m1kclark's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Traction Engine]

What gr33bl3r said

I would write my own review, except it would literally be a repeat of gr33bl3r's review. So I'll just second his recommendations and leave it at that!

[Birds On a Wire]

Critical comments

I hate to be the only detractor. All my criticism is honestly intended to be constructive.
Your tag says "Blender", which I use. Four simple things that would help immensely: (1) add a second texture to the poles and transformers to make them look "dirty", like a Clouds texture using the Colorbar to adjust how big the dirty patches are; (2) do a "Fractal Subdivide" on each telephone pole (no more than 5%-10%) to make them look less like perfect cylinders; (3) since you have a sunset in the background, your lighting should be only from the sun and orange-tinted, with less ambient white lighting; (4) and finally (and I say this to almost every 3D post on NG), please BEVEL. No object in real life has infinitely-sharp edges, so make all your hard edges softer (for example, the transformers and cross-bars on the poles).
Really, though, the biggest flaw in the image is the birds. (Sorry.) First, the bird model is underdeveloped. The wings are clearly single flat polygons; they should have some depth, made in 3D instead of 2D, and maybe give them layers (either in the model or in the texture) to represent the different layers of feathers in a real bird's wing. Also, just about everything about the bird needs more polygons, as it looks like a 3D model at the moment. You might want to play with "Add Modifier" -> "Subsurf" to make a more detailed, less angular bird model.
The second problem with the birds is actually the hardest problem to tackle: they all look exactly the same. It's an excellent use of "DupliVerts", I must say, but there needs to be *some* kind of variation between the birds. I know this is bloody hard to accomplish with "DupliVerts" in Blender with just one model. BUT, you can make 3 or 4 resting-bird models, and try to mix and match them so the birds don't look quite so uniform. Or, after using "DupliVerts", use Ctrl-Shift-A to "Make Dupli Objects Real", after which you can modify each bird individually. An easy thing to do is to mess with scales in X, Y, and Z independently and do some slight (1-5 degree) rotations on each bird in all directions. These tricks will help mask the fact that all the birds are from an identical model.

THAT SAID: Your use of textures is excellent, and the geometry of the landscape is perfect. The overall vision for the image is high quality; in fact, if you don't Full View it, the picture looks wonderful as it stands. Most of the critiques above were because I stared at the thing in Full View for a while. You, like many 3D artists on NG, don't have the technical knowledge that I have, but are a FAR better artist than me because you have the *vision* and imagination to generate a captivating image.
Don't let the details get you down, and I hope I've offered helpful advice.

gr33bl3r responds:

thank you!

Thank you for all of the honest criticism! it is actually surprisingly hard to come by at this point.

you're pretty much spot on on the poles, looking at them now they do look a little fake. ill have to play with the textures, possibly a displacement modifier. good point on the lighting as well, my fill light is way too strong.
you really are also quite right about the birds, i really didnt put as much effort into the bird model as i probably should have. and as for the subdivision surfaces, you are probably right, i just have to be careful not to overdo it. im already pushing half a million polygons ;P

thanks again for the great review! and by the way I think that you are a very good artist.

[papertower defense]

The Dark Tower

Ever read the books from 'The Dark Tower' series by Stephen King? There's a scene in the 2nd book that this STRONGLY reminds me of. It's excellent work, and as always I love your vision and sense of scope.

hectordude responds:

thank you!

[Blackness]

Very nice!

Post the others, I'd like to see.
I tried the two-tone thing (in my profile, if you're even mildly interested), but somehow missed the essence of the image. You captured the essence here, so well done indeed!

jewdozer responds:

Couldn't find your 2tone stuff but your 3d stuff looked very nice. The other panels to this might get me banned, they have sexual violence in them of the most degrading kind. Thanks for your comment.

[Weeks of Decay]

More real

In general, you're increasingly experimenting with ideas that are "more real" than the ubergore or the cartoonish hyperbole that you used to do a lot. Images of dismembered females have, so to speak, "plausible deniability" in that I can simply declare the image a disturbing fantasy and then move on. But this image, like the Valentine image, is too close to real to just forget. This art has a really real impact.
I hate to look, but I cannot look away.

[Origami Hydralisk 2]

NICE!

I think you should color it. Awesome work!

Pohmme-d-adham responds:

Thank you. :)

[RAAAARGHHH]

-

KAHN!

[Clone Wars, Kushiban Jedi.]

Looks like Mewtwo

The facial structure reminds me of Mewtwo more than a rabbit, and that tail looks like fire. These are not negatives, just comments.

johngoldenwolf responds:

Thats because he is a Kushiban.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kushiban
;)

[Pin-up: The Artist]

Issues with detail

The piece has some flaws that you notice right away, distracting from the value of the image. The biggest problem is that the tattoos are SO detailed, and uniformly everything else is blurry by comparison. And while I like that you added a shadow, her hips and head should be further away from the wall than her hand and knee, so the shadow should have some perspective. Lastly, there are some anatomical problems: the nose and mouth look disjoint, and her open hand seems too large. The idea is great, a pin-up painting a skull and roses on a wall, but the detail flaws make the image suffer.

[Lili Zanotto]

Don't know Lili

But I can see how improved this is from the October version of "Lili", and for that alone I'm giving you a 10. Then there's the fact that the drawing itself deserves a 10 anyway.