Animith's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Colour Of Water]

Review Request Club

I love the abstract nature of this; it's very different from your other work, but it's still done nicely. There's not muuuch definition to it, but even so you can kind of see vague gestures of different things, and they way the colours subtley evolve from the bottom of the picture to the top, oddly enough, does give the illusion of depth. Like, the beach, the sea, the cliffs and clouds in the background. When I looked at it again I saw what sort of looked like four heads/shoulders at the top, almost as if there was a group of ghosts watching the sea. Though maybe I was just looking too much into it xD

The choice of colours is great for that; you've got a nice radiance from the different colours, but not so much so that everything in the picture looks the same; there's a kind of ambiguous definition gained from how you've used each colour at a different part of the picture. It would have been nice to have had a little more definition, if for nothing else than to stop me thinking of different things that the different abstractions could be signifying; give a little more direction to the picture in general and point your viewers in the right direction. And maybe a little more variety in the strokes; you've got a few curved strokes at the bottom and the top, but the middle is mainly these horizontal strokes, which evokes the feeling of the sea pretty well, but could use a little difference to them. What little differences there are in the 'sea' portion, however, work really well.

Really nicely drawn. Could have used a little more direction, but as an abstract it works pretty well.

-Review Request Club

thies responds:

Thanks again :) Lol, I didn't think about that yet, gosts watching the sea. I can see what you mean though. You're also right about that I shoul've made more strokes in different directions, that would've made it better.

[Siamese Octopus Gentlemen]

Review Request Club

Well what can I say...this is odd. Good! Definitely good. But odd. xD

In general, the drawing on this is superb. The little pencil-line details you've got in the face really makes it stick out, and look far more human than a Siamese octopus-type thing should. It's quite comical for the seriousness in their faces; I think with a slightly different light this would have been inherently creepy. TO the point where I'm not sure where I should be laughing or backing away. To that end, I love the top hat. It's wonderfully quirky, gives the drawing a more comic feel and for more pragmatic reasons, fills the top-right corner well.

For some criticisms...you fill the top-left corner less effectively. I get that that tentacle is from the same body, but coming out of the corner just like that does feel almost too odd. And while the details of the head(s?) are nicely drawn, the part underneath them is...literally indescribable. It just looks very unrelated from the head and the tentacles, and I can't really tell what it's meant to be, only that it kind of weirds me out a little xD So if that's your goal, then you succeeded pretty well.

This is nicely done. Weirded the hell out of me, but the drawing was very cool. Keep it up.

-Review Request Club

thies responds:

Yeah it's some sort of cloud thingy, I didn't really know what to add, but I wanted something between the heads and the tentacles.

Thanks :D

[Killer Teddy]

Review Request Club

Firstly....awesome.
Secondly...awesome.

^_^

Not but seriously, this looks really cool. I love the style of it in general, the colour choices...maybe not so much a teddy, but there's definitely something in this picture that creeps the living hell out of me; it's very stark, and SO effective for that. So...yes. I really like this.

To be slightly more constructive for a moment...I'm an art n00b, so sorry if this makes no sense, but I love the way that instead of conventional shading you've used the colour of the outline and just roughed it up a little; scribbled it further into the body to both give it dimension and emphasise the creepy look further. And you've also got the occasional spat of hashing, which kind of makes me think that he's a little worn-and-torn, maybe that he has indeed been in a fight and killed someone.

The use of the lighter green also works well for this; you've got it as a kind of shading for the back skulls, but also on the skull and right arm, so it almost gives the illusion of blood? Or at the very least, distress; the jagged lines around the left eye really add to the quietly-manic nature of his face.

The few criticisms I have concern the outline itself; it is a bit off in points; the right shoulder's outline gets a lot thinner just before it disappears into the background skull, the left shoulder's just slightly broken up, the top-right corner of the skull sticks out, and the left foot's outline looks very thin when compared to all the others. And the lines coming out of the arms that I'm guessing were meant to simply be creases from the armpit at a little odd, maybe just because the one on the right shoulder sticks out much further than the one on the left. You're probably thinking this is being nitpicky, and you're probably right, but that's really all I could think of to criticise this. OH! Finally; the lips are almost too odd. Yes, they creep me out, but they seem too unrelated to the rest of this...the rest of this being a killer teddy with fly eyes...I don't know, maybe just take a second look at this.

All in all though, I can't really fault this. 10'd, 5'd.

-Review Request Club

thies responds:

Thanks for the review! Indeed the outlines are a bit sloppy, like I said before, I'm just too lazy to edit this drawing. I'm glad you liked it so much!

[Not lucy in the sky...]

Review Request Club

The background works really well; it's simple, but not overly so. The subtle changes in the colour of the explosion blends pretty well, though I think the top-right tentacle got caught up in the blurring a little bit. I was also a little confused as to where the explosion or debris was coming from, as there's no sign of what actually exploded? But that's not that big of a deal.

The face of the alien is by far the best part of it. There's a really nice shading in the eyes and the facial features themselves are nicely drawn. That being said, the rest of the alien leaves something to be desired; the legs are a little awkward and I can't really tell if there's two feet and a tail or two feet and a tentacle or three oddly-drawn tentacles...having some dimension to the body itself would have been nice, instead of all the limbs coming out of the same single spot. And in general, any amount of shading would have been great, as that little bit in the eyes improves the face a lot and just gives that realism...or as much realism as an alien jumping out of an explosion can have, aha xD

In general, it's got potential. Could definitely use some more work, but keep at it and improvement will surely follow.

-Review Request Club

up-a-notch responds:

thanks dude

[Raintacular]

Review Request Club

I wish the bigger picture was more defined. The smaller screenshot makes the wavy line look pretty sharp, but when you bring it into the full image it looks really, really pixellated. Not sure if it was deliberate or not, but if it was it really doesn't work.

In general something seems just...off, about this. I've seen two other pieces by you and this is probably the weakest. There's a good idea here, it just isn't executed in a way which totally functions? It's got potential, but it could probably use a second look just to make it more cohesive.

However, after all that negativity...there are parts I liked. The ETH3R part is really nicely done; it doesn't take up a lot of space, but it's still prominent enough to act as a signature. And the typeface is different than it was in your other two! Which is great, because this one flows a lot better with the main idea of the picture, that being the wavy line.
The background itself is really interesting, there's a nice use of colours and the black gives an almost-feeling of depth, but a definite feeling of variety, far more than you would have had if it had been a simple rainbow gradient. I think if this was a little shorter-maybe half the size?- this could work really well as a BBS signature. THe wavy line, though a little odd in full view, looks pretty good here and fits in pretty well with everything that was going on. The topmost line of red seems a little absent as the white line doesn't reach that high up, but in general looks okay.

It's not your best work, but it's still pretty good. Something went a little off in the execution, but there are a fair few nice touches in here.

-Review Request Club

Flash-Gamers responds:

Thanks for the review!

Yeah this pic looks better the way it is, cuz the full size of the image is REALLY pixelated so I agree with you on that.

Would make a tight bbs or banner, but too lazy to change all that stuff on my profile again...will do it one day, and dazzle you all!

But all and all this illustration is the result of an accident so I didn't want this illustration to go to waste so I just posted it.

[upsideDown Town]

Review Request Club

I like the background; it's pretty simple but gives a nice contrast to the monster and just in general a little more to look at. It could maybe do with a few more finer details, such as more objects in the background, but as it is, it's fine, and the kind of light pattern it has really works well.

THe monster itself could maybe do with some work. Colour-wise it's pretty nice and the subtle change in shades in the body and eyes are done pretty well (Though the shading's a little too sharp in some of the smaller lower eyes). But the outline of it could definitely use a second look; the thinness and sharpness of it makes it feel less realistic, and in parts (like a bit on the left-hand side) it strays away from the colour of the body itself. The feet are probably the weakest part of this; they're got no colour to them, so instantly stick out. Maybe just giving them a light felsh-tone would improve them greatly. The toes as well were a little odd, but I think with some shading they'd be fine. This has potential, but there's definitely a little room for improvement; just keep working at it.

-Review Request Club

up-a-notch responds:

thanks :D

[Orbital Shift]

Review Request Club

Again, you've got a really unique-looking piece. Coop mentioned Apophysis and I'd agree with him; this thing does not look like a Photoshop creation, so kudos for that.

The fractal white lines are really cool, and give the piece that kind of airy futurism. I wish the full size was larger, so I could look at the details more, but as it stands everything looks really sharp and even when lots of lines overlap you can still tell they're separate, instead of them being a big mess of white, which is another good point. And again, you've got that subtle extra colour in there so it feels less monochrome, and the blue in general is really effective for that; just a few gentle curves which really accentuate it. The way there's kind of an absence of white just to the bottom right is also really nice, because it means both that the picture isn't just a mass of white lines, and that you can see the colour itself more clearly.

All that being said, I think the white in the middle is perhaps too white? I remember with your last piece I reviewed there was a mass blast of white in the bottom corner, and that worked well, but the fact this is in the center perhaps means it could use being a little smaller just so your eye's not drawn totally to a white circle instead of all the intricacies of this. And has already been said, the signature's perhaps too prominent, and if I didn't already know your signature was Eth3r I would have only read E 3R from this. But the effect you have on the text in general is pretty cool. Keep it up!

-Review Request Club

Flash-Gamers responds:

Yes I kno the sig could've been smaller....besides this was my first pic I ever made in photoshop so what do you expect?

BTW the sig was actually apart of the pic itself.

FOR THE LAST TIME THIS WAS MADE IN PHOTOSHOP, you'll be surprise what you can do with photoshop with some guidance.

[Lobbyist of Cthulhu]

-Review Request Club

First and foremost...wow. The detailing in this is utterly insane...in the good way. Especially in the upper arm of the jacket, the trousers and shoes in general, it all looks incredibly realistic...for what seems to be an alien guy reading a book in front of an impressionist's night sky.

That being said, the connection between the jacket and the trousers is a little off-kelter, though I can't quite put my finger on why. They just feel a little unrelated from one another somehow. That asides though, the art on both parts is fantastic.

The background is really nicely done; it's interesting, but in no way overpowers the character in the foreground. The background does feel very impressionistic, with the mixes of the more natural blues with the more interesting creams and semi-yellow colours that makes it pretty artistic in itself.

I think my major problem with this would probably be the head of the 'lobbyist' itself. It's very stark and captures the attention of the viewer straight away, but it seems a little too bright and a little too sharp for its surroundings, which are a little more toned-down and melancholy. And for that, it's a little distracting. I think it's not even the head itself, but perhaps the outline of it, especially the brightness of the top of the head and the eyes. The bottom half is nicely shaded, and the tentacles fit pretty perfectly (Though I'm not sure whether they're solidly in that smooth curve or whether they're meant to be draping onto the collar like the leftmost one).

As Fro touched on, there's a seemingly random white bit to the hand just as it comes out of the cuff, and the hand's grip of the book in general seems a little forced. The detailing of the book though, is pretty stunning.

Holistically, this is a fantastic piece of art. There's a few things that don't hold their correlation to everything else so well, but the detailings more than make up for that.

-Review Request Club

[Stream Scene]

Review Request Club

I read that the blue lines were an annoying consequence of getting the white explosion in the corner to stick out, but I still think you could have tried to at least attenuate them, if you couldn't get rid of them completely, because they are pretty distracting as they are. But that's been gone over repeatedly, so I'll say no more about that.

That aside, the light explosion in the corner is nicely done; I like all the different parts of it and how there's all the different arcs that come out of it, and how they kind of vary between a really sharp definition and a vaguely ethereal blur. So despite the blue lines being a result of it, it was probably worth it if that's the result.

That being said, I think the white "Eth3r" tag gets a little lost when the white goes behind it. It's not in an extreme way, but for instance, the bottom of the E, and the longer legs of the h/t get a little blurred up because of the background. So maybe that could be remedied if the tag had a sharper line to it or if the background at that point had a bit more red to it. But in general, it's not that much of a problem.

You use up the space of the image well, but at the same time it's not too busy throughout (with the little exception of the white in the middle), so that's a good thing. If I was going to nitpick I'd say the space to the left of the light-explosion could if anything use being a little darker, just to give it a little more contrast. I was going to say the top-right corner isn't busy ENOUGH, but then again it serves as a nice counterpoint; light-and-dark, so to speak.

Could maybe be improved a little, but in all this is a nice piece, good work.

-Review Request Club

Flash-Gamers responds:

"Enough with the critisim on the blue lines!" That was directed towards anyone else that complains about that (if anyone reviews it in the future)

Well now where was I...Ah first I wanna say thanks for the review!

Don't think I could've made the left side darker due to the aura of white radiating out of the "explosion," cuz it would still appear to be no difference in the light level. Notice that as the picture shifts to the right, the picture seems to get darker; almost like a gradient of light to dark. (hidden effect)

Overall, most of everything you said, has been answered below...but I will keep everything you said, as well as everyone else in consideration when or if I ever make a particular illustration like this again.

Thanks for the review, much appreciated!

[purple castle crasher]

Nicely done.

I'm pretty much as stumped as everyone else when it comes to just what colour it is. It's kind of too red to be pink and too pink to be purple and too purple to be red...you kinda of straddle the different colour options in a mysteriously ambiguous way.

That aside, I think the shading on this is excellent. Especially the finer details between the eyes and on the arms and hands, it just gives it that extra touch of dimension which makes it stand out all the more. That being said, the hand confused me a little, because when I first looked at it I thought he was holding it the opposite way (with the back of the hand facing us) than he was (With the fingers facing forward). And the stance itself is a little straight-on; given there's nothing else in the image-like a fallen foe or what have you-you probably could have gone for a more dynamic pose than have him just simply standing there.

However, in all it's a very nicely drawn piece of art you've got here. Probably has a little room for improvement, but as it stands it's a very good job.

-Review Request Club