KnittyDragon's Artistic Blunders!

So... this is my first art submission... and we'll see how it goes!

"First Steps" by KnittyDragon. A Poliwag takes its first steps on land, with shaky legs. Aiming for a Poliwag!

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Proof

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@KnittyDragon

Poliwag

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Color/Form

Poliwags in play is always a fun version of the often arted poliwag, especially with the dynamics and color choices you have to pick from. your choice of background color was good, giving a nice transition from field, to beach, to water. Even though the pokemon and water are both blue, you managed to set them apart by using different hues, and using darker ripples to center the focus on the two Poliwag in the water. Using multiple different colors of shadows to denote different materials is a good practice to keep, especially for harder ranked mons in the future. Main critiques are thus: First off, some of the black lines that surround the Poliwag are a bit off putting in a scene that lacks a lot of outlines, but you used them sparingly enough to not cause any major distraction. I don’t know how I feel about the movement lines you added. They give the image a nice comical lighthearted feeling, but I’m on the fence about them. The other complaint of mine would be that a lof of the edges on the poliwags aren’t smooth, they can be very slightly jagged, or not flowy enough for the curve they represent. But this is digital art, and for a first time submission this is actually pretty good.

Pokemon

Not one, not two, but three poliwags! Definitely liking that you made them each have their own pose, and doing different things. The color on all of them is right, and their shape/form is good. Spiral right direction, check. ONLY thing that throws me off in terms of anatomy is the lower righthand poliwag, his tail looks a bit too high on the back. But minor detail. As far as shading goes, you utilized a simple yet workable light/dark toon shading method. For something like this it fits well with the overall style yet manages to convey light source and intensity. it also gives the poliwag the slightest touch of having a slick wet appearance.

Environment

The devil is in the details, and while you went with a basic scene, you still added in enough details to add the variety needed. Blades of grass, lilypads, and the especially the ripples, I like that you added them. It definitely makes the scene more believable in my eyes, to see the water interacting with the objects in it.

For improvements in this area, more lighting effects on the ground and water could be used, to give the grass, sand, and water more texture and depth. If you really wanted to get realistic or just more detailed, give the water some transparency and reflection, so you could see the bottom of the pond perhaps, as well as clouds being reflected on the surface. The harsh edge between light and dark blue could also possibly be a bi smoother, to show less of a dropoff at the waterline.

Improvements
1. Shading and texture, to give everything a more realistic feel

2. Smooth out curves and edges when you are finished with them, make everything flow together nicely.

Score

40/100

Definitely passing this one

 

I AM POSTING AN ART.

"monbrey
Also say you're posting "an art"
Cause it sounds funny"

This is N's Zoroark, set in a tucked-away room somewhere in N's Castle, as hinted at by his hat placed on the ground. I wanted to play with Zoroark's ability, so Zoroark is disguised as a Mew, but its true form shows in the mirror. Its tail pokes out beyond the frame for added interest. The Snivy doll on the ground is another clue to the mirror.

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@KnittyDragon
Zorua

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I’m assuming you are aiming for Zorua in contrast to Zoroark, since you didn’t exactly specify.

Form/Detail
The amount of detail you managed to add to some spots impressed me. The snivy doll especially, with the yellow belly and leaf tail made it pop in the two spots you added it. The picture frame with Reshiram has similar qualities. We have a lot of diagonal symmetry going on, between the pokemon and random items scattered about a room ,I think this adds a sense of balance throughout the image.

Some of the artistic elements that stood out to me are line and repetition. The stones are placed to make a round wall, and iit serves two purposes: it both wraps the viewer’s eyes around the picture to mew, whereas the vertical separators add in an effect that points the eyes down towards the majority of the action. Its fairly effective here I think. Repetition refers to the stones you drew out, giving it a nice detailed wall that adds to the overall value of the image.

Color and Shading
There is a fair variety of color, it looks like you utilized a mixture of subdued, earthy tones for the background to allow most of your main components and characters to pop. The blue and red are nice complements across the image. The green snivy and orange picture on the wall also allow for more cross symmetry style coloring. Sadly, the image doesn’t have much shading. I would guess its due to the limitations of the process you used, but I am no master of needlework. its a shame because it could have really enhanced a lot of the details and shapes you put into this image.

Texture
Well, Zoroark definitely has for, as well as Mew. its always good to allow the medium to add texture, and thats exactly what you did here. The stones also have a worn look with the slight color variations, adding a not-smooth texture and giving them each their own character.

Pokemon Anatomy
.One problem that really would come from the medium itself is the lack of shape due to minimal shading. I am guessing the number of colors was limited, so for what you had I give a thumbs up. We can still tell that the pokemon is Zoroark, although the black could have been replaced with a dark grey in spots, that might have offered two colors for better feature distinction. You kept the general pose between ‘both’ pokemon almost identical, which is good.

Mew has a few odd anatomical curiosities going on. It did take me a minute to figure out that the hook was the arm, and one of the legs seem to be missing. Again shading is likely part of the problems I mentioned, but not as much due to Mew’s generally soft, clean body shape. I do think the black eyes distract from the face a tad, but mew is still definitely recognizable, and in its shiny form no less.

Environment/Perspective
Its a simple environment, especially since N’s room was in a castle. You took the information from canon and extrapolated to create something that could easily have been used in the game/show, and I like it. The bricks show a lot of detail since you had to draw them all out, and the fabric you used has some light yet noticable color variation to make sure all the bricks aren’t the same exact color. It breaks up a monotonous pattern and gives the eye a level of interest.

You also populated this room with small objects to give it a more lived-in feel. Its far better to do this, it adds extra elements that can break up blank space and offer additional uses of color.

You were so close on perspective! the only thing I can really hit you for would be the reflections in the mirror. If the mirror were aimed directly at Mew, then everything would be right. The only telltale part that throws it off is that the mirror is pointed at the viewer. Snivy would have also been shifted to an almost upside down-ish appearance because it is being mirrored. From this perspective the viewer would see themselves, and maybe a hint of the pokemon on the far edge. Reflections are tricky things, and the fact that you did try something new and complicated still nets you some praise.

Creativity/Effort
I love the idea of the mirror showing the wolf in sheeps clothing, its a cool concept to use. Especially in pokemon, where you get the fun transformations like this. Both of the creativity and effort attributes are close to maxed out for this image, since I can see you put a lot of time and work to get it this far.

Improvements
Shading comes up here, as well as some perspective issues. Both were addressed above, so I wont go into detail again.

Score
I was really torn on this one. You put in a lot of effort here, considering the time it took and the details you put in. But the shading and perspective issues jumped at me as well. So, for this, Im going to give you a

65/100

The main reason I'm giving you the pokemon here is that I don’t think you can go back and touch up this kind of art as much as many of the other forms we see. You put in a tremendous effort and utilized creativity above all, and with effort comes rewards. I would love to see you improve in this style of art, as I think you could pull off some truly awesome images with it.