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Critique me please!

529 Views | 10 Replies
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Critique me please! 2016-01-31 04:05:25


I'm working my way towards the Art Portal!
I want you to look at my art and give me your best constructive criticism!
Tell me what I'm doing right and wrong, and how I can improve!

Latest piece: http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/karsys/dino-in-the-desert

Critique me please!


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Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 04:44:08


I'll be honest. I enjoy your works with how you draw things on top of photos. Unfortunately it's not recognized or fully accepted here which is a shame. I still find it odd how negatively the community behaves towards pieces containing photos or photos documenting a physically made piece.

Your other work lacks context and looks like they were all for experimentation or for practice. It's as if you just wanted to try things out for the fun. It's totally alright to do, but a majority of the time it won't be impressive.

I advise you to reflect on what you are currently capable of and focus closely on that. Of course you are able to do anything you want but realise you can't do everything.

Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 08:45:18


At 1/31/16 04:44 AM, Cairos wrote: I'll be honest. I enjoy your works with how you draw things on top of photos. Unfortunately it's not recognized or fully accepted here which is a shame. I still find it odd how negatively the community behaves towards pieces containing photos or photos documenting a physically made piece.

Has there been any explainable reason as to why, though? This is something I never quite understood. I remember scouting an artist whom I believed was really good, but got bashed on by the community just for using photo references / still life, which is nowhere near drawing on top of a photo.

Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 09:27:45 (edited 2016-01-31 09:29:35)


At 1/31/16 08:45 AM, Troisnyx wrote:
At 1/31/16 04:44 AM, Cairos wrote: I'll be honest. I enjoy your works with how you draw things on top of photos. Unfortunately it's not recognized or fully accepted here which is a shame. I still find it odd how negatively the community behaves towards pieces containing photos or photos documenting a physically made piece.
Has there been any explainable reason as to why, though? This is something I never quite understood. I remember scouting an artist whom I believed was really good, but got bashed on by the community just for using photo references / still life, which is nowhere near drawing on top of a photo.

I don't know about the photo references artist ... did they trace or use a grid? Otherwise I don't see a problem.

Cairos, it might be because sometimes when people use a photo as a background it's because they can't be bothered to attempt drawing one. Blue skies and mountains, for example.

The difference is jarring, but if it's intentional then more power to you, Karsys, as the cartoonist. I think cairos is right about some of these pics lacking a context, though, especially when you select a pretty impressive photo/scenario to cram a cartoon character in.

The style is really fun, but I reckon there could be a better choice of colours for these pics. Limited palettes based on the choice of background would be great.

Edit: also I'm really happy that you're experimenting. More of that, please.


BBS Signature

Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 10:33:17


I have used photo-backgrounds in some of my artwork here on NG. (Can you guess which ones? probably...) I think what makes it acceptable or not is how much the photo adds to the image. If the photo is holding up the artwork like a crutch, then it is not acceptable. If the artwork could work without the photo or if the photo is blended seemlessly, it's acceptable. As for Karsys, the image Lonely Town is interesting because there is an amusing juxtaposition going on. For a lot of the other artwork there, the photos seem to be thrown around randomly, not necessarily bailing out the work, but they're not used very skillfully either.

As for artists bashing photographic reference, I think that's something different. Art is at its core a form a narrative, a way to convey information to someone else. If I draw a pretty girl, the artwork stands in for a lengthy description of a pretty girl. But sometimes, the narrative of art is not about the subject of the artwork but about art itself. For example, Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon is a painting of naked women, but the narrative is about perspective and anatomy and artistic convention, which makes it interesting to art scholars, but the average eye doesn't really get it. When you're drawing something from photographic reference, the narrative isn't about the thing you're drawing, the narrative is about your skill at capturing photorealism, you're just showing off, and the gut reaction from cartoonists is "fuck you, I don't need to capture realism to be a good artist" or at least "you're missing the point".

Anyways, Karsys, in examining your own art, think about what is your narrative. In Dino in the Desert, are you trying to give people a narrative about extinct animals and arid climates, or is this a drawing about the way things are drawn? If it's supposed to funny (which seems to be your way) ask, could it be funnier? should it be funnier? Do other people share this sense of humor? Does the artwork offer anything to people who don't find it funny?

Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 13:37:22


In reply to AcetheSuperVillain

Thank you for the feedback! You really gave me something to think about. I'll keep these thoughts in mind when I create my next piece!


BBS Signature

Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 13:39:26


At 1/31/16 04:44 AM, Cairos wrote: I'll be honest. I enjoy your works with how you draw things on top of photos. Unfortunately it's not recognized or fully accepted here which is a shame. I still find it odd how negatively the community behaves towards pieces containing photos or photos documenting a physically made piece.

Your other work lacks context and looks like they were all for experimentation or for practice. It's as if you just wanted to try things out for the fun. It's totally alright to do, but a majority of the time it won't be impressive.

I advise you to reflect on what you are currently capable of and focus closely on that. Of course you are able to do anything you want but realise you can't do everything.

I'll keep that in mind! A lot of what I've made is experimentation. At the core, I do art for fun, but I certainly want the art to be enjoyable, too. Thank you for the feedback!


BBS Signature

Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 13:45:38


In reply to TurkeyOnAStick

Palette is something I hadn't really thought about before, and that's probably clear in my artwork. I'll work on that! I feel like that could really improve the way things look aesthetically.


BBS Signature

Response to Critique me please! 2016-01-31 19:43:47


To kind of piggy back on Cairo's comment, if you like to experiment or just make art for fun, it might be better to put stuff like that in a personal thread here and only upload to the portal when you have something that you feel like is the best of your ability.

For choosing color palettes, this is a helpful tool: http://paletton.com/ it may help to study a little color theory before you use it, so you understand why it does what it does. I'm sure there are millions of tutorials about color theory out there.

Response to Critique me please! 2016-02-02 17:11:12


I'll have a look.
Next morning. Probably almost midnight but I'll review your art.


ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗDongers make me stronk!ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ

BBS Signature

Response to Critique me please! 2016-02-03 15:19:38


At 1/31/16 04:44 AM, Cairos wrote: I still find it odd how negatively the community behaves towards pieces containing photos or photos documenting a physically made piece.
At 1/31/16 10:33 AM, AcetheSuperVillain wrote: I think what makes it acceptable or not is how much the photo adds to the image. If the photo is holding up the artwork like a crutch, then it is not acceptable.

Everything Ace said, but I want to add that mixing different styles (in this case photorealism and cartoons) creates a visual dissonance that breaks immersion. It's like if you were listening to your favorite song but randomly in the middle was just 15 seconds of dogs howling. The reason why Lonely Town works (and I'm glad you brought it up because it's an example of style mixing done right) is because the cartoon elements are incorporated into the setting, not just overlaid on top of it.

But even if it's done right, photography and illustration are just too separate at this moment in time to mix. There's no genre for whatever this is so people don't feel like it belongs anywhere. At best it's regarded as a neat little trick (For example: http://pica4u.ru/uploads/posts/2011-05/1306095822_1-5.jpg)

As for how to get into the art portal, get good enough to create something that someone could find potentially marketable. That means no cutting corners, and attention to detail. If your work doesn't have any context of story, then it should have some other kind of redeeming quality like visual fidelity.