m1kclark's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Gamefreak Logo]

Hmm

I disagree with Kensei01's rating of "1". He is right that extruded text as a 3D art submission is a bit weak, but I see more than that. Clearly the bricks are a photo, but still a really good photo. The really cool thing is that the lighting and color scheme of the text are an EXACT match to the photo's light scheme. No discrepancies whatsoever. In fact, the one and only thing that convinced me this wasn't a photograph of wood letters on bricks was that the letters' edges are impossibly sharp. Its value as "art" may be weak, but I think it is a truly strong image.

eagle3000 responds:

Thank you. Bricks you see, it's a texture with a bump map of 60 applied to a single plane. :)

[Acacia]

Disjointedness

This picture has the "scope" problem that all my illustrations have ever had. If you look at a small box, everything is always in perfect proportion, but if you zoom out and examine the picture as whole, there are proportion problems. The head seems too big and pushed too far to the right, even though the face is *incredibly* lifelike. The two shoulders seem to be at different heights, but I'm a big fan of how you shaded them. Finally, the hand looks excellently detailed but it's much too big compared to the rest of the body (even the head). Now, it almost looks like this disjointedness is deliberate, and if so I say "Woot!" Otherwise, the picture looks like an agglomerate of smaller, well-proportioned pieces that are poorly combined into a single scale.

amishjebus responds:

**** Looked over and over, and even used my mirror to hit the same pose to see what's going on, and it finally hit me. Because I added that lacy frill I accidentally moved her nearer arm too far from her body, so it is disjointed from everything else;being positioned as if we are seeing her from the front rather than from the side, which puts everything positioned in accordance to a view from the side way out of balance. This might actually be something I can fix after I buy more paint. I still hold from all of my references that her hand is the right size, though I think the outer edge of her wrist and arm there need re-angled on closer inspection.

[Lamp Lighting]

I can see your specular.

Overall, I LOVE the lighting. I'm glad you learned a lot, and I only wish I could learn as much. Any chance you would post (just in your profile) a screen-cap of the model, so we can see where the lamps are?
And as my title suggests, there's a specular reflection on the right wall that seems to reflect nothing in the image itself. I think you forgot to block one of the lights from sending specular rays to that wall. Given all the other details that are spot-on, this is trivial.

pupuhugr responds:

thank you very much sir, and because you have helped me with a little piece of advice, I will surely take a screen cap or my lights, and Ill point out which are which for you bud. Ill message you when its posted. (After I fix that spec problem real quick)

[Michael Jackson]

Unmistakeable

In this image, you've captured the essence of Michael Jackson as a pop star who broke through many boundaries (race especially) and how he really helped the world to be better, before all the ... controversy.

[Chocolate visualization]

Very nice

This is excellent work. I love the glow, the font, the theme, and the feeling. The criticism I offer below is only meant to be instructive, and should not take away from the fact that I really enjoy looking at this image!

Comments:
If you want a more realistic diamond, do three things: (1) put facets (polygons) on the inside, (2) give the specularity some color-noise to simulate the prism effect of splitting white light into its components, and (3) make the specularity HUGE so light really shines on the surface.
The chocolate material is nice, but the specular color should be browner.
(Nit picky) The chocolate droplet on the box is great, but it would better if the liquid "came up" to the edge of the chocolates due to surface tension. However, I'm a scientist so I look for that sort of thing, and it probably isn't the best use of your time to model it.
Great stuff!

[starwars episode 1 study]

Odd combination

Your art combines very realistic lighting and specularity, like on the helmets and at the edges of the hoods, but the painting itself seems very broad-brushed that feels impressionist. I'm not sure what to make of it, but then again I'm not the most cultured art critic.