Space-ageWrangler's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[A DIFFERENT ROAD [DEC 2021]]

Having the vanishing points so close together gives this a cool surreal feeling. I like the black in the sky too.

[Forsaken Eden]

There's a lot of work put into the linework and it really pays off, I love the use of the different styles and thicknesses. The colors on the basic version don't work quite as well but the filters and effects really tie everything together.

Looking at it for long enough you can tell that there's some use of copy pasting and symmetry but it's all very well hidden.

[Future Coastal City]

The perspective on the organic features (jellyfish, kelp and to a lesser extent the whale) could be improved a lot. Right now they look like 2D sprites and have no sense of depth.

For example, the kelp growing on the sides of the buildings facing the street could use some foreshortening compared to the kelp that's seen straight-on (especially noticeable in the bottom left corner and top left balconies). The kelp also stops very cleanly whenever it reaches a line, making it almost seem painted on at some points

The perspective on the buildings is well done and they have a nice variety. However I think that the lines are too uniform and take away a bit from the abandoned feeling of the city. This may just be a personal opinion, but I believe that using the straight line tool more sparingly and not making every line in the same width could help add more subtle imperfections (this also ties back to the kelp thing, you could paint over the lines more often to make it seem more realistic). Doing it like this might save you time too, you don't need the lines to be 100% accurate to the perspective in order to produce a sensation of depth.

Finally the lighting does not really suit the underwater theme. Right now the lack of shading makes it look like it could be a city in an overcast day, while in a large underwater scene there would be a decrease in brightness at all points at lower depths. A yellow glow seems to surround the edges of the picture, which no sense to me (although even if it doesn't make logical sense, you can still use things like that for a nice effect, I just don't like it here much).

The jellyfish and whale could also use some slightly more pronounced shading, as this is crucial in producing the sensation of volume that they're missing.

Overall I think you have a good understanding of conical perspective, and I found the building designs to be pretty original, but still believable. It's also refreshing to see a picture with more muted colors on Newgrounds, and it has a pretty original theme. Just keep practicing on organic shapes though.

Sorry if this went on a bit too long, I don't mean to be presumptuous or anything.

bigdoubledee responds:

Not at all. I honestly appreciate how much thought you put into the comment. I agree the ocean life seems a little flat, so thank you for the tips on how to bring out that depth next time!

[Sleepy Slime]

I like the use of the blurring in this one. The contrast between the slime's face and the blurry foreground and background grass gives a nice effect like a lens would produce. The left leaf especially has a nice blur that seems to suggest its movement and the blur at the edges of the slime (and it's slight transparency) makes it look more gelatinous.

For a zoomed in drawing like this I'd say the leaves lack a little bit of detail. The strongly saturated cyan light on them also seems a bit strange, especially since that's the only place it shows up and the rest of the picture has more natural colors.

On the other hand, maybe the slime's hue should change slightly more towards blue instead, since it barely changes at all, and I've heard that's a big no-no (stuff usually picks up a bit of the hue of what illuminates it, and the sky gives off a blue light).

Also you made that grass with the default Krita brush didn't you? I think when it's so zoomed in you really could just draw it yourself (the brush is probably meant more for saving time in bigger landscape type drawings anyway).

[Practice lol]

That white/bluish light was a good choice, it really sells the appearance of a forest on maybe an overcast day, as opposed to a warmer light.

The trees look a bit cartoony. Personally I prefer more realistic backgrounds so I would suggest trying to shade the tree leaves with shorter brush strokes instead of doing this gradient type shading; you might be able to simulate the look of tree leaves without too much extra effort. If you do this you should be careful not to arrange the tree leaves so much like a circle and maybe try to make some branches near the bottom.

As for the river, you would probably be able to see through to the bottom in the shallower parts, plus maybe it could kick up some whiter foam when it goes over rocks (although maybe in a tranquil picture like this it wouldn't do that, idk). Idk how to actually achieve these effects myself though because I suck at water lol.

I don't think the blur is necessarily a bad thing, it helps give it a more dreamlike and calm feeling, I think it could also be good for very sunny and hot landscapes, to simulate the way hot air refracts light.

[Golf 1]

You posted so many pics you took down the portal dude. This one is my favourite of the bunch tho.

[Foggy Swamp]

I think you should try do stuff like this in separate layers. If you do a bottom layer for the colors without any white spots between them and then add the white mist on top, it'll probably give you a nicer effect. Right now the edges between the brush strokes are very visible.

When you do the white mist maybe you can use some sort of blurring or blending brush so that there aren't abrupt differences in the color due to the brush strokes.

JimmyBiscuit responds:

Thank you for your wise words

[Drawin with friend 3]

They're all awful.

JimmyBiscuit responds:

Cept for the cum god, he hot.

[Brother Long Legs (and his catch)]

Rain World fucking rocks.

On a side note, I think the lighting is pretty good (especially on the main body) but the tentacles could probably use some work. I think they're too short compared to the size of the long legs, maybe it would help to join a few down to the ground like in the game, that way you can get a feel for the size the rest of them should have.

When I have to do something like this I also like making them curve around in big arcs and wind around eachother a lot, so that can help you add detail too.

Also, maybe you could have used different arrangements for the bubbles? It sorta sticks out that it's always the same pattern.

Edit: I think the background's fine mostly, the gradient gives a nice underwater effect and the rocks on the bottom are fine, it's just the bubble thing that bugs me.

shroomkid responds:

Thanks. Yeah the background was kind of an afterthought, didnt really focuse on it too much.

[Friday Night Funkin' - Boyfriend]

It's nice to see a fanart of boyfriend that is actually a redesign instead of just taken straight from the game.

Next time you should probably upload all the pictures vertically, the top one is horizontal and the only way for me to look at it is to turn my head lol.

Edit: My guess is you took the picture with your phone and it saved it horizontally, as I don't think Newgrounds would rotate it automatically. You could probably rotate it with a computer program (I think even Paint would work for this).

KingsCrown03 responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I have no idea why it was uploading all the pictures vertically, I don't know how to fix it.