Sudowooper Attempts Art

Behold, the Diglett Fractal

Points Needed: 35

 

@SudoWooper

Being as me, the greatest curator evah is back, want to see about fixing your linky?

 

@SudoWooper

Diglett

Spoiler

Im going to label this as Fractal Artwork for the purposes of curating; while it will still be graded as a standard image, it will fit into a specifically different general art category and makes the grade change.

Form/Detail
Certainly a more unique concept than what we get normally. As far as a fractal system goes you seem to have that down pat, I like it in general. The one point I would note however is that fractal art is based on specifically repeatable patterns. And the one thing I do see that doesn't seem to repeat itself would be the dirt and rocks that Diglett uses to hide it’s unique form of movement. I think making them nearly identical would have increased its resemblance to the chosen art form and made it a more cohesive piece.

Color, Shading, and Texture
Texture is one thing that while Diglett doesn’t have, the rocks surround him would, as well as anything in the background had he been given one. Going along with this is the lack of much shading, even the are below the nose would have some light source to darken it. The shadows would have changed with each iteration, so each diglett would have a bit of uniqueness to it despite being a fractal-based image.

Pokemon Anatomy
Not going to lie, Diglett has to likely be one of the simplest pokemon to draw. And thusly so you’ve made it look exactly like a Diglett. I can't really fault much here, so lets move on.

Environment/Perspective
The lack of environment here is a bit of a killer to the image. Something like a rocky mountain setting or something would have enhanced the image, or something similarly fractalized in nature to give more cohesion between elements. Right now we have the pokemon sitting on the “Plane of Suck” as some characters call it. Backgrounds offer the viewer a world of information about the pokemon, including where it live,s what its doing, how it feels even if the setting is right. Information like that breathes life and empathy into a scene, something that greatly enhances the image.

Creativity/Effort
Like the creativity and the amount of time to took to make the fractals, its a cool concept and I think with the right background imagery it could have been a truly momentous piece of art.

Improvements
Id have to say the major improvements that could be made here are shading and environment. Adding both these elements, which tie together due to light and such, will add a whole new level of imagery and creativity allowing the image to pop and tell a story rather than being a static image.

Score
25/100

Its cool, but not enough for a capture yet. Keep trying!

 

I admit, I just make these for fun, and submit them here for the heck of it.



Chinchou
Medium, needs 45 points.

 

And Another

Spoiler

Azurill. Simple. 35 points

 

I'll call dibs on Chinchou. ^^

 

@SudoWooper

[hr][/hr]

"Chinchou"​

[hr][/hr]
Form and Composition

This picture is, well, really lacking, first of all. It's just Chinchou underwater. I'll admit that the glowing effect does look kinda cool, though.

Though sadly it looks as if Chinchou was rather hastily painted on top of a blue gradient background. Where are its fins?

There is so much more you could have done with this to even make up for the quick paint-job of that Chinchou. This would really benefit from adding an environment: like the seafloor, for instance. Maybe add some seaweed patches, some reefs and coral and maybe a few other deepsea Pokemon off in the background...the possibilities are endless!

But looking at it again it does seem like you were trying to go for a kind of effect that says "It's deep underwater and you can't really see much other than the glow its antennae give off," which is a great idea in itself, it just could have been executed better. This is most likely why the fins / feet aren't visible. ^^; Even if this was the effect you were going for, maybe you could have still done a little more with it...like adding a school of Chinchou somewhere, or spreading out said bioluminescent Pokemon and its evolution, Lanturn. The two Pokemon are based heavily on angler fish, and it makes sense and is really neat to see it being portrayed in what you would think would be its natural environment: miles and miles below the ocean, where no light from above gets in.

I like that you attempted at a more painterly style. However, keep in mind that even with such a style, it's best to get a base sketch down first so that you can focus more on how the "paints" (saying this because it's digital painting x] ) look when applied instead of if the Pokemon itself looks right.

Never be afraid to get adventurous with your stuff. Step outside your comfort zone a little bit. :>

------------------------------

Technique and Color

As I said before, the painting job does look like it was done very hastily. Again, make sure that before you work on your finalized piece, you have some sort of base / reference sketch to go off of. Don't be afraid of starting multiple new canvases before you get it right. Don't be afraid to try it over and over. As I heard Winter once say: art is a game of patience. Er, something like that.

Try not to be hasty. If you REALLY want to get the piece done, then maybe it's time to take a break and come back to it when your head is clear again. It shouldn't be rushed, but it shouldn't feel like a chore, either. Come back and work on it at your own leisure. You're always free to post your WIPs around the forums and get some opinions on them before you submit a finalized version. :>

As I said earlier, I enjoy that you added a glow effect. However, you seem to also have added it in places that it doesn't make sense. I'm pretty dang sure that Chinchou's antennae are the only things on it that are bioluminescent, yet there's also a yellow glow surrounding the Pokemon's entire body.

------------------------------

Conclusion and Results

I feel like you had a really neat idea for this, but you just didn't seem to do as much with it as you might have been picturing. Just because you don't think you can draw something, don't let that get you down and discourage you from drawing...said thing. Even the most experienced of artists utilize as many references as they need--or even as many as they don't need.

If you were to have taken more time on this, I believe that you could have done so much more with it. As of now, I'll have to score this as a 20/45, meaning that Chinchou isn't quite yours yet. Keep at it! I know you've got what it takes.

 

Alright, going to post here to "claim" Azurill for now (even though I'm pretty sure I won't get beaten to the punch seeing how busy everyone has been xD ). I'll tag you in this post as soon as I get the critique finished. ^^

 

@SukiWooper:

Not sure if you're still active, but since Speed-X has not given any evidence that she still intends to curate this, I will! Expect it to be done within the next couple of days.

 

SudoWooper,

Sorry you’ve had to wait so long for this grade. I hope you’ll stick around! (And join us on AIM; we have cookies and most of us don’t smell bad (except @Seppe)).

Anyway, let’s talk about Azurill. I’m a little unsure where to begin here. The reason I’m unsure is that you’ve done some really cool things and some sorta lazy things. The thing is, the parts of Azurill that I can see look like they were done in Paint in about 5 minutes. This isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, considering Azurill is a Simple ‘mon, but since the execution is pretty simple, I’m looking for the details to the flawless. For example, the pink parts of his ears aren’t even the same size or shape, and that’s kind of off-putting. Another odd thing about them is that the ears have black outlines, but no other part of the picture does. His eyes are also these big lifeless black ovals with really clear pixellation. With this kind of composition, I’d expect you to at least ensure that details like that get cleaned up.

That being said, I like the background. I like the idea of showing Azurill hiding partially underwater, but I think you could have done more with its expression. Why’s it hiding? Is it trying to be playful, or is it scared? These are things you could probably have done with just the eyes and ears. The background itself is pretty nice. I particularly like the foam around Azurill and the gradient in the background looks kind of like waves or maybe a waterfall.

This picture is pretty simplistic and the nice details like the foam aren’t really enough to carry the lack of detail on the star Pokémon itself. I expect the star to really pop out of the page, and that’s just not happening here. Here’s what I’d really like to see:

- Reshape the pink parts of its ear.
- Give its eyes some highlights, at least, so that they don’t look like pupil-less soul-sucking black holes.
- Identify a light source and add in shading/highlights. It doesn’t have to be super-complicated, just enough to make Azurill look like a real Pokémon instead of a flat picture. Another option would be to give his body outlines like his ears (or maybe take the outlines off of his ears).

I highly recommend looking at a reference picture while you do this. The official art should give you an idea of how to shade him in and shape the different parts of his body.

Grade

I rate this a 25/100 so far (5 extra “Come back to URPG!” bonus points). Work on some of the things I suggested, and then PM me, and I’d be happy to reevaluate it.