

Still, though, not a whole lot to complain about overall. I love this banner. It was sharp and striking, the colors and textures were excellent, and only the bright flare in the corner showed any signs of a fundamental weakness in terms of design elements. High score for you.

Score: 73/100 (PASS)

So, 1/2 pieces pass for Solosis. You can choose to edit your first image and resubmit it, or make a new one altogether. It's up to you, and I'll be up to regrade it.