Step's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Palm Tree]

Wow, that lighting...

This is a nice piece, IMO. Maybe I'm the odd one out from all the other reviewers, but this is a really good picture, even though it's from years ago.

The colours are great. Overall, they are a little bright, but they gave that sort of cartoony theme to the picture, which I quite liked. The lighting, as I said in the summary, is just amazing, and as Haggard said, it was realistic and unrealistic at the same time. Doesn't look exactly like the sun (you can check how the sun looks like on a telescope and try and copy it. Lol, joking, DON'T do that :P) but it's clear you put a large amount of work on it, with amazing light effects.

The concept isn't too original (a palm tree in a desert...) but you added your own theme to it, giving it a sort of uniqueness. If I had to fix anything in this piece, though, I'd make the palm tree in the middle of the picture, right in front of the sun. It'd make it look more like the centre of attention and make it look more majestic.

Regarding the palm tree itself, it doesn't look too realistic, but that's what I liked about this picture. It has its own cartoony feel instead of imitating an actual palm tree. If you'd wanted to copy a real palm tree, you'd make it bent, you'd make the trunk thinner, you'd put some coconuts on the tree, you'd make the leaves look more like leaves and less like green paper which was scribbled on, and you'd make the tree grow more naturally from the ground, but you gave it its own theme.

This does need a background. An ocean, some birds in the sky, clouds, some sailing boats far away, etc.. right now the background is just a bland void of blue, with rays of light coming from the sun.

Anyway, it's definitely a good picture, and very impressive, even though you made it years ago. It shows that if you make some art right now, you'd excel ;). Keep up the awesome work.
9/10
Scouted.

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XwaynecoltX responds:

Very nice review here thanks

~X~

[Checkerboard #3]

Pretty good...

It's better than your other piece, for sure, and looks really nice overall. Good job.

The colours are great, except the colour next to the portal, IMO. I think that sort of dull brown-ish colour sort of contrasted too much with the red and black. Why don't you try some sort of checkers pattern around the portal, some black and red texture showing a pattern of checkers coins or something. Other than thatm very nice colours, and the shading was very good around the corners, plus the light effect was nicely done.

Great job with the texture on the tiles, they look a lot like marble, and really add a lot to the piece. I also really liked the 3D effect you did here, it was excellently done. Sadly, this picture is rather small, so I can't enjoy it in its full detail when it's so small. The portal itself was drawn pretty well, though, and a cool concept too.

What put this down to eight was practically the rather contrasting colour around the portal and the size of this picture, but when it comes to the shading, texture, concept, colours in general and 3D effects, you're great. Keep it up.
8/10

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XwaynecoltX responds:

Thanks for a nice review its nice to get these kinds

~X~

[Chess Checketboard #2]

Not bad...

This is a nice picture, but nothing too eye-catching (a corner of a checkerboard O.o). Not a bad start, though.

The colours are the best things about this subission. I really liked that you put in blue, and the different shades of it were perfect, plus the red and grey contrasted well with each other. I also liked that you didn't just keep one shade of red or grey regarding the tiles, but in the middle of the tiles you put in different shades of the colour.

The concept is wierd. I can see the checkerboard, but I don't really see anything that has to do with chess except the title at the bottom left. Also, this was a little simple. Why don't you put chess pieces on the tiles, so that you'll be giving the theme of checkers with the board and the theme of chess with the pieces, and maybe even draw a hand about to pick a chess piece up. It'd lessen the simplicity of this picture, and give it more to look at than just a corner of a checkerboard on a blue background.

The tiles weren't the same size, as mentioned in the other reviews. If you look closely enough, you could see that the lines aren't parallel and some tiles are smaller than others which ruined the picture a fair bit, IMO. Also, you drew some unnecessary lines, such as the lines around the checkerboard and the lines on the grey tiles. Also, every tile corner shining was quite wierd too, maybe you could say why you put it there in the Author's Comments, or take it away entirely. 3D effect was cool though.

When it comes to the background, I disagree with Joshsouza, I think it was well done. The blue background fit well in the picture, and it wasn't that simple either, but had some nice texture to it. The only wierd thing was that the blue lost its texture and remained one shade of blue when it got close to the checkerboard. The frame around the picture was nice, but maybe you could check if when you take it off, it looks better.

It has its problems, like uneven tiles, lines that aren't parallel, and some wierd things like bright corners and one shade of blue when close to the checkerboard, but the background in general was cool, and the colours were excellent. Not a bad job overall.
7/10

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XwaynecoltX responds:

Thanks once again

~X~

[Celest's Got a Sword]

Wow, nice job!

This is a really impressive picture, and I can't find many things wrong with it. For your first attempt, I must say, I'm impressed.

The colour scheme is excellent. Maybe slightly too bright, but it sort of adds to the kind-hearted hero feel this character has. Texture and shading was just extraordinary, especially the work you did on the clothes, making them look crumpled (those jeans look fantastic).

As Haggard said, his left foot was 2D, and the wrist on his left hand wasn't there, but honestly, those are the only defects that this has. The hair was well drawn, and so was the face expression. Sword looked very cool, and I'd suggest adding a bright shine to the tip of it, to make it look more epic.

This could do with a background. Doesn't need to be too complicated, but showing him in a scene where he appears in your game would make more sense. Still, without a background this picture still looks awesome, so a background isn't extremely necessary.

This picture is just amazing. You surely have some great drawing skills, and I'd love to see characters like this incorporated in your game. Keep up the brilliant work!
10/10

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CelestOrion responds:

(Should have replied to these sooner...)

Thanks for the input! Now that I look at it again, it does seem a little bright, which is easy to fix with a simple filter. as for backgrounds....I'll see what I can muster up. I've had some ideas for new pics with him in it, anyway.

[Stoned Jesus]

Heh, not bad ^^

You got a giggle out of me, but I wasn't that impressed. Still, this is just a joke, so it doesn't have to look amazing, although the more detail you put in this, the better.

The colours aren't too good. Cigarettes aren't white, and the background colours were quite bland. Still, skin colour was nice. Shading and texture are big problems in this art piece, though. His robe needs to look more like a robe and less like a long-sleeved t-shirt, the wall needs to have cracks, crevices, and generally look more like a wall and the hair needs some more work. Shading wasn't too good, especially around the face and robe.

As Insanimation said, the anatomy is off, and some of the lines seemed a little roughly drawn, especially the line in the background and the line that seperates the hair from the forehead. Still, the lines themselves are not too thick but not too thin, and from the chin downwards, the outlines were excellent, so not a bad job. Oh, and I agree with Insanimation, the magic smoke has to go :P.

Background could use a little more than just a wall. Firstly, as I said, the wall needs texture and is a little rough, plus it needs more detail to it, for example a frame saying 'Smoking Kills' or just some picture frame. The wall is quite bland as it is right now.

It's a good start, maybe you should build upon it some more. Not a bad job overall.
6/10

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[Barrett .50 Cal]

Nice :)

This is a really good drawing of a gun, and although, like Haggard, I barely know anything about guns, at least I know how they look like and I'm telling you, this looks a lot like one.

Shading gave this picture a really cool 3D effect, especially the shading at the very left, but when it comes to the scope, I think the shading could've been done a little better since the shading was a little too dark at the bottom. Other than that, the shading was perfect. Colour scheme was excellent as well, maybe a bit too bright, but I don't know if that's how the gun is in real life.

The gun itself was drawn really well, and is the perfect shape, but after reading Coop83's review (and only understanding half of it...), I think he is right about the scope being too far down. As for the background, there wasn't any, which was really what gave you a 9. I like CaptainAwesome's blueprint idea, or you can at least simply make a person holding it, sniping off opponents high up on a building. If you can make a gun this good, I'm sure you can make a background that good.

It's a really cool looking gun, that only needs a background to compliment it. Keep up the good work, and sorry for the useless and short review, guns aren't my strong point.
9/10

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fallensoul289 responds:

Well you review was pretty damn good if you ask me. Thanks for reviewing.

[Pancake]

You got my mouth watering...

...But the fact that it looks so computer-made bothers me too much for me to enjoy it.

The colours are quite good, although I think the butter was a little too pale, and the syrup was too dark. The pancake's colour was great, though. Nice shading, it made it look very 3D.

As the other reviewers said, this looks too perfect. Pancakes have darker spots, and this came out like a perfect circle. Also, the syrup was spread really strangely, since the top part has the syrup trickling away from the middle, and the bottom part doesn't. Also, the way it trickled down was pretty wierd too.

A background over here would be great too, like a table, with the pancake on a plate and a fork and knife at the side or something.

It's not too bad (Who could say no to 3D pancakes? :D :D) but looks too computer-made and plain.
6/10

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chesster415 responds:

Yeah, it's really plain, although butter really isn't as yellow as people imagine. It's really more of an off-white cream color. I don't buy prepackaged syrup so it's probably darker and thinner than most peoples. Also everything in my house, tilts toward the back of the stove. Any thing we cook is a little lopsided. I guess I've gotten too used to it. And a background is probably a good idea. Thanks for the review.

[Goomba's Last Moments]

LOL :D

Heh, I had to giggle after seeing this picture. Nice job!

Colours were awesome over here, and fit perfectly with what you were aiming for. The shading is obviously the best over here, though, since it looks perfect, is blended in really well, and although the shading of the Goomba was a little rusty, its shadow and mario's shadow were excellent.

As for a drawing in itself, I wasn't extremely impressed, but it still looked nice. The Goomba looks much thinner and odder than the real Goombas, but I doubt you'd be able to make it look like a real Goomba without making it look this innocent and with such big puppy-eyes. Still, the floor, as Haggard said, was a little strange and looked more like a wall, along with the fact that it was too plain without any stone texture, dirt, chips on the stone, etc, although I liked how you drew the eyes.

It's a funny picture, which actually makes you pity those Mario-hating Goombas. Still, the fact that the wall, sorry, floor looked so plain and needed to be flatter is what took down the score in this review. Oh, and make the lines on the Goomba thinner.
8/10

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chesster415 responds:

Thanks, I was worried that the Mario shadow (or maybe it's Luigi's, I don't really know.) was too subtle and that people would just see a shadowy blob. The floor was supposed to be some of those ubiquitous, uniform bricks seen just about everywhere in the Mushroom kingdom. I've never quite understood why they need so many useless hovering blocks of bricks. They're very rarely used as building material and they aren't very sturdy to boot.

[Jesbus MC8]

Impressive!

This looks really cool, and even without colour it looks nice.

I really like the face over here. It looks so well done, with a lot of detail, and the beard looks really cool too. As Fro said, though, the ring on his head was a little roughly drawn, and the gun needs some more texture and detail to it, even though it looks really cool right now. I wish this had a cool background too :\.

I won't complain about this needing any colour, since it looks really awesome without anyway. The shading here is perfect as well, especially on the face, but on the gun it needs a little work.

In all, great job, when it comes to madness sketches, you're the best at it that I know. Actually, the best at any sketches from the Art Portal. Keep it up ;).
9/10

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[madness combat 9]

7 again -_-

Man, are all of your sketches about Madness? Lol. Anyway, just like all the others, this is a great sketch, and you do truly have a talent when it comes to drawing.

The detail on the characters over here is very nice, especially on that of the henchman. On Hank, it was a little hard to make out, though. Also, this does need a background of some sort, since it looks pretty plain right now. Oh, and the text is a little hard to read.

I said it before, and I'll say it again :P. This needs colour. As it is right now, it's quite hard to make out what's happening, especially with Hank, but with colour, I'm sure it'd be much better. As usual though, shading was flawless.

To conclude, it's another really great sketch, but IMO, the only problems over here are no colour and no background. Other than that, keep up the great work!
7/10

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