Seabed Dreams

Thought I'd kickstart my being active again by doing PokéArt!

I'm going for a Skrelp, which is Hard ranked (55+ to pass). Did this on my pc with GIMP 2.8. Signature is the M on the lower left corner.


"Seabed Dreams"

As the title suggests I was going for a dreamy, almost ethereal look for this scene.

 

Claiming dis Skrelp here to do when I have time as per usual :U

 

I'm a terrible person...but Curation is a go!

First Impression:

I think this is really cool! Not too long ago I did my own Skrelp piece, so its nice to be able to see and grade one for someone else! I like the kind of dreamy state you drew this picture in and how soft it looks. I kind of get the feeling the Skrelp is ‘seeing the light’ or just about to wake up from a relaxed dream.


Form:

I’m going to elaborate on your Skrelp more in this section. Upon first glance, I could clearly tell this was Skrelp without the need to confirm through references, which of course is what I look for, well, first, haha. So great job on nailing its general form down. You’ve gotten all its major shapes and parts of its body done really well too. There really isn’t anything I can add except for minor things, such as the circular portion of its head piece. The line drawn on the inside could have been a bit more rounded to give that area a bit more of a rounder appearance. Really, thats about it. So again really great job on the anatomy portion of this pokemon.

The pose is pretty similar to the official art, but I totally understand how hard is to both visualize and draw something from a new perspective. It’s tough and I have a really hard time even attempting it myself. Either way, its still a great piece and the way you’ve colored definitely gives it a new feel. As I will mention later, you went for a lineless art style and it shows in your lighting and shading. Based on that, it seems the light source is coming from the top right. It’s a little hard to tell on its fins as its obstructed by the yellow substance, but it really shows on the belly and head piece. Speaking of which, its nose should have a brighter highlight on its tip as it seems to be getting directly hit by the light. The lighting also appears to be backwards on the rightmost ear. Those are the only shading/lighting nitpicks if there were any. I’m just bringing these little bits to attention is all.

Really, I like the style you went with for this and I think your Skrelp looks amazing.


Background/Foreground:

There are a number of colors in the background and I guess foreground as well. I like the transitions of the blues and the different yellows behind and in front of the Skrelp. However, I really can’t truly tell what everything is and whats really going on. It kind of lacks clarity as nice as it looks. Based on the title, I want to say that the yellow is suppose to represent seabeds , but from a glance it just seems to be random splashes of color to balance out the blue (or teal?). I understand what you may have been going for and I realize this is tough especially drawing using a mouse, but I would have advised making these seabeds clearer in shape. Had there not been a title of a description, I might have thought it was smoke or, for a stretch, some coral.

From what I can tell, its not a complete solid as you can see transparency. You can see through it to Skrelp. Not to say this is bad, I like the effect, but the background appears to be wanting. It doesn’t have to be crazy elaborate or detailed, but I think making your seabed clearer and then maybe even blending it a bit will add to your image and keep your dreamy state like image in tact. If its not a sea bed, I apologize, as I mentioned I’m not truly sure. If you were to add anything else or simply just redraw whatever the yellow substance is, i would recommend mostly drawing whatever it is out and then blurring them out a bit. Also, sometimes for these harder pieces people add other pokemon into their backgrounds, usually not as detailed of course, but adds a hint of realism if that makes any sense. It makes it feel more like a complete scene rather then a single depiction of a Pokemon. It makes it whole.


Line:

There aren’t many hard lines to this image as it seems you went for a line-less art style. I can definitely tell where the Skrelp itself starts and ends. It’s neat and clear so great job! There aren’t any definite lines for the background or foreground, so there won’t be any mention of that here.

Technique:

I’m really enjoying the style in which you’ve drawn this piece. It has exactly as you described and what I assume you were striving for. It has this painterly, almost messy-blurred kind of look and its rather relaxing just to look at. The colors you used for the background also helped to lend itself to this dreamy, ethereal look. When I imagine a dreamy or relaxing scene, I immediately imagine cooler colors and slightly blurred images. You really nailed those down with your choice of colors and slightly faded yellow in the image. Speaking of which, while the yellow object does help lend to the theme, I’m still not quite sure what it is. It would have been better for it to be a clearly drawn image.

I really enjoyed looking at this piece and it would be cool to see you use this technique again in future art pieces.


Overall:

Overall, I really enjoyed looking at and taking a closer look at this piece. It’s pretty amazing and I might just try something similar in the future! As I mentioned before, I really think this piece would benefit from clearer background elements. You don’t even need much to make it into more of a complete image. With that being said, I’m scoring this a 50/55, so its not quite enough, but you’re really close! Just making those lighting changes and maybe clearing up or adding something simple in the background/foreground should be enough for you to nab your little guy! Feel free to ping me here or on Discord when you’ve updated the piece and I’ll regrade it for you!

 

@Sou;

The grade was very insightful, and pushed me to step up my art skills, and for that I thank you Sou!! You didn't have to worry about failing me either, I respect the judgment of my fellow curators =)

Here goes Seabed Dreams v2.0



and yep that's a shiny krabby : )

 

@Morru

regrading commencing… … ..

Wow! You’ve really taken the piece you had prior and gave it so much life. This really feels like a scene right out of a dream! Color me beyond impressed. You touched on just about everything I mentioned and did it far beyond my expectations. Great Work! I can clearly tell what is going on in your background now and you even added a krabby into the background to help further push the idea of this being a complete scene. I think you’ve definitely earned a re-scoring of 60/55, so Skrelp is caught! I hope to continue seeing your great work!

 

Thanks for the kind words, Sou = )

Claiming muh seaweed thing