Liam's Doodles for Cash!$$$!!$$!$!

I like to doodle from time to time, usually just stick figures and little cartoons. Generally it's people in cartoonish and precarious situations, other times it's some exaggerated event or random, somewhat relatable, thing. So I thought, why not submit some for URPG Cash?!


Recently Nike, my Arcanine, won a Normal Rank Tough Contest which means he's won every Normal Rank Contest Ribbon! So in celebration of this feat, I decided to doodle each time he won these events!

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These are all the final moments before Nike won each contest together. It's a little hard to see them each properly, so I split them up individually as well!

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Nike's first contest ribbon won was the Cool Contest; how fitting. Here we can see Nike strutt'n his swag as the crowd cheers him on. Everyone wants to be him, so popular, so likable, so, oh what's the word... cool.

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Next is one of my favorites: the Cute Contest. Nike obviously won by a landslide- I mean, look at all those hearts! that face! his itty witty ahhh! so adorable.

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Here we see Nike's more ferocious side! In the Tough Contest, Nike gathered his bulky strength and delivered a fierce show of force! Barring his teeth, he proved to be the toughest and won accordingly.

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We have the other favorite of mine: the Smart Contest. Nike really studied up on his math and sciences before he contested. He was even smart enough to get a leg up on his taxes (it says "TAX" on the paper he's holding if you can't see well). Nike's ready to face the world- just look at that face! Smart, determined, ready to calculate; obviously he won this ribbon without too much competition.

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Finally we see Nike showing off his glamour in the Beauty Contest. He sparkles and dazzles as he leaps into the spotlight, showing off his glorious, legendary strife with gusto! He definitely didn't spam Sunny Day + Morning Sun- no! He wowed and wooed the audience justly, as we all can see well in this equally beautiful doodle.

 

Hey @Ace Trainer Liam, how would you like these to be graded? All together as one piece, or separately? Let me know so I can put it/them in my nifty all-the-stuff-that-needs-to-be-graded spreadsheet!

 

This is all one piece. He just zoomed in on specific areas to show them off better, since the first image is sort of small.

Edit: Also I'll curate this, so don't worry about adding it to any list. Most of that list is just my art, 3 cash submissions for Ash, and one by Columbus that was recent.

 

While Winter works on my Arcy post, I'll post another piece of art for some cash! This one is the character I created in AH: Finn Corion, a Sawsbuck PokeSoul. It's done on canvas with pencil sketching and colored pencil with some computer editing to bring out the colors a bit (and give a nice border and title!)

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Finn Corion
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Proof! I forgot to sign my final one until just as I was posting, but here's a photo of an intermediate stage where it was just pencil, which I actually liked by itself so I took a picture of it them; lucky me!

 

@Ace Trainer Liam;

Arcanine Doodle for Cash

Form

I'll start by saying what a great idea this is. Maybe it's just the RPer in me or that nostalgia kid, but Pokemon appealed to me because of the idea of being part of a team with cool magical creatures like this. Making them more “real” in things like this has always been something I looked forward to. I thin it reinforces the idea of URPG as a whole really.

I also appreciate that you zoomed in. A lot of the details are hard to see when showing the whole piece, so it's nice to see how each panel fits together but also see the composition of each portion too.

As far as the form goes, there's not really too much to complain about. There are a couple details that aren't exactly right, like the stripes and the tail—which is more like a ponytail with a swishy part—but those don't detract too much. The only thing that sort of struck me as odd at first is the face, since Arcanine does have orange on it. Right now it sort of looks like a sheep haha. Orange from the ears dips down to make a Zoro-like mask across the eyes. It helps viewers differentiate between the white of the underside of the muzzle and his “hair.”

The expressions is where this piece really shines. I love the detail you put into Arcanine's face and some of the costumes. That really gets the essence of these attributes across and makes the whole image really. These can be hard to do, so be proud! The cute one does remind me more of the failed-fully transforming ditto though with those beady eyes XD

The only one that sort of seems lackluster here is the Cool attribute. And I think maybe that's because in all the other scenes, Arcanine is doing something extra or there are some sort of effects like the anger marks around to convey what's going on. Here, it's only his expression. Maybe something like flashing fire would've worked. You do have the crowd, but it's sort of awkward that the crowd is only in this panel (which isn't even the center portion of the piece).

Overall it's very cute though. The theme is a good one, and I'm glad you felt inspired for art based on some URPG events!

Technique

There's not much to say here since there's not a ton of technique going on—for a quick doodle I didn't really expect any hardcore shadows or anything. I do like all the effort you put into the linework though when it comes to Arcanine's fur jutting out. In the future, because of your canvas and how rough and the color of it, it might be better to go over some of the lines with a black colored pencil or even a fine-point sharpy or pen just because it does get a little hard to see in some spots where it looks like there is only regular pencil.

Another thing that might help give us a little more depth, if you're not about that shading/highlight life, is to create a simple shadow underneath the Pokemon. That would probably suffice in a quick thing like this. You've already drawn a horizon line to represent the stage/ground, so adding a small drop shadow underneath the Pokemon will help us viewers know where he is spatially/if he's touching the ground at all.

I do like the effects a lot too, like the sparkles/anger marks/etc. Like I mentioned before, the cool one doesn't really have much except for the crowd, but the details like the math equations are super adorable and are just a nice little cartoony thing to help convey the message. In the place of some of the other techniques like shadows and such, another option is also to have more effects like this. It all depends on what you want to emphasize really. More effects would help get the attribute/other theme across, while details like shadows or highlights on the Pokemon would make the Pokemon itself stand out more. That could be useful for future fun pieces!

Background

This part is a little bit empty. It's not super bad as the boxes aren't overly large, but it does still feel like it needs a little more context. You started a little with drawing a line for a stage, so maybe coloring that in a little more would help give Arcanine a ground to stand on. More sparkly effects/etc. can also be used to fill up space, but you gotta be careful how many you include since they can be distracting and drown out your characters.

Beause this is meant to be simplish, maybe at least a solid color in the background would be good? Something that coordinates with the contest theme to really drive that these are different attributes, like green for smart, etc. It wouldn't have to be super dark or enriched, but something there would make the Arcanine pop without so much blank space.

Another thing you could do is mess with the borders. Right now they're just a thin line, but maybe some sort of design/one that matches the contest type would help fill some space and also advance the theme some more.

The ribbons were a nice feature too, and although I like the sylizing of them, they look more like master rank ribbons than normal, which goes against your purpose haha.

Result

I teetered on the borderline between Simple and Medium for this one. On one hand, the overall theme is pretty cool and the composition is nice. On the other, a lot of elements were pretty simply done, as is the case when art is for fun (and should happen a lot anyway). The effects you did have were nice, and I could see some effort and thinking behind the piece too.

I think in the end I'll score it Medium rank, which means it's worth $10,000!

 

I had this doodle around for a while, but had forgotten about it until I found it earlier today! So I colored it (and redrew parts of it), and made it into this masterpiece! I used pencil to draw it out and color pencil to color it in. I always like those pictures of what Pokemon would look like irl, so I tried to make this one a bit more realistic.

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I call it: A Psychic in the Savannah
A Pokemon has so many predators in the wild grasslands of the African prairies, thus, through years of evolution (including the non-evolving Pokemon) have attained all sorts of mechanisms to fend off the larger, prey-hunting Pokemon. The wild Girafarig, we see here, has evolved to be able to use its mind and psychic powers to confuse, physically move, or alter the mind's of it's foes. It uses the prongs on its head as a way to focus its psychic abilities as well as intensify their power. (Btw, you are seeing the Girafarig threw the eyes of a predator.)

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Hi @Ace Trainer Liam; posting to say I'll be claiming Finn Corion for curation. What? This has been waiting over two months, you say!

 

Curation for "Finn Corion"

CONCEPT & FIRST IMPRESSIONS

At first glance, this piece evoked unto me a sort of eerie majesty, fitting well enough for a Sawsbuck PokéSoul. Often art can be described as having a mood, which for the most part pertains to the emotions dominating the piece (and to an extent, what emotions it instigates on the part of the observer); in the case of your submission, I’m getting a very tranquil vibe—quiet, but not sorrowful.

The more I look at it, the more I’m liking the concept you have going on for this submission. There’s much to talk about so I won’t dwell on this section of the grade any longer. Lets get down to the nitty-gritty of this artsy-fartsy (read: very cool) submission!

DETAIL, CREATIVITY, & STRUCTURE

It’s always nice to see people doing art for their characters, and even more so in this case since it’s URPG-related! Good stuff. So you have here a colored pencil portrait of a Sawsbuck PokéSoul—which, judging from the details on the antlers and the background, appears to be in their Spring Form. I’ll break this section of the art grade by going into the level of detail and creativity in the three main components I’m seeing from this submission: namely the depiction of Finn, the background, and the digital edits you made. After that I’ll briefly critique the piece for its overall structure, form, and composition.

I think you did okay with the portrait itself; the lines are neat and the features are all right for the most part. Probably the thing I like best about it is the way you did the hair—the strokes in it are great and I also like how the canvas gave it a rough texture. I don’t have that many problems with the portrait, but in a few places your proportions are a bit off, like in the ear for example. I feel it should be larger, judging from the size of the head. In some areas the perspective could also use some work: as with the turn of Finn’s neck (or alternatively, his jaw or head) and the antlers. Human anatomy is a tough thing to get right, so the first I’m willing to overlook, but the angles on the antlers make them appear too flat and superimposed on each other, thus giving an impression of them being too near to each other (Unless, of course, this was a stylistic choice on your behalf?). Spacing them a bit more could probably have taken care of it, and using image references is always a good idea. Last thing before I get to the background—I‘m not sure about this since your pencil shot also wasn’t clear about it—but is Finn’s eye supposed to be hidden under his hair or is it just above his cheek? I’m okay with it either way, although it’s a bit tiny if it’s the latter case, and I just wanted to be sure.

Now to address the background: It’s pretty busy, but still maintains the quiet aesthetic I was talking about earlier, which I appreciate. I appreciate the colors here, since it livens up the picture with greens that contrast with the more inert earth tones making up the majority of Finn’s portrait. I like how you drew the flowers and the petals and have them in varying shapes, sizes, and directions, effectively making them look more natural. I think you could have done more with the vines themselves, however, and made them thicker and more detailed—something which you can achieve by drawing the vines’ structure rather than just making curved lines. It’s a more tedious process, but one that can be greatly rewarding when done right.

Next we have your digital modifications to discuss. I think you achieved what you were aiming for with bringing out the colors, and I like the sort-of spotlight going on since it adds focus to the portrait. The margin you placed is good, but with a bit more experimentation I think you could have come up with something even better—a spring-related border, perhaps?

In any case, I like what the piece already has overall. Your composition was nice, though I feel like you could really have done more with the background elements. In terms of structure I think all the details and major elements, bar some of the minor anatomical flaws I mentioned, complement each other well, which come together to create the peaceful mood this piece projects.

POKÉMON ANATOMY
I debated whether to include this section or not, since your piece doesn’t feature a Pokémon in the traditional sense, but I decided a depiction of a PokéSoul (or any Pokémon related combination/fusion/adaptation, really) can only work if the Pokémon side of it is recognizable—sure, this is art and artists will be free to don their artistic license and stylize things as they please, but for the purposes of PokéArt in URPG, having the elements of the Pokémon be noticeable is essential. Abstract works blur that line a bit, but generally that’s a good principle to stick to. In any case though, I’m happy to say that this piece is good on that area!

The only thing that stood out was the, uh, chest fluffs (yeah let’s stick with that) on him—there’s no real transition between those things and Finn’s skin, so that it looks continuous with it. You can avoid that by marking where it begins with lines or with color just like what’s on Sawsbuck. Oh and just a minor suggestion: maybe try incorporating Sawsbuck’s eye-stripe on Finn? He’s your character, of course, so make what you will of that suggestion : )

COLOR CHOICE & SHADING
No qualms about the color choice on this one—It’s a very tonally tame piece which fits your concept nicely. I’d have liked the border to be a different color than just a black shadow, but that’s more of a stylistic preference on my part than anything. Your shading, however, is a bit lacking. Some shading on Finn’s neck and shoulders would really enhance the piece and add more depth to it. Proper shading could have also prevented the problem with the chest fluffs I noted earlier.

EFFORT & EXECUTION
I see the effort you put into this—from the details on the portrait to the edits you made—and I like that you did it on canvas. As I enumerated previously, there’s some points in this piece that needs more polishing, but I think you did a good job on this portrait nonetheless. I don’t know much about your character beyond that he’s a Sawsbuck PokéSoul, but if you meant for this piece to be calm and serene then I can say that you’ve hit the mark.

THE VERDICT

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With all the above considered, I’m going to rate this submission a score of 45. That makes it qualified as Medium-Ranked, meaning you can claim $10,000. It’s a really nice portrait, and I definitely would want to see more art of your character.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this curation, I’d be more than happy to respond. Just drop me a VM/PM/Discord IM!

@Ace Trainer Liam;

 

@Ace Trainer Liam;

Claiming A Psychic in the Savannah.

I'm unstoppable \o/

 

Curation for A Psychic in the Savannah

CONCEPT & FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I won’t put it any other way—I love the concept of this masterpiece, as you call it—and reading through the rest of this curation you’ll find I more or less agree with you on that front. After seeing this submission for the first time I knew I just had to curate it, and here I am! Like you mentioned, I’m also quite fond of seeing artwork of what Pokémon would look like in the wild and in real life. I think it’s mostly because I’m a Wildlife Biology major—a choice which, if I’m really being honest with myself, was definitely also inspired by that childhood dream of finding Pokémon in the wild. Enough about me though! A piece with such an awesome story behind it, especially one that’s also nicely drawn, definitely deserves some time for praise and analytical discussion, so on to the main event of this art grade we go!

DETAIL, CREATIVITY, & STRUCTURE
Focal Point – Normally I have a separate section in my curations dedicated to Pokémon Anatomy, but after some thinking I found most of my comments falling on the detailing/creative side of things rather than anatomical concerns, probably due to the Pokémon being drawn to look more realistic. That being said, I’ve decided to just merge that section with this one.

All right, as your short intro promised, we have a stylized Girafarig serving as the main focus of the piece, and we see it from the viewpoint of a predator which will definitely be more puzzled than successfully preying on the Psychic type. The face is well-drawn and definitely calls to mind images of real giraffes, but that intense expression is what really takes the cake in my opinion; it’s powerful, and the strength of the Girafarig’s gaze really gives an impression of its will to survive—after all, the wild is one big game of try hard or die. The linework is excellent and I appreciate the small details on it like the crook on the forehead and the creases above the eyes, since those add depth to your drawing.

One part of it has me confused, though: is the line passing through the topmost neck-spot supposed to form the lower jaw? I can’t be sure, although I think that’s probably what it’s supposed to be; in that case, I feel the top half of that spot shouldn’t be visible, as it makes the lower jaw appear continuous with the neck. On the other hand it could just be a line that shows off neck musculature, but if that’s the case I think you could have either done away with it or have it be drawn more neatly. One last note on facial detail: I wish you made the white face stripe continuous with its ossicones (aka those prongs on its head; forgive my zoology terms, I couldn’t resist) since that’s what we see on Girafarig. It probably could have been wider and bordered the upper portion of the eyes, too.

As for the neck, I have to say I love the sudden rigidity with which it was drawn. That detracts from the realism of the image a bit, but on the whole I think it adds a certain artistic quality to the piece that I find really charming. I actually love that the neck breaks the style of the surrounding elements with the geometry of its components while not being too dominating.

Lastly, I see the vestiges of Girafarig’s tail behind your signature—I guess you decided to leave it out after redrawing the piece? It would have been a nice inclusion to incorporate Girafarig’s tail since it’s arguably the most iconic thing about this Pokémon, which otherwise looks just like any giraffe. At least the markings and the triangular neck spines saved the drawing from looking too much like a regular giraffe. (The Girafarig’s psychic energy also helps, but I’ll get to that in a bit.) It’s a minor thing in the case of your submission, but it’s something important to keep in mind when trying to draw Pokémon in more realistic styles. Depending on the Pokémon, it can be quite easy to lose what makes a Pokémon visually distinct when trying to make them look real, which is something you generally don’t want to happen in art submissions for URPG.

Supporting Elements – Now to discuss the remaining elements of the submission. First we have the whirl of psychic energy emanating from the Girafarig, which looks really cool. It ties your concept together and reminds us—and the off-camera predator most of all—that this isn’t your regular Acacia-muncher. It looks great as it is, but I think there’s room for improvement here. For one, I wish you played up the mind altering aspect more, perhaps by incorporating drawings of Girafarig’s tail (which is freaky in its own right) as some kind of hallucination the Girafarig is projecting onto the predator. Still though, I like what you did with it; the curving of the lines is consistent throughout and thus imparts a good amount of motion to it.

The tall grass I find very lovely. The line strokes are great. I like that it isn’t a whole spread of grass, too—something about its placement just makes for an appealing aesthetic. I can’t tell why exactly, but I love that it’s been drawn that way to get just enough of a grassland feel to your drawing, which is obviously what you wanted since that’s the setting for this scene. Normally I’d suggest improvement on your background by having it be more definite and detailed, which is still probably a good idea, but I really like the way this piece is now and the subtlety of it. I can see it as a logo of some sort or as a cool design on the shirt of a PokéHipster (who totally owned it before it was cool) or something. Really though, in terms of element composition I think you did a really great job!

COLOR SCHEME & SHADING
Color choices check out, though I wish there was more variation on the psychic energy coming from Girafarig. I think accenting it with pinks and blues would have made it pop more. The colors on Girafarig itself are good, though I wish the shading on it was more apparent. I can see slight amounts of shading on it (perhaps the most noticeable being on the ears and the left side of the face) but in most areas (like the ossicones and the neck) shading is either absent or unnoticeable. There’s no definite light source either, so I think you could have used the psychic energy for that and have lighting come from behind the Girafarig. I also wish the coloring on the neck spots was more solid; I see that for the first spot but not the rest. The neck spines could use some more filling in and shading as well. Finally, the tall grass I have no problems with as the shock of yellow green complements the rest of the image nicely.

EFFORT & EXECUTION
The effort in this submission is readily apparent to me; it’s a really creative piece of art and I appreciate the technique here. I think you just need to work on shading a bit more. Also, while I have some (mostly minor) concerns about the execution of your concept, I really do love this piece and especially enjoy the scene it depicts. Again, good work overall!

THE VERDICT

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I’ll be scoring this a 52, which means it’s under Medium-Rank and worth $10,000. Definitely among the top end of Mediums I’ve ever seen, and I feel that with some tweaking in terms of shading and detail this could have potentially gotten an even higher score.
As always, any clarifications you may want to ask about this grade can be sent to me via PM/VM/Discord IM—or by simply posting here since it’s your thread after all. I really had fun curating this piece, and expect more spectacular art from you! : D

@Ace Trainer Liam;

 

WOW GUYS a year and a half later and Nike the Arcanine (aka BuffPants McGruff, PiddlePants, the Most Glorious Legend, etc) has won all Super Rank Contests!! So to keep up tradition, I've recreated my original art piece BUT BETTER! Please enjoy the last moments of Nike's Super Rank wins:

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Drawn completely by color pencil on canvas, I spent about a week drawing and coloring this fine masterwork. I consider myself more of a cartoonist, which is why (in my own opinion) the Beauty aspect is a bit lackluster (ha) BUT IT IS OVERALL AMAZING. I again separated each attribute intro their own boxes and have close up photos for each.

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Here we see Nike, the Most Glorious Legend, flaunting his majestic self, lighting up the (Sunny) Day with his Morning Sun to clutch the Super Ribbon.

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The Pompadorous Arcanine, in true Fonzy fashion, tosses his shades on so he can see past the crowd of admirers; whew dat tatt doe, it's got me saying one word: WOOF

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PiddlePants the Arcanine has piddled his wittle pants all the way to the Super Cute Ribbon and our hearts!! How could you NOT award that face a ribbon anything less than Super!!

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Now we see a Smart Doggo with Smart Guy Glasses the Arcanine performing some organic chemistry. As Albert I'mReallyAnArcanine Einstein once said, "Bork" and thus was given unto him the Nobel Peace Prize in Chemistry and Super Smart Ribbon for URPG Contests.

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And Lastly we see BuffPants FireDog (aka Buff McGruff, etc) at his favorite gym: Cinnbar's Gym for MANLY Pokémon. He flexed his abs, flashed them biceps, and worked on his buns and thighs for weeks in preparation for the Super Tough Contest (which he may have stolen by being a bit of a Thief, but hey, the criminal's life is tough!)

EDIT: oh yea, and the proof is my signature (ATLiam) in the bottom right hand corner of each panel as well as the ridiculous nature of the piece.

 

Hi, Liam! Thanks for your patience in waiting for this to be claimed and curated. We don't see a lot of comic-styled works, so this one is a bit more new territory than some! I love seeing different styles and takes on things, and this one is no different.

So at a glance, we have five different compositions, all dispaying five different scenes. Since there are so many, I'll try to explain my critiques on each as briefly but also as concisely as possible! But first, I'll start with the overall compositions of... well, your compositions!

I like this idea of displaying each of these five attributes in their own frame. I think you divide up the space pretty well to give them all equal sq. inch-age (it's a word now, if it wasn't already). The one suggestion I would make, though, is to perhaps try some sort of radial division, all frames created from triangles going from a central point. I suggest this because as it stands now, it feels like "Super Cute" is more important because of how it's front and center and covering up everything else. If everything radiated with equal importance from a central point (and maybe you could have a centerpiece that they radiate from), they'd all be equal accomplishments! This is something that I know isn't alterable really now, but it's something to keep in mind when doing similar arrangements in the future: What does the way I overlap things tell my viewer? What am I looking to communicate with the arrangement?

Overall, though, it was a great approach--showing five different, unique scenes in one composition isn't something to sneeze at!

As a general note on all of the compositions, I notice that the background colors correlate with the ribbon colors, which is a nice touch not only to diversify the color scheme of the comic, but also to give a well-read-in-contests viewer an easier way to identify each frame outside of their labels. It's a clever way to use our current associations with these colors to give a desired effect. I also like your little labels and ribbon illustrations that go along with them. It's another cute way to visually indicate what each scene is showing.

One thing you're trying to do with each of these is tell a story. Since you've described what each frame is doing, I'll keep that in mind in judging how effective each frame was in telling that story!

Your beauty one is separated from the others by a more naturalistic canine form, showing the Arcanine with a beautiful, slender muzzle and sloping forehead and a luxurious mane. You have some nice graded shading and some marks that help give a little depth to the fur of the mane. One thing I noticed is that you have very nice, defined lines for the individual spikes of hair at the top, but at the front of the mane, you have a little less sharp coloring. I can't tell if this was a mistake or if it's a technique to make the top hair appear more spikey and the bottom to appear more soft and luxurious. I think being more clear about that with your line work (softer, curled lines at the front of the mane vs the spikier ones on top) would help clear that up!

I think I'd also move the ears and eyes forward a bit more, anatomically speaking. If we look at the face of wolves/dogs in an example like this, we see that the eyes are closer up to that slope, and the ears also closer to the eyes. You have some artistic liberty in comics to make things more abstract or to exaggerate certain things for a certain effect, but one of the things we associate with beauty is naturalism, so getting just a little bit closer to natural proportions might help. The other critique that I have is that from the narrative you gave, I can't really tell that the Arcanine is using Sunny Day. I think maybe some light visibly cascading down would help. Since beauty's color is blue and you've used the ribbon color for the background color on everything else, it's hard to tell if the sky is blue and clear because it's sunny or because the ribbon is blue, so the background is blue.

Next up is "Super Cool." This is a good use of what in design we describe as a "convention." People have certain conventions and associations with things (like how we as a society have come to learn that a heart means love, that the navigation bar on a webpage is at the left or at the top, and how the maginifying glass means "search") and you used one of them here! In comics, we've learned to associate sunglasses with "coolness" or "badassery." You've also used a couple of others--the big, curled-back hair. You've also used the "Mom"-styled heart tattoo. As a note, I personally associate it with toughness (since in comics we see it on big, muscly gruff men), but it still works here, too! I like how you've stylistically denoted the curled hair with the curved lines. The way you've made the hair so large is an example of exaggerating proportions for comic purposes, and that's good here!

Your issue I described earlier with the middle composition hurts this frame a bit, I think. When looking at it on its own in a boxed frame, it looks like he's sitting behind a screen because of the way the box overlaps onto him. Which is still cool (b/c what isn't badass about using sunglasses for your monitor), but I feel like that would have been good space to use to enhance COOLNESS.

"Super Cute" is exactly what it's labelled as. You've gone for a more chibi style here, which is perfect for what we associate as "cute." You've abstracted its features down to simple dots for the eyes and nose, and lines for its mouth in contrast to your previous attempts at boxing the dimension of the muzzle out in space. I think what I'd encourage you to do here is exaggerate MORE. Take this for example. It's cute, but why? Think about what makes us think "chibi." We think of crazy huge eyes that sparkle and unrealistcal prportions. Here, you still have somewhat "realistic" proportions--the eyes are in the same place they'd be and smaller than they'd be, and the same goes for the muzzle. I'd suggest going all out. Ask "how can I exaggerate this MORE?" And when you think that you've exaggerated something enough, that just means you need to make it twice as exaggerated! In theater, you have to exaggerate everything you do to get the point across from a distance. Comic artists have to do the same!

"Smart Doggo" is one of your more detailed pieces, and one of the frames that the Super Cute positioning hurts less. Here, you use our conventions for what we associate with science--glasses, bowtie, complex equations, classic bubbling mysterious liquid in a beaker over flame. These are all super useful for telling the story. I love this little panel overall, but have a suggestion or two for it. When drawing canines at this angle, I'd bring the sides of their face/heads in a bit more--right now, it's a little wide, with too much space on our right side. The other thing I'd suggest is to use less red/orange ont he table, because it blends too much with the color of his fur. I see you've darkened it on our left to differentiate it, but it took me a sec to realize the table didnt' extend past him and that was actually his body because of the similarity in color!

"Super Tough" is a great example of comic exaggeration. Ridiculously bulging muscles is the most fun trope to draw, I swear. Your "MANLY" brand at the top and the marking of a gym all sets the scene for his incredible muscle, along with the exercise equipment and-- oh my god is that a QUESTIONABLE CONTENT VEGGIE PROTEIN SHAKE? That's officially my favorite detail. As far as story-telling goes, your "Thief" narrative works in through those incredibly exaggerated features. You used those well. This is a solid frame.

As an overview, some suggestions I have for you! I love the thought you put into these frames. You thought them out pretty clearly and told the narratives in them well. I'd love to challenge you to put a little more direct action or motion into your frames! I think the "cool" one is fine (since what's cooler than sitting by with sunglasses and watching all the plebs work?), but for the other ones, we just have him standing, for the most part. You get closer with the flexing one, but I'd love to see that exaggerated! Work those guns! Try to get more scenes of your subject actually doing something. This will also help you diversify your individual compositions. Instead of having a static figure centered or put to the side of a frame, maybe you can zoom in on an intense glasses face with a bow-tie, carefully measuring out chemicals. Things like this tell us "oh, he's doing science!" while also keeping us interested and engaged.

Technique-wise, you have a reasonable understanding of colored pencils, and you did pretty well in filling the spaces on a canvas. I'd love to see some more stylistic shading, but that's just a suggestion! Since comics aren't going for realism, shading isn't particularly a huge worry, but try to see how you can use light and shadow to bring what you want into focus--maybe darkening backgrounds a bit more to put your subject forward, or showing how far back or close something is by its shading. Look at your favorite comic artists and try to emulate how they shade--it's a great way to find your own style.

Overall, I love these little compositions and the thought you put into them. I didn't make many anatomy notes because you have some liberty as a comic artist, but try to keep it in mind as a starting point, and from there choose what you want to exaggerate (or under-exaggerate) to get a desired effect! This hit Medium, 10k for me. This is for several reasons:

• Multiple compositions. Five is nothing to sneeze at, and five different compositions displaying five different things is even moreso nothing to sneeze at.
• Colored pencil and canvas combination. Canvas is a pain in the butt with colored pencils--the larger texture of the page makes it hard to get into those little nooks and crannies to really fill a page with color, and you did so neatly and diligently, and that likely took a lot of time!
• Not copying official artwork. You used a lot of different angles and views, and a style different from the original artwork. This step out to create your own style and pose in all of these is great, and something I love to see. It's hard to do sometimes if you're afraid of making mistakes, so I applaud you for doing that!
• Different styles. You intentionally used different styles and poses to convey a specific message. That type of purposeful diversity is great to see and is an awesome tool I looke forward to seeing you use even more in the future!

The individual frames might not be medium on their own, but combined, I think they do well to meet and almost surpass Medium. I think with a little more diverse compositions, this would meet Hard. I love seeing these from you, though, and I'd love to see more! Thanks so much, Liam!​

 

Suiting up for Halloween! This happy-go-lucky Minior wanted to be the center of the solar system, "be a star!" it had always dreamt-- and now, IT IS!

Spoiler

Done with pencil on paper, I had this idea to use for the art Halloween contest, but only started on it this afternoon/evening. I wanted to work on shading and light (as that's kind of a reoccurring issue I have) so with a fun idea and I went and tried it out, more or less for shading experience than anything. EDIT: Woops forgot to say: I also used an online editor to help with the radiance/contrast.



Proof since I forgot to sign it:

Spoiler

EDIT: ACTUALLY hold off on anyone claiming this for now, I may do a 3D paint job instead using this same idea; this is still in the contest though, but I want to see where I go with the online paint first -- thanks!