We're Gonna Need a Bigger Thread

Expecting a Sharpedo?
Too bad.

Pokémon: Carvanha
[On DeviantArt] If you're not a Curator but you've got a comment.

 

Claiming. Going to try to do this one without differentiating things into titled,specific categories. Boop.

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@Elrond 2.0

Also, your art has improved quite a bit since your first submissions! I can tell that you're trying to experiment more and go a little bit further with your artwork each time. That. Is. Awesome.

By the way, I just want to mention how much I love love loved your Caterpie. The color use and silky smoothness of the colored pencils is fantastic.

I absolutely love how silky the colored pencils look in this one, too. The colors are very rich and very neatly-applied; I honestly don't even see any stroke marks! However, there's one really big, really crucial element that this has much less of than your Caterpie: shading.

I know the shading is there--I can see it--but the contrast is low. The thing is, you made the shading as smooth as you did with the colors, with a very gradual transition between the dark and light. I definitely don't think that technique is the problem, just the color choice. I'm not sure what exactly your method is, but sometimes--especially if you plan on adding highlights, it's a really good idea to apply that highlight color, first. A sky blue would have worked perfectly for that. Then you'd apply that deep azure blue color, then maybe for the shading you would go into a blue violet. Going from one color to the next like this as your shading progresses is called "hue-shifting."
At least, that's what us pixel artists call it, anyway...not sure what traditional artists refer to it as, though, but same difference! :>

The most basic form of hue shifting is to make your highlight color a warmer hue and your shade(s) a cooler hue. So if you were to make a color ramp with that beautiful blue color you used here, you could try cyan -> blue -> indigo -> dark violet or something. Unlike with digital artwork, traditional colored pencils cannot be erased...so I would definitely recommend scratching some color ramps down on a spare piece of paper if ever you want to experiment with your colors! Hue-shifting can lead to some really, really cool results if you do it right!

And you know what? You did actually hue-shift in your Caterpie drawing, whether you noticed it or not. You went from a lime green (yeah, I see that yellow mixed in there ;P ) to a light green to a darker, more bluish green. Doing that gave it more depth and made the shading stand out much more.

Another thing about making shading a little more prominent is to experiment with contrast, too! Hue and contrast can go hand-in-hand. But I feel like I've pretty much beat that horse to death by now, so let's move on.

While this is a medium Pokemon, I feel like with a background, the whole piece would have been much more immersive! Maybe a gradiented blue background with bubbles here and there or something. Anything basic would have done perfectly fine for this Pokemon.

Otherwise, I have no major complaints for this. It's definitely well-made, but it's a little lackluster in the sense that I feel like you could have done a little more with it.

So here's a recap of all the things I've rambled about:

• You did a great job with the colors; very silky-smooth texture with no noticeable stroke marks. (I mean stroke marks aren't always bad because sometimes they provide some texture but for this I think it's best to be stroke-less)
• Shading is less visible than in some of your other submissions.
• I suggest maybe taking time to experiment with your colors a little more, because hue-shifting can make your art really pop.
• Try to start experimenting with basic backgrounds / environments. Just start small and work your way up. :> And yeah, I'm aware of how annoying and tedious it is to fill in an entire sheet of paper with color. o A o It's not fun. But I'm not saying that you need to fill in the WHOLE canvas with color. If you need to, just use a certain area of your canvas. And hey, maybe try using another medium for your backgrounds if you want to!

The Result

I feel like this is acceptable for a Medium-level Pokemon. It's lacking some, but it's nothing that you can't work on in your future submissions. Keep drawing and keep improving! I really would have loved to see the same shading quality here as in your Caterpie submission, but hey: just something to keep in mind for next time. c;

45/45​

 

@Speed-X: Thanks!

Yeah, the highlights definitely weren't as bright in this piece as I had hoped. I tried starting with the lightest colors available, but I think I got a little overzealous trying to make them look smooth. The hue-shifting didn't come through as well, either, but I actually tried to do it this time on my own, whereas with Caterpie I was just trying to emulate something I saw online. Fun fact: the red areas are shaded with green, the blue areas with orange, and the yellow areas with purple.

 

@Speed-X; @Elrond 2.0;

Just a note that at Medium+ Rank, most pieces probably shouldn't pass without a background unless they're spectacularly flawless and spot-on. The ruling on this one is fine, but just keep that in mind for other work.

 

Gotcha,thanks for the tip. I was going off of the fact that my background less Weavile got me a Sneasel so yeah. I'll keep that in mind! @WinterVines