m1kclark's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Waiting for Link]

Emo Zelda?

You've drawn her emotions so clearly, with such visible frustration, sadness, melancholy, and most of all vulnerability, that they actually seem actually out of character. It's melodramatic, making Zelda seem much more teenager-human than a royal elf, more like the stereotypical "princess" where I've always thought of Zelda as a queen-in-waiting.

It's an original take on the character, and I think you did a wonderful job conveying the intent. Great glow, a good background that doesn't detract from the focus, and I think the pink highlights on the veil and really intriguing. Well done!

[Horned Anvil]

Awesome textures!

I see at least 9 high-quality textures that are solely responsible for the realism of this image. The geometries are actually really simple, letting the textures do all the work. Even the rusted-iron texture, which is full of mostly small-scale flecks and facets, tricks the eye into thinking the anvil's geometry is more distorted than its polygons are. The sword in front blends a little too much, but as the anvil is the centerpiece, it stands as a nice accompaniment. The canvas bag and the barrel, too, are very nice touches, also with outstanding textures. Even the stone floor, which I'd bet $20 is just a flat plane, has a wonderful texture with its own shadowing. Actually, now that I stare at it for minutes at a time, I see that the shadows on the floor stones don't match exactly the shadows on the anvil, but this is a small thing.
Excellent work, and you should let us know what the DVD and short film are, so we can look it up.

DarkSword responds:

I see you have excellent observation sense, mister!

True that the geometry was kept at a minimum (without affecting contour, where possible) and most of the work was in texture. This is because I want to go work in the game industry, so I tried my best to reflect that, even if it's in a short film, rendered offline.

Almost all textures have 3 maps, diffuse, specular and normal map. For the floor and walls tho, there is a displacement map, witch actually makes the geometry much denser. It would take a camera movement to see it better tho, in the short film, you can easily see it! The shadows don't match, it's true, cause the anvil ones were photoshopped.. : ) didn`t think such accurate eye would scrutinize my work.. = p

thanks for the awsome review.. ! I'll add the link to the short film

[Link: Concept Art]

Epic

This deserves a front-page. The attention to detail is astounding, from the individual links of chainmail to the sheen on the sword. It would be ever-so-slightly better with a background, but it still deserves a 10 as is. Excellent.

[Macbook Pro]

Gimme a 'B'! Gimme an 'E'!

And a "V" and an "E" and an "L" !!
Also, turn up the antialiasing. Looks like it's at 5 right now, I think it needs 11.
Otherwise, it's a simple design, but well done nonetheless.

gr33bl3r responds:

i dunno, i looked at some macbook pros and they looked pretty sharp... maybe not that sharp.

also the antiailiasing with the new render engine in blender is a little screwy... oh well, it is worth it for realtime previews and cuda support. have you tried it? if not you really should, its awesome.

thanks for the feedback.

[Concept: SMW-1]

'Goliath online!'

The drawing is good quality and shows a lot of imagination for the structure of the mech. It unfortunately suffers, in my mind, for looking a *lot* like the Goliath from Starcraft with the guns. I doubt that's worth a redesign, and since this is part of a larger world, it's perfectly acceptable to have similar elements. Nice work, looking forward to more.

Rhunyc responds:

Thanks, actually I had no clue it was anywhere near the resemblance of a Goliath. I believe the Goliath is much larger - with an enclosed pilot. I've played Starcraft 2 to see the Goliath in action once (I played zerg), so I didn't get a good glimpse of them, basically right now I'm relying mainly on my memory of them from the original Starcraft.

I've seen many many mechanized walker designs.. So there's probably a lot of minor influences I've used from different games and series.

But thanks for the kind review, and I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think.

[Beauty]

Truly skilled

The ears look a little odd in the details, but otherwise ... this is one of THE best portraits I've seen on this website. I really feel as if I've met the subject, because you portray her character and her humanity so clearly. It doesn't hurt that she *is* beautiful. Did you use a reference, or is this from memory/imagination?

einharjar responds:

I used reference for this one.. She was our model during sketching session. Then i decided to take her picture for future portrait studies.

Thanks for the comment. I really appreciate it.

I gotta admit, i still need alot of practice when it comes to portraits especially the ears. hahah

[Bamboo Forest]

GREAT, needs 3 finishing touches

This is a really nice render, particularly since it's almost entirely procedural! At the moment, it actually looks like something out of Pixar's 'A Bug's Life', but I believe it needs just a little work to look photorealistic.

Here are my primary critiques:
(a) The bamboo needs one more texture; there should be a sort of general, homogeneous graininess as the base color instead of pure green.
(b) That light is too bright and white, I think. Make it a softer, perhaps a touch of yellow in the color, or use an area light? The bamboo sort of looks like there's a search-light on it.
(c) I know I've said this to you before. Sorry for beating the dead horse, but please BEVEL. The joint between segments is too sharp, it should be rounded a little.

Now, I LOVE what textures you do have on the bamboo, making it look weather-beaten and so forth! And the leaves on the ground are an excellent touch: they don't need to be absolutely perfect because they are the background, but they're high enough quality that lend ambiance. And many other details are exactly right (the random tilt of the bamboo shoots, the random segment lengths, random widths, ...) :-D

Overall, I'd call this experiment a success!

gr33bl3r responds:

sweet!

thanks for the great review!

Hmmm, another texture on the bamboo for the base, you are right! that would look great! heh you caught me again... i always forget to bevel. And the light too its actually pure white with no soft size. I really like the groundcover too. it took way too long though. I love procedurals ;) my goal is to make a library of procedural environments.

Thanks so much for your excellent critique!

[Holding Softly]

Touching

Wonderfully expressive with such little details, accurately portraying how love is plain and yet powerful. An excellent image.

[Lickable]

f(o_o)

So this is what it looks like when Shadling goes mildly subtle?

[Gift for Vana: Proud New Mommy]

Cute baby

I really like that baby. He is REALLY cute, and I'm willing to completely overlook the fact that 2-month-olds don't smile quite that wide. ;-) I actually want to pinch his cheeks.

The only reason it didn't get a 10 is the mother. I don't know what's hitting me wrong about her. I think it's that I expect her either to be looking at the baby, or to have her eyes closed because she is cuddling the baby with her head on his head. Or maybe I've just spent too much time around babies, iunno. It's wonderful regardless, and I think it's a really nice thing to honor their new family with this image.

Sabtastic responds:

Thanks!

I agree. There are a lot less awkward ways to cuddle a baby. lol
I'm one of those people who has little to no experience around toddlers, so when I have one in front of me to take care of, I freeze and just stare at it. Had to actually google images "Mother holding Baby" to get an idea of what the hell to draw. XD