Slowpoke's Christmas Party

Turns out Slowpoke's not slow, he's just Australian.

Pokémon: Slowpoke
Difficulty: Medium
Medium: Colored Pencils!
Proof: Full of holiday cheer.
[On DeviantArt] - If you're not a curator but you've got a comment.

 

Claimed

 

@Elrond 2.0; Sorry this took a bit!

Slowpoke's Christmas Party

Form

Everything seems okay here. The anatomy looks fine, and you even have the small teeth and nails at the end of the limbs. Slowpoke is fairly rounded too, with stubby arms and legs, which also fits. I had just one question though: is it physically possible for Slowpoke to stand like that?

I tried looking for images, but all of the anime ones I found showed it either sitting on its behind or walking like any other quadruped. I'm sort of wondering if that's because its stubby legs can't actually hold its entire body weight upright. I mean, this is just a fun holiday picture meant to be funny, and it definitely is, but the pose did strike me as a little odd when I first saw it. Just something to keep in mind.

Technique

Here is where there was some detail lacking, which is odd, because it's very prominent in your other work. It sort of leads me to think that this piece was a slight bit rushed perhaps. At any rate, there's a distinct lack of shadows that sort of make the image look a little bit flat—noticeable especially around the Pokemon and with the tree. There are a lot of places where even just a little bit of shadows would've really made it pop, like underneath the tree and Slowpoke. It's also sort of weird that there are none because I see a little bit of highlight on the tree bulbs.

I'm also curious about the colored outline around the tree and Pokemon. I really like that style, since it imitates the Suigimori style with the black outline yet uses darker color instead. It's really great. The only thing weird in this case is that it doesn't really show up much outside of those two major objects. The star on top of the tree sort of looks like it had a darker outline, and I can maybe see pencil lines around the bulbs and window frame, but not much else has this same outline style. What would it look like if the other objects stuck with this consistent technique?

The colored pencils blended well here, though. There are a few lines in the vertical of the wall and horizontal of the floor, but these are places where textured lines are sort of expected, depending on the material. The wall seems fine. The carpet maybe seems a little streaky when it's probably not that kind of texture (unless its like a super cheap kind that's ripping up maybe!). I also really like the style of the “Writing Competition” since it mimics lights. It was a very nice touch.

Background

I think my biggest issue with this piece is how much white space there is. I understand that this was meant to be a banner/image for the competition, but so much looming blankness sort of takes me out of the image. There's not much of anything in the upper left or bottom right. That also throws off the balance of the piece. The canvas here may need to be adjusted.

If the URPG Summer Writing Competition was aligned left, the entire blank right side could be trimmed off. I think that would unify the piece a little more by bringing the elements together. It looks like the words would fit above the tree and to the side of the window. And even some overlap wouldn't be a bad thing. I realize that this is a photo of a real piece of paper, so in order to do this, it may need to be manipulated digitally. A lot of free programs, like paint.net or GIMP would be able to cut out certain pieces and move them around fairly easily. Then you'd be able to crop a bit of the canvas.

This is also especially important because other than the words, tree, and window, there aren't a lot of other details/objects with the Slowpoke—unlike your Darumaka picture, where there were a lot of objects to interact with. In that one, a little bit of of extra space was okay (although there was still a little bit that looked empty). Same thing here. And another option would be to create more stuff in the background to add some more life to the picture, but it might just be easier to rearrange what you already have.

I do like the story behind the piece. The running jokes for Slowpoke always make me giggle. This one is no different. Just remember that even funny pieces like this should get the same attention to detail and technique as your other work!

Result

Spoiler

The piece had a funny intent and achieved that. However, there was a lot of blank space and a lack of shadows and other details usually included in your work of this rank. This was a tough call. I'm going to score it 38/45 which is not quite enough for capture.

What I'd like to see here is a few shadows added and a lessening of the blank space—whether this is rearranging pieces so everything fits closer together or adding in more background details is up to you. If you have any questions, let me know!

 

@WinterVines: Slowpoke retouched!



@Smiles: New version of the SWC banner, if you're interested.

 

@Elrond 2.0;

Much, much better! I like the new composition a lot. The frame now makes everything seem like it fits, barring the two white patches in the corners. The shadows also give it more depth. Picture quality looks more saturated too!

This definitely earns 45/45, so Slowpoke is captured now!