Liam's Gallery of, Dear Lord is that Art?

Ah, très bien! Dwebble is a very cute gen V buggy. I could never keep hermit crabs happy and died way to frequently. Glad Pokemon dwebbles are more resilient. Let's see if you catch you little bug/crustacean (because let's be honest... crustaceans are bugs! ~~Morru, this is why I'm not a biologist).

First impressions:

I'm very glad how well thought out your project was! You took time to find the right shell, and carefully cut the paper and cardboard to match the cute little creature. While it is nearly impossible to replicate the little cylindrical sections that comprised his body, you made do with that you could. Giving him a habitat is a nice touch as presentation is everything.

Your Sculpture:

Your dwebble is clearly recognizable. You have made a sucessful piece that resembles pokemon's hermit crab! It must have been difficult to draw the eyes on with the pen and have it looked good. I would suggest using a larger pen so it doesn't look quite as scratchy. I realize that due to the constraints of your medium that scotch tape is essential, but there are parts that could have been trimmed off a little or painted over! You don't have to just use the bare cardboard.

Cardboard is a flat, planar medium and is difficult to simulate rounded 3-d objects like living forms. Even then you can cut little slats in the cardboard so it can bend on itself and you can totally play with the textures of the inside layering of the paper. I've turned a flat sheet into a rusty, iron bucket once with a knife, sand, and paint. Here, I see you've simplified Dwebble's rounded parts (due to the scale) in to flat planes which is fine, but for sculptures at that scale it might be easier to work in other mediums such as clay. Now I'm not giving you a hard time, but merely suggestions on where you can possibly go next. Still, a lick of paint would transform it even more!

The shells are what give it an interesting contrast between the flat, planar shapes of dwebble and the round shell where he makes his home. It works in this piece and the shell brings the pokemon to life!

Your background:

I'm very glad you considered where you should place your dwebble, as well. While minimalistic, it is effective. You've found some pretty neat shells and drizzled the area with sand. The carboard backdrop bothers me a little bit only because it is a bit uneven, but I'm fine. I'm kind of wishing that you would have taken him to the real beach (you are in Coastal Kalos, right now, right?) or some water's edge. While I get that you are trying to simulate beach from the sand drizzled on the ground, with sculpture you can literally take your picture outside and have it be a part of the background! Right now, it works, and I'll only fuss at you a little for the uneven background piece. The lighting is great and I like the filter you've chosen on your photograph. It brings out the orange in dewbble and deepens the blue backdrop. Orange/blue is a great color scheme.

Be careful with filters, though, as they can sometimes be misleading. For now, it works as a part of this composition!


Conclusion:

Your sculpture and environment for dwebble took time and consideration! I do recommend experimenting more in sculpture and setting up various environments! Very creative! You caught your dwebble 50/45! :3 Joyeux Noël!

 

I worked on this piece a little bit before I left for Sicily, posted it, but was unhappy about it because I made a mistake and was "just posting anyways" 'cause I was about to leave. But I changed my mind; who wants to post things when they don't feel done with it. So anyways, my parents sent me some presents for Christmas, in their care package was a notebook and some different shades of gray markers! (I never draw at home on my own leisure, so I was a little surprised; my mom said she knew I liked to draw as a kid, so maybe if I got bored here I can do some drawing or w/e). HAH jokes on her, I'm making Pokémon! (So I guess jokes on me, good gift ma). So I tried it out as I never drew with just markers before and had little room for error, which I rightly corrected (by making trees).

Spoiler

So I used different shades of grey marker on a notepad to draw a Pikipek sitting on a tree branch at night in a little snowy town (just like the ones here in France!). I also used a bit of computer editing to give a blue hue and give the church some radiance. Proof is I signed it ATL.

Pokémon: Pikipek
Category: Simple
Need: 35/100

Also it qualifies for the Alolan thang, so woo!

 

Sicilia è molto interessante! Claim

 

Hi! Marker is a rather unforgiving medium as the thin ink can be meddling and will clearly show where you went over with another mark! You're abroad so I get that, and I am glad you are pushing yourself to find time to draw while away even if you have limited materials at your disposal. Let's see if you catch a pikipek: The cute little alola regional bird! It is a simple rank so only 35 points are necessary to catch it.

Pokemon Likeness:
For the medium, you have drawn Pikipek well! Well done! Pikipek is rather simply drawn, but given the constraints of the medium, you pulled it off well! I'm kind of wishing that you you could have layered the ink a little to simulate the shading but with markers and its thick lines, it is hard to achieve that effect. From the outset it appears proportional, but the official artwork has his body a little bit thinner, but that is very minor considering Pikipek's rank! The outlines are a little big on its extended wings but considering your medium, I'm not worried about it. I'm glad you put in some shading with Pikipek as shading with markers is beyond difficult since you ca neither really hatch like colored pencils nor overlap too much, else risk tearing your paper.

Technique:

You have rather bold outlines which don't help Pikipek very much to stand out from the rest of the drawing (but markers), but that's ok I guess. If possible, try playing with the types of lines a little more as they are all pretty straight and clean. If its possible, you could totally hold the marker pens at different angles! That way you can make all sorts of interesting lines!

The shading is a iffy. There really isn't a defined light source, but I can tell you went to great efforts to use the light gray markers to give the drawing some added depth. The houses are consistently shaded, but not the branch it is standing on, as some of the branches that would be in shade aren't shaded. With your medium, I think the boldness of the marker hindered you a tad too much.

The bagcround you have Pikipek--the snowy gray city filled with light kind of reminds we of an early Kandinsky I studied in an art history lecture of mine:



The bold outlines are the greatest takeaway from it. Of course your work is much different, but just showing you a masterful use of line variety given that you're forced into using bold lines to simulate atmospheric perspective.

The architecture is a bit wonky but at the same time doesn't feel rushed as their placement on the page is interesting. I'm wishing there was a road near the bottom that leads you straight in. The positioning of Pikipek is off center yet its wings lead the eye back in to the architecture. Even if you are simulating atmospheric perspective the horizon seems a bit lazy; there isn't any information about what it could be. It's like you have a few buildings in a field of nothing. I kind of wish the steeple had a bit more definition as well, but these considerations would be serious if this were for higher ranks. At least you put a few wispy clouds in the sky as the lack of information would be even less interesting. The steeple of the church also breaks the pure white sky as well. What you have now is enough for a simple rank.

Often you can simulate atmospheric perspective with the loss of detail and therefore use smaller, finer lines for things in front and general, blockier shapes for things behind the subject.

Conclusion:
Atmospheric perspective in city scenes is a tough thing to do because as things get further behind in space they appear smaller, so more and more stuff will fill the space! Often abstract marks can do the trick and if you were going for a higher rank, I would certainly ask you to fill out the background, and your shading is a bit iffy but because this is a simple rank working under the constraints of an unforgiving medium, you have the beginnings of an advanced composition with atmospheric perspective coupled with an accurate drawing of pikipek, I'll give you your alola bird! 35/35!

This qualifies for the alolan art challenge as well.

 

RIP Wingull piece too late to qualify for Jan. theme, but oh well! More birbs for me please!

Spoiler

So I'm still restricted to gray marker (but at least I have that!) so I worked on the outlines and shading! Also one of my gray markers is almost a brownish gray, so I used that to color the beak a bit and give it a different color than the rest of Wingull.




Proof:

Spoiler

Other than the "ATL" in the bottom left hand corner of the art pic, here's the original photo I took with my phone.

Pokémon: Wingull
Category: Simple
Needed: 35/100

 

Claim! Sorry about the wait!!!

 

Back with another drawing, eh? Pelliper are surprisingly competitive this gen after being in the depths of NU hell and has climbed up to OU with its new ability. Though I'm sure Tapu Koko might be giving it a run for its in-battle life span.

Anyways on to the crit:

First Impressions:
I can see that you've definitely are working on line quality as you have presented to me another black and white drawing like your pikipek's. This time, you've simplified what we're looking at and managed to fit your whole scene in an engaging way on the whole page. I'm not joking! Wingull and the clouds make a giant X across the whole page! Good job! I'm a little bothered by the centering of wingull's face but it looks intentional. I like that you've also filled the negative space of the sky with the other birds flying off in the distance. They each have their own wing position so it definitely tells me that you wanted them to look like they were real rather than just some abstract 'v's that generally pass as a 'bird in the distance'.

Pokemon Likeness:
Wingul is a very simple bird to draw: it has long thin wings with blue stripe at the end. Its body, however is where I am having a little difficulties, while you mostly nailed his body, it is a bit too circular so you've drawn him a little fat. His tail feathers are a little small and so is his beak. Both of those generally prove a counter balance in his design so that the body doesn't look too big (and probably help him fly). Wingull's wings are a bit lopsided and don't really meet in the center of its body, but that is also a minor issue. But for the most part I think you did a good job with Wingull's anatomy.

Technique:

You drawing is very simple. With markers it can be a pain to get a wide variety of of lines, evenly colored areas, and a wide range of values. I think you're using the medium well; I definitely like you to branch out in to color more, as color can help solve some of your problems that you had while drawing this. I do, however, want to praise the fact that you chose to use a blue-gray on the clouds and a warm gray on the bird. That is very good! That tells me you know that warmer colors such as red, orange, and yellow come at the viewer while cooler colors such as green, blue, and violet tend to recede back into the picture plane. That detail alone tells me that you are definitely ready to jump back into color as most people miss that sort of subtlety. I do think, however that you should have used the same blue-gray in the top-right cloud to make the shading a bit more consistent.

I am a little bothered by all the white in your drawing. This is probably a result of your medium more than anything else as you have told me that the Wingull is as white as a cloud and they are also as light as the sky. While, it is true that all three are light-colored, there are subtle value differences in all three that would naturally differentiate the three. Your drawing is naturally high-key (has a lot of light colors in it) which means that if you only had three working values in your medium of choice, using dark and medium grays would prove to be awkward and inappropriate. You were forced by medium to keep a lot of everything white. Clouds are actually a variety of blue grays and the sky is generally about a 10%, 20% gray (look at MS Word's gray palette) that changes depending on the altitude. Keeping everything slightly grayer would also help push your sky back in to the background, because it is jumping at us.

Nevertheless, I am glad that you had attempted shading with markers! Shading is difficult in markers because of the discrete and limited options one is afforded. Don't be afraid to layer marker ink to simulate shadow, especially if you want a smoother transition. You took great care in figuring out what were the three dimensional masses, such as in the clouds and wingull to an extent. There is a somewhat consistent light source but it is made inconsistent when you have half of its body in shadow. I'm guessing that is its cast shadow from its head feathers, but some of his body would still be in the light.

While you managed to give a sense of three dimensionality to the clouds, and that they look sort of light, they do come across as lumpy, pyramidal blocks floating in the wind. Below I have shown you a pictures of a cloud so I can illustrate to you that there were some subtleties that were glossed over a bit in your drawing:

Spoiler

While you have the generic shape of a cumulus cloud, that it being a pyramid, I definitely think you could have taken a few more liberties with its shape. Clouds are very organic and go all over the place. Sometimes on the sides that are in shadow there can be a random outcropping of the cloud that is in the full light, or vice versa! Clouds are weird, lumpy objects but convey their fluffiness sometimes hard lines and crisp shadows really isn't the answer. Hard lines and crisp shadows have an effect that draws the object closer to the viewer and softer, fuzzier lines and shadows tend to push the object further away.

Conclusion:

Wingull is simple, so I do think that you have done a good job. I'm glad you have tightened your scene as opposed to the previous drawing, and I think your marker work is becoming more precise. I do think your drawing would benefit for different line quality like some being fatter than others, some taking weird turns and curves, and would also benefit from a greater variety of values as parts of scene compete with each other. But for the most part you have made a simple, yet engaging scene! Wingull caught! 35/35!

 

SO I'M BACK IN THE STATES

Which means I have access to all the art crap my sister left behind: color pencils and chalk.

So with some spare time I had the other day I began to doodle a cute little Pyukumuku! I used chalk on a drawing notepad and outlined everything with charcoal; I first drew the entire background, then on a separate sheet I drew the cute, sea cucumber Pokémon, and then used a free editing site to overlap the layers and fix Pyukumuku right on the rock where I wanted him to sit. Also testing my computer photo editing skills and tried to bring out some color (as I took the photos on my phone) and gave it some underwater sunlight to set the tone a bit as well as try to fix an issue: shading.

It was more than difficult than I previously imagined. I tried using darker chalk colors on areas and rubbing them in by finger (as they looked too rough just by leaving the chalk lines), but that didn't even come off looking swell in real life. So I tried to attempt some shading with the online photo editing, but it all came out too bulky (like, since the shading color was just one shade, it looked out of place and obviously edited). This was the reason I added the sunlight: to attempt to give it depth and some kind (if any at all) of shading. So rip me ;-;

Anyway I hope you enjoy the wee, squishy and passive Pokémon as he inches his way over a rock in the warm sun of the shallow waters by a coral reef, presumably to get onto the Alolan shore just to be thrown back into the sea!

Spoiler

Proof: I signed it! (if need be more I have all the original photos I took)

Also trying to fit the July prompt of "Relaxing"

Pokémon: Pyukumuku
Category: Hard
Needed: 55/100

 

Once upon a time there was a family of Mimikyus. A husband and wife, married in their youth, happy in their age. However, the poor couple had an issue: they could not bare children. Thus they turned to adoption and adopted an orphan Pichu (they may have been biased). They love their baby-chu with all their hearts and he returns it to them tenfold. It was no surprise that when Halloween came around, little Pichu wanted to dress up like his mommy and daddy. Adorning a sheet with the face cut out and squiggly draw eyes on the body, Pichu is geared and ready to go trick-or-treating!

Spoiler

I really liked the idea of a Pichu dressing up as a Mimikyu for Halloween, it just amused me lol.

I used chalk on paper to draw this little guy out! Then I took a photo with my phone, sent it along to my laptop, where I used editing software to cut out the excess background (as well as the shadow underneath Pichu as it didn't fit) and then messed with the lighting a bit so everything could be visible as well. It did come out a bit grainier than I hoped, but, I'm not sure how to fix that other than to do the art completely as chalk, or as a photo (like a model), or online. Hope the mix brings a certain aesthetic to it!




Proof:

Spoiler

Pokémon: Pichu
Category: Simple

 

I see the Pyukumuku, I claim the Pyukumuku!

 

Normally I try to say something witty before I get into the actual curation, but I can’t really think of anything. Hm.

First Impression.
I don’t normally do this section but it seems like a really valuable one so I’m gonna try to start. Congrats on being my first victim(?)!

So! This piece really grabs the viewer’s eyes, shouting “hey look at me!” with a blaze of bright, saturated greenish-yellows and blues before the rich dark colors of Pyukumuku pulls the viewer toward the squishy little sea cucumber. The colors are vivid, the coral reef is interesting, the texture is fun, the Pyukumuku is squishy. Yes.

Form.
I’m gonna say it right now - Pyukumuku is a weird-looking Pokemon, even if you overlook its penchant for letting its organs hang around outside its little bod. Despite its peculiarities, it’s a cute little sea cucumber, and you’ve represented its soft little self quite well. Its hallmark big, oblivious eyes, puffy white tail, and round pink spikes are all present. I like the more rounded, cylindrical shape you’ve made the spikes into. Despite the bright colors, this piece has a very calm feeling to it. Vertical and horizontal lines help make a calmer composition and diagonal lines make a more exciting one; because of Pyuku’s natural curves and your use of verticals more than diagonals, Pyukumuku looks like the chillest little Pokemon in the ocean.

I do have some qualms with the spikes, though. While you’ve paid good attention to the size of the spikes by making the middle ones large and the outer ones small like they should be, your perspective on the spikes could use some more work. This Pyukumuku’s spikes bunch up on its back for the most part; the far rear spike, however, looks like it’s on the other edge of Pyukumuku’s body. These two views make it look like the far row of spikes isn’t actually a cohesive row so much as randomly placed. I believe that pushing both rows of spikes, particularly the far row and especially that row’s middle spike, away from the center of Pyukumuku’s body would be really helpful, as it would help both rows to look more cohesive. Your far middle and front spikes look like they’re on the near side of Pyukumuku’s round body because the bases curve down where they meet the body. Having the bases of the spikes curve upward will give the viewer the cue that Pyukumuku’s body is overlapping these spikes, so they’ll appear farther away. That simple shift would make Pyukumuku look more organic, still fitting into its canonical design without losing the style you’ve added to it.

One quick semi-nitpick. In Pyukumuku’s art, its eyes are lower than yours’ eyes, sitting on each end of the horizontal lines across its mouth. You don’t have to follow the art to the T, but I believe your Pyukumuku would look a little better with its eyes further down. Studies have shown that human beings find things with big foreheads cute, and lower eyes make the forehead - for a given measure of ‘forehead’ in Pyuku’s case - look bigger. This isn’t a super necessary change, but it would help you maximize the cucumber cuteness.

Now, onto the coral reef clearing our aquatic friend is hanging out in. You’ve drawn in a nice variety of corals; I recognize the typical branch corals in the background. I couldn’t find many corals that matched the designs of your other ones, though. Cursory googling shows pillar and organ pipe corals that look similar to the cluster on our right, but there aren’t corals (to my knowledge, and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) with thick short branches like we see here. This isn’t inherently a problem; your piece is in a cartoony style and shouldn’t really be photorealistic because of that. However, the purple and brown corals look implausible because they remain about the same thickness from bottom to top while still branching out. These corals are structurally unsound. Even when you’re working in a toony style, you want your art to look somewhat plausible, and the brown and purple corals look awkward. Making the branches thinner at the top, or making them clusters of single-stem pipes, would make them look much more believable.

Color and Value.
Remember how I mentioned eye-grabbing colors, earlier? I wasn’t lying about that; your coloring game is really good. I can tell you laid in the teal background and then colored over it; this blue ever-so-slightly permeates the colors of the rest of your piece, providing strong unity to an otherwise-diverse palette. Like I mentioned earlier, Pyukumuku really draws the eye. The whole piece is very saturated. Usually I recommend desaturating backgrounds, but with this piece, a saturated background works because Pyukumuku is so much darker in value than the piece’s other element and draws the eye as a result. I would still considering adding a little more teal to push the background elements back just a touch, and possibly adding some more saturated elements to the foreground to break up the yellow just a little more as that area is a little boring right now. Even without this, though, you’ve done pretty well with your palette. Nice job. I’m a little on the fence about the color of the rock that Pyukumuku is on. The color is much darker than the sand and stands out boldly, which is good for drawing the eye, but it draws a bit of attention away from Pyukumuku. I wouldn’t make it quite as neutral as the beige coral, but making it a little less saturated and just a hair closer to the value of the sand would help you out here.

The one thing I definitely want you to work on is shading! I really like the underwater effect you’ve added, both in terms of the value variation and general atmosphere it creates. Unfortunately, this isn’t shading. I would definitely recommend adding some sort of light source - presumably from above, since this piece is set underwater. This can help you add depth within your background by going into detail with the closer elements; introduce highlights to contrast with the midtones and shadows you have; differentiate the coral from the sand below it; and break up the expanse of yellow sand to add just a little bit of visual interest in that area. A little bit of shading goes a long way toward creating an eyecatching piece, and I can see from your past works you’ve got skill with using values. I’d really love to see some highlights and shadows on this piece!

Technique.
Okay, first of all, wow - I would not have known that you edited Pyukumuku in through software without you mentioning it, and even looking closely now the editing is only slightly detectable. Nicely done.

Pastels are a difficult but extremely rewarding and often super-fun medium, and I definitely think they’ve enhanced your piece. Like I mentioned earlier, the way the other colors are laid over the ocean’s blue really draws the whole piece together. That said, the blending effect of pastels is a double-edged sword, and there are a few places where your colors seep out of the lines - the beige coral is a particularly noticeable offender. Pastels are wild and like to smudge; there’s a couple of ways to reduce it that I know of, though unfortunately neither of them are super easy. The more effective but complicated way I know is working in layers, spraying fixative over each layer as you go. Spray fixative smells like absolute death and it isn’t perfect (particularly if you’re like me and prefer to use workable fixative that still lets you do some blending), but it’s good for layering. If you don’t want to invest in spray fixative, you can simply go back over the color that seeped out with the color that should be in its place. It won’t look quite the same as the pure color, but it’ll still help.

There’s a slight textural issue with Pyukumuku’s spikes. For the most part, the spikes’ color is so blended that the spikes look blurry; however, the tips of the spikes have a rougher texture, which is kind of confusing. I personally would keep all of them on the rougher texture if possible to match with the rest of your piece, though a softer texture would also work nicely to convey Pyukumuku’s squishiness. The main quibble I have isn’t whether it’s rough or smooth - it’s the fact that the spikes are all made of the same stuff, and their texture should be consistent. Other than that, though, I like the texture you’ve created. There’s a nice mix of smooth and rough textures throughout the piece, preventing monotony. The lines have the roughest texture for the most part, which makes them visually distinct from the rest of the piece. I also really like the little touch you’ve added in the background rock, only showing its outlines rather than its colors to help it blend in. A little bit of subtle color would be good to keep the rock from looking transparent, but it’s still a thoughtful touch.

Conclusion.
I had to do some thinking on this one and I’m afraid I’m going to have to say Pyukumuku not yet captured. You’ve done some really good stuff here by building a relaxing but engaging atmosphere with vibrant and rich colors, but unfortunately that’s not enough to carry you at this rank, especially with a simply-designed Pokemon like Pyukumuku. The lack of shading and the perspective issues on Pyukumuku are what’s really holding you back, here. If you want to have another go at this piece, I would introduce some highlights on Pyukumuku’s body and shadows in the environment around it. While you’re retouching the piece, you’ll be able to adjust the perspective on Pyukumuku. This is a fine work as-is, just not up to hard-rank standards yet. If you want to revisit your Pyuku, ping me and I’ll be happy to revisit this curation in turn.

Even though you’ve missed the capture by a slim margin, I’d say that this piece radiates enough chill that you’ve hit the July theme of Relaxation, meaning that you’ve earned $5,000. Remember to apply the bux to your Legend Tracker as well.

 

@VeloJello Thanks for the critique! Here's an updated version with edits for a recurate !!

I tried going back over my original photo of my Pyukumuku, but damn that chalk would not change D: so I resketched and colored a new one. I moved his eyes accordingly and tried to move his spikes so they seemed more natural as well as fix their texture. I also tried shading, but maybe my scale is too small on my paper ;-; i.e. it didn't work out so hot on paper. BUT I tried fixing it in editing! I gave a light source and rays along with the underwater sun effect and tried manipulating an effect to give shading to Pyukumuku, the rock, and the pink coral branch light enough to show it (it didn't show so well on the yellow coral nor on the others). Lastly, I was able to make the trunks of the pink and purple corals thicker so they can hold themselves up.

Spoiler