Frosted Cuteness

Posting this for capture (i find snow tricky to do still so any advise how to improve this would be amazing pass or fail) the blue on the floor is meant to be ice with some things frozen under it and again i apologise ice isn't my strong point XD. Would also like to point out there are light shades of Blue in the snow and on Vulpix but i think the light was to bright and you gotta look very close. Anything to help this picture add depth and in anyway improve it would be amazing, i would like to make this one of my best art pieces but i am still learning how to do ice and snow hehe.

Target - Alolan Vulpix
Points Needed - 45 Points
Rank - Medium

Would like to also claim this for Mays theme bonus of - Mothers

 

claims

 

Helllo, so you want an alola pix as well' It it is definitely an interesting dragon killer. Wasn't alolan vulpix the first drawing I curated of your's? The more ice fairies the better I guess.

Anyway, what you've presented in a rather quirky scene drawn in a radically different style with elements reminiscent from your past works. There is a mix of hard, dark outlines mixed in with areas that completely lack it. You claimed to have a lack of confidence in draw ice and no doubt it is diffcult. When everything so light it becomes harder and harder to delineate forms and make good use of contrast. Unfortunately, though ice is still three dimensional and therefore needs as much attention to remaining work. While ice is naturally light in color, you at least have the benefit of being able to see cast shadows as opposed to objects resting on black or almost black surfaces and I feel like you've run into the same problem in your Rotom drawing with that murkrow in the background but on a much larger scale. While your outlines trace a three dimensional subject very well like Alolatail's paws or vulpix's tails, the remainder of the drawing is flat.

I found an image of your work online of a beautfully lit ice cave:



And despite all the white, there is tons of contrast in the blues that were in the picture. I see that you've picked on that up awkwardly in your Alolan Ninetails but I'd definitely like to see that reflected in your drawing. I feel like playing around with differing kinds of blues for their shading would remove the need for those harsh outlines that surround the white parts of them. Try to find the shadows and the darker spots and use their interaction as the outline.

The flatness even reflects itself in the water. Water is hot compared to ice and it carves its way through it just like it carves canyons out of rock. I think though, that problem could fix itself if you more carefully defined the ice along the water since that carved outline interrupts the transition. The places where you haven't introduced these harsh outlines feel natural like the cave wall and and though extremely, minimal, on Ninetales's body.

There aren't really any cast shadows, either, which will help give this work some dimension. It is easy to confuse the shading and the official artwork of the two because the official artwork seems to ignore good shading. It is up to you to find the 3-d structure. The official art does have merits, however, in a sense that there is some darker blues among all the white in Alolan Vulpix with her frosted hair, and the part of the tail that's tucked in, but even those designs are a little flat.

It was a bold endeavor to include two pokemon in your work and I'm glad that alolan ninetales is a bit off the page. They seen, though to be a bit stretched in odd ways which leaves me turning my head a little. I think the head is a little too big on Nineales for its body and I think your Vulpix is a little squat and elongated. Much more so than I'd expect it to compare to your Ninetales. Maybe its the general flatness of the subjects is what's bothering me the most.

As you can tell, I don't think this quite passes yet. I like the bold attempt to work on such a difficult topic. It is ambitious to draw two ice creatures in an ice cave, but I don't think this qualifies as medium yet. The shading really needs to come out and you should really play around with the blues. I think you were really unsure how to handle this situation and I think the use of all of those harsh,black outlines could have been mitigated by finding the dark values, even if it is just a medium, bright blue. Definitely work on bringing out the forms and I can't wait to see what you do with it! 40/45 Alolan Vulpix not quite captured!

 

Resubmitting for capture @juliorain

 

While the extreme lighting is interesting, I was trying to get at something more subtle. It is interesting that you chose to backlight your subjects, I do have to warn you that back lighting is generally unflattering. Back lighting is when you put the source of the light behind in you see it in shadow. But now I see that there is an opening to cave (as I didn't see it last time)...I'm not quite sure. Regardless what you've done cut some of the flatness out enough to merit Vulpix being captured. Vulpix captured

 

She backlit because she came to me for guidance and I suggested it. She wasn't sure exactly what you wanted her to do from your curation. I suggested backlighting after she explained that the opening of the cave is in the back and they are taking refuge from a snowstorm outside, so realistically it would be backlit since the blinding white of the snowstorm would be their only light source, unless she were to alter the direction of the cave completely. Just thought I'd mention.

 

Yeah sorry for the confusion, please, if you are confused by anything I have said about your work dm me on discord for clarification! ^.^

 

Also does it qualify for the Monthly Theme? Perhaps I missed it but I don't see you mentioning that in your curation.

 

• Flowers
• Mothers
• Relief
• Focus
• Mermaids
• Memorials

That was the theme for this month if I assume the alolan nintales is the mother, then yes, but it isn't that clear. However, because the ninetales is clearly looking over her child while it is playing with the spider I'll go ahead and say it does qualify for the theme!