DarkSword's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[puppeteer]

Very nice..! what is the meaning of the blue string?

wartynewt responds:

They're restraining/controlling her.

[M Bestiary A-Z - Al-Mi'raj]

Humm..

First thing that I saw that wasn't right was the pink, shiny spots. Too many of them, and there is even some in shadow areas.. doesn't make any sense.. to me at least... and why the pink nose?

I must agree with minikitten, the torn is a bit weird: looks like it's flat, and made of metal? (too strait, no texture).

The proportions are good, very nice details on hands, feets, very nice shading overall, nice outline too... this is pretty solid!

Reabault responds:

Thanks, I'll be honest the horn was a different colour but I realised it was supposed to be black... changing it made it turn out not so great :(
As for the darker nose, it's a style thing.
Thanks for commenting.

[{BT} Huddle]

Why?

I understand there is meaning (the title helps) but your using a very technical medium (3D, Bryce) with almost default shapes, textures and lighting. The absence of color and simplicity of the shapes doesn't feel intentionnal, as it would be in a painting for example. It just look silly, with the boxes going trough the floor... looks like a copy-and-paste, and really break the effect of individuals in a huddle around a center box. At least slight position difference and X angle would probably help the intended effect... make the boxes a bit more "organic and alive" without changing their shape. Mechanically (copy-paste) positionned at the same place around a center axis really didn't make it for me...

anyway, just my 2 cents : )

BenTibbetts responds:

OK, thanks for the helpful review. :)

[Arlington Cemetary, 2020]

O almighty monument

I am canadian so I didn't recognized the monument right away. I also don't know about the tombstones, it's missing some religion reference or variations.. (wood crosses would have probably be easier to read, I don't know) at first sight I thought more about dominoes.. : )

I really like the message tho, all those tombstones spreading from the monument. It does seems to have a link with the proverb "all roads leads to Rome", but in a much darker way. The fish eye feel of the perspective add a much more dramatic effect, I love it.. : )

I like art with meaning.. : ) I think it's the best!

radiodark responds:

Thank you. Also, the tombstones in Arlington Cemetery really do look like dominoes: the first time I went on a field trip there I had a really awkward time trying not to laugh when I realized that. It's been a military cemetary since 1864, and more than 300,000 people are buried there, with roughly 6,000 burials conducted each year. They're running out of space, and pack people in as close as they can.

[Pico scene 46]

Wow, very nice!

pretty good stuff, the tree in the background really takes a punch.. ^_^ Nice cartoon style, very well executed. For the bomb effect, I think it's a bit too yellow, but that's just me.

keep up the good work!

Hulalaoo responds:

Thanks, for a reason, i use red and yellow in the BOOM scenes, i like the carmesi BOOM !

[Red Baron]

Good stuff

pretty nice work and I have some suggestions

for shading, because your sky is blue, think about the light.. you need some very diffuse blue light on your character, from the top, and some very diffuse light from the bottom which is sun light hitting the sand and diffusing.. so sand color. Look at pictures of desert with characters on it..

else I would add some more details on the main character, like dust, dried blood, dents on armor, etc.. you already did for his sword so..

hope it helps, and nice work!

beastkid7 responds:

wow good advice ...in fact I might just go back in there and fix it up.

[Arch Angel]

Nice armor!

What I liked: Armor, shading, dark atmosphere, background (fits very well)

What I didn't like: the wings and his.. dress? You should look at bird wings, having a much bigger "armature" near the body, and more feather too, plus they have an elbow... these looks like they are made of jello.. : / for the "dress" this isn't the choice of putting one, but just how it's moving in the wind/leg kick. Just doesn't make any sense to me. Not sure what isn't working.. if I had to draw that, I would take a small piece of cloth and tape it aroung a stick and put a fan nearby.. and take a photo! : ) just my 2 cents

What I would improve: just my opinion.. but I would put his arms synchronised with his legs.. his left arm in front, and his right arm in the back, without forgetting about the little chest twist.. would add alot of quality I think. maybe a sword? else he wouldn't have an armor? I dunno.. ^_^

now, don't get me wrong, this is far from bad, sorry if I went berserk on critique/suggestions.. ^_^

great stuff, else I wouldn't have written this

Errold responds:

Wings. Not supposed to have feathers

Dress. Can improve on that one, though the background kind of fucks it up.

About the weapon. Weapons are cheap tricks to make a painting more intresting :D I wanted him to look fierce without a blade.

Aaaand... meh.

Thanks for the review! Always good to get to know what to improve on.

[Grape Vine Bracelet]

Good stuff

It looks pretty good, makes me wonder how you did the holes.. pretty puzzeling. I would do pretty basic drill/file but it would take alot of time

For the rest, it's pretty basic sheet metal shaped in a bracelet. Would be very nice if you could use some brazing to add pieces on top of this shape, to add some complexity.. then you go and make it plated to hide the soldering spots. Copper or brass is easily brazed with standardcopper plumbing hardware, cheap too.

still, very nice work!

radiodark responds:

Yes, I used a metal hole punch and a dremel in some places to start the holes, then a jeweler's saw to cut them out. Files, sandpaper and polishing wheel to finish it.
I doubt I'll add any more pieces to the bracelet, when I wear it it snags on everything in reach and I worry enough (probably more than is necessary) about the thin copper growing brittle and snapping without additional pieces adding tension. However, if I get around to making another I'll consider bending more of the that bend outward, and possibly building places to solder additional bits on into the design.
Your comment is quite useful; I'm a half decent solderer but had never heard of brazing, and while I'm still confused as to where the terms overlap, brazing looks like a very useful technique to know.

Wikipedia seems to indicate that brazing uses higher temperatures than soldering, but then that same page also seems to be under the impression that all silver solder melts at under 800 degrees Farenheight, and even easy solder melts at around 1240 degrees F, let alone the three other common grades of solder used by jewelers and enamelers.

I think it's probably just yet another case of various metalworking crafts (industrial/electronic manufacture/sculpture/jewelery/glassworking) all using the same terminology for usages tweaked to their specific fields, but if you've any light to shed on the pandemonium I'd be grateful.

[Desroxx II]

biology, really?

Ah come on, biology?? wtf.. you should be doing concept for films or games, or matte painting... I'm going in the game industry and I can't even do half as good as you in 2D.. it's a shame really (well both for you not using your talent and me not having much.. = p).

Anyway, very nice, and done fast too. 10/10, 5/5, thumbs up, high five...

keep doing it buddy, it's inspiring..

Kamikaye responds:

Well , biology is very inspirational :) And maybe one day I will have some of my illustrations published in "Nature" ;)

[Moonlight Flight]

...

Well, what annoys me about this picture is the big text in front of the subject, I don't know if there really is any reason for this... breaks the picture too

for the art itself, I think the level of detail isn't even, the body of the dragon is at cartoon level of detail (a bit bland to be honest) and then the wings are much much more detailed, would be intesting to see as much details on the dragon.

The design is good, the pose is dynamic, nice choice of color but more variations would add much more depth to it (like the light have to be colored instead of white). If it's what you wanted then it's ok.

still think it's good work

Kralissa responds:

You're the second newgrounds person whom said that lol about the watermark on my artworks.

I know on new ground everyone respects everyone and they don't try to steal your flashs as much as we deviantART member get from other people.

In the deviantART world this is excepted as a normal thing and very will known as you care for your art then letting it be grabbed up by art thefts people.

I am in that way of artistic style, I make all my dragons cartoony with real featured like things. I do see my skin kinda lacks in some of my artworks before this, but having a dragon being a cartoon like is not a negative thing?

Well not to me XD, I should TRY draw realistic dragons ounce in my life lol

Thank you very much for this comment ^_^ I love newgrounds comment because on deviantART everyone is to nice or not so foreword to what they want to say or mean.