m1kclark's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Super-Toon Wonder Woman]

Teen Titans style?

(NFT)

[{BT} Metal World]

I was going to say ...

that it lacked humanity. Then I read your description, and I applaud you since that was what you were going for! The grainy quality is really nice, and even thought the model is simple, the tone is well-considered and well-excuted. Great!

BenTibbetts responds:

Thank you!

[Spring has come]

Pretty!

This is a really awesome image. The color contrast is really nice, and I love the glassy-mushroom effect. Good stuff!

[The NES Pad]

Not as good as your usual

The model of the controller itself is good, and I liked the original NES too. Nostalgia aside, though, the picture has oddities. The perspective is too strong, like a fish-eye lens; there's a reflection on the red buttons, but nowhere else, which could be fixed merely by changing the lighting; the background is very boring, especially compared to the detail level of your other work; and the cord looks silly suspended like that.
I wouldn't be so harsh, except that your other work is so exceptional. Compared to that, this is pretty blah.

[Glowing Chess]

=-D

I looks nearly photographic!

[Silently waiting..]

Perfect feel

The picture feels perfect. The color scheme makes it cold; the detail on the characters and the blurriness of the background make you focus on them and their relationship; and the lack of any faces make the characters detached and their humanity becomes unimportant. Only a touch of red on the helmet indicates any emotion: bloodlust. In short, this is great.

Rhunyc responds:

Hey man, I appreciate that. Thanks a bunch for the nice words. :)

Great interpretation, by the way, quite interesting what some people see in my art. :)

[Sunshine]

0_0

From the thumbnail, I thought this was 3D art. Then, when I saw the whole thing, I thought it was a photo. Finally, I saw the descriptor "Illustration" ... (!)

That said, the signs that this is illustrated are sparse and subtle, and don't at all detract from the picture. The facial details are priceless, and the chosen colors provide fantastic contrast. I won't say it's perfect, because nothing is, but the quality of this work is 10 times better than the average submission here on NG.

[Cars Drivin]

Oddly realistic

The cars are nothing but boxes, extremely un-car looking, and the buildings have no textures or anything. Somehow, though, this geometrically minimalist approach looks *realistic* with the lighting and camera angle that you used. It is a compelling argument for approaching visuals with different rules in mind than the typical. I am really fascinated by this work, despite the low-poly detail.

[Shiny Axe]

Love your work

Fantastic.
There's only one issue I can see: parts of it look hand-drawn, like animation, particularly the blade. There's something un-real-looking about it. It is really the only flaw in an otherwise excellent model. Suggestions:
(a) Play with background/foreground lighting. Try adding a really bright backlight that gives highlights just to some edges, but doesn't actually brighten anything.
(b) Textures: add a slight color texture to make the handle look like polished wood instead of an ideal brown object. Also, I find making a normal-map with lines is good for metal, as it gives it a "scraped" look.
(c) Bevel the edges on the blade that aren't the sharpened edge.

These are just suggestions: they may not even solve the issue I'm talking about, but maye they're worth your time to try? It's still 9/10 as is! Great stuff!