Decky's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Proud Parent]

A great illustration. I like all of the little details that you have added such as the highly textured feel to the bottom right corner. It looks almost like it's made out of wood to me. The shine on the bottom lip of the jester is a brilliant example of how to draw lips. I may look back to this if I need a reference for lips myself. The same can be said for the teeth.

I have to say that if it was me I would have turned the shadows darker after I had scanned it in with some photo editing software and maybe turned the saturation up on that circular background and the blood. I just think that it might have made the details pop from the image more.

Epic work as ever.
Keep the stuff coming.

SourCherryJack responds:

Thanks for the review man, really happy to hear the praise on the the mouth, that was something I put a lot into so I'm glad its catching some attention. I totally agree on the background's reaction with the blood pillars, I was originally going to do a much more intricate background the whole way through but ran out of time so lesson learned for next time I suppose.
Thanks again, I'll definitely keep 'em coming!

[Laurel & Hardy]

A brilliant homage to the great duo.

I like the shear number of references that you have managed to get in such a small image. It reminds me that there is a lot of Laurel & Hardy that I'm yet to watch. I'd like to see this become like a kind of series of various portraits from shows with vest numbers of references. It's an idea.

I would say that in some areas it feels a little too dark, around the dog for example. Also I think that the flame on Laurel's finger could have been a bit more prominent but that might be a personal preference.

ApocalypseCartoons responds:

Thank you very much. I went on a binge and watched almost all of them, which resulted in me adding more and more to it. I have done some other fan drawings that include lots detailed of references. There was a Zappa one and some Doctor Who ones. Also a Marx Brothers one, but with only a handful of references. Can't remember if they're on Newgrounds, but they're on my website, at the bottom of the Illustrations page.

[Green monster]

A cool piece, I like the little details like the circular spots around the shoulders and I like the brush strokes at the bottom of the background too, especially the choice of colour, I think they could have looked better though if they were straighter under the left (viewers left) armpit and shoulder.

Another thing that I would have done is made the shadow on the monster a bit darker along with the space background. I think that this will give the piece a crisper look.

A nice illustration and not much that can be picked out for improvement.

kalabor106 responds:

The shoulders are a bit goofy. Was never good at drawing the shoulder well. Was thinking of adding a extra darker shadow but didn't. Was afraid of over doing it. Thanks for the review and the constructive criticism. I really do enjoy hearing what can help make my art better.

[Blowfishy]

A great graphic that I think would translate to make a really good tattoo or T-shirt design.

I really like your style of blending colours and use of light, though I'm normally impressed by digital paintings as it's something that doesn't feature massively in my portfolio. I'd like to see this made into a larger picture. Maybe with the fisherman on the bank.

Can't really say much more as I can't really find fault in it. Well done and keep it up.

eline413 responds:

Thanks, that means a lot to me. Your idea about the fisherman is actually a really good idea so I'll consider doing that in some of my spare time. It's actually a portfolio piece, so I wanted to make it better in some way anyway. Again, thank you very much :)

[The Pants Are Off!]

A fun little cartoon. I particularly like the way "NOT" comes out of the speech bubble, though I wonder if the exclamation mark should have had a white drop shadow too as it is also come out of the bubble.

Maybe a bit more detail on the shadows would have been nice. I get that it's in a simple cartoon style but I would have liked to have seen some more shape there.

I think the arms could have been higher on the body too. As they are the right arm (viewers right) appears to be coming from his back due to it being behind his underwear, making it seem almost like a tail. I would have but them inline with the center of the mouth, he's a monster, he can rock that look.

I am just pointing out the little things that I picked up on and some of it could be my opinion and how I would have done things. I do think this is a good piece.

jessejayjones responds:

Thank you Decky for the very thoughtful and helpful feedback! All great points to improve upon for when I get it printed on a shirt! :D
Edit: I've taken some of your feedback and implemented it-- Thank you so much for your helpful feedback! :)

[Axe Monster]

A great figurative horror piece. I particularly like the attention to detail that has been up into this, for example the blood dripping down and the texture on the axeheads also the way that the eyes seem so bright in contrast to the face which attracts attention to them.

There isn't much to comment on here for what I would have improved but the ground, especially the holes(?) under the creature's arms seem flat, just a little more work was needed on defining them. It's also heard to get a sense on where the background goes from a vertical wall to a ceiling. Is the background meant to be domed in shape? Having said this I do like the painted style of the background.

A good piece. It does work and easily deserving the 4/5 stars I will be giving this. I'd go as far as saying that you have a real talent for horror drawings.

Keep it up.

[Fudgepops]

A nice piece. I like the painted style, the blood on the wall and the view through the doorway are done particularly well with a good use and understanding of light.

Having said this I'm not too sure about the speech bubbles. In themselves the idea is okay but I noted that there is a slight transparency to them, I don't think that was the best way to reduce the sharp white of a standard speech bubble that would over power an image like this. I would have suggested using a light pastel grey background for the bubbles instead of a fade, this wouldn't be as garish as pure white but better then how it is.

I agree that the font used was a good choice, an obvious lend to the theme. I fear though that it is jumping out of the bubbles, the "MY" at the top for example is too close to the edge of the bubble and the "FUDGEPOPS." should be reduced in size also for this reason. I would also change the full stop for an exclamation mark. The middle bubble is typographically perfect though.

The final thing that I would point out is that the left boot (viewers left) looks a little off. The laces seem like they should be slightly more to the left as they go up the boot. It's just something that jumped out at me on an otherwise good figurative painting.

To summarise, it's a nice work but it's let down by little things that stand out. Mostly the speech bubbles. Well deserving of three stars though.

Rhunyc responds:

Aw man, thank you so much for the lengthy and constructive review, I'll definitely keep that in mind for the next one I do (if I do). I guess that's what I get for trying to wrap it up so late, haha.

Thanks again though, I appreciate it!

[Shield (Green)]

A quite nice, simple design. I'd rather like a painted shield of a similar design mounted on a wall in my house but maybe that's just my sense of style and it's probably the cartoonish use of line and curves.

There are a few little things that stand out to me as needing some improvement for example I'm not too sure about the lines coming off of the snake, is it on fire? Is it hairy? I'm not sure what you were aiming for with that one. If it's meant to be on fire I would always stay away from showing something on fire in all black. It just doesn't give that sense of light that is really needed even in a cartoon. Either flames in silhouette or the object not both, this may just be me.

Another thing is the yellow of the flowers don't stand out very well again the green of the shield. Maybe a different colour scheme would have been better (I'm aware that there is an orange version that you have also uploaded). In that area the vines that the flowers are on also look a little thick.

And Finally the boat on the right. I really think that it isn't needed at all in the piece and it really is taking things just that bit too far into the minimalistic, cartoon design side of things. It looks like the boat on the picture in The Simpsons. I get the impression that you put it there so that it was clear that the waves are indeed waves, this would be clear without the boat.

All in all it's not a bad piece I just feel that the little details were either under thought or were added when they simple weren't needed.

- Review Request Club -

Cyberdevil responds:

That would be pretty cool! :D

Hmm yeah, not sure what I thought about when drawing the lines... probably for effect, but there might've been some underlying meaning with that too, like my hair does grow quickly... It's not flames though, that's for certain.

As for the boat, all these details signify some aspect of my personality, there's really nothing superfluous in it, waves and boat stand for separate notions, but I agree it looks a bit simple compared to the rest. Thanks for the feedback!

[The Artful Dodger]

Firstly, sorry to hear of the lose of your mother's cat.....Right now that's out of the way I can criticise like I came here to do.

Very realistic, especially around the edges with the fur on top of the blue backdrop. It can not be improved as far as I can tell although it isn't really my style or in my taste when it comes to art. The only thing that stuck out to me was the closed eye. There is no visible eyelid, this may be the case with I'm guessing the photo you worked from but to please the eye of the viewer I would have put one in. Just a subtle little line to indicate that there is actually an eye under there.

All in all a good piece really, especially the flowing sheet (?) that the cat is lay on and the little details that you have put in with the fur and the open eye.

Keep it up.

- Review Request Club -

[Self-portrait]

Not bad for a first attempt at realism in Photoshop, although there are a few things that make it seem fake and plastic but I'm guessing you were going for a stylized piece. Having said this the lips stand out a mile away, unless this person was wearing lipstick tone them down, the eye shouldn't really be draw to the lips in a portrait such as this. The cheeks seem to be a little puffy too, like the person is holding their breath in an over exaggerated, child like manner. More detail on the eyebrows would also have been good as they are completely plain compared to the hair, just a few more tones here and there in them would improve them dramatically. Finally, the nostrils are too small, simple enough on that one, make them bigger in future.

For your first stab at a realism portrait that is not a lot of things to work on so you should be proud of this piece. The tones on the skin (although plasticy at times) are a real highlight and something that shows a lot of skill. Just keep working at it and remember that with portraits it's all about the little details and how to use them efficiently and sparingly.

Keep it up.

- Review Request Club -