Alegroth's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mermay]

WHen I saw the image I wasn't sure first if it was painted or 3D. I expected 3D and checked the high-res and thought it was 3D. Then I saw the timelapse and my jaw just dropped! The fact that this is a fully 3D rendered piece is amazing.

Cudos to the original design artist also in creating a very nice marmaid. Most go for the ariel look but you two have managed to created a charecter that feels new and fresh. Really nice. Her tail makes me think of a Koi fish (Japanese carp). Not sure if there is any deeper meaning there but they pop up on tatoos and such :)

Further, the composition, pose and flow of hair and fins is excellent. Despite being against a one-tone background, you still get the sense of her being under water. Really nice.

Would have loved to have given you some constructive critism as well, but unfortunately I can't find anything to comment on. Just an amazing piece.

mccabe86 responds:

Thank you very much!

[LOLLIA]

I'm sorry to say that I don't get the reference, but I do get your art, which is amazing. There is such subtleness and yet strength in this piece. Everything from the pose, color, determinism in her eyes, etc. Just genius. Further, the perspective is dead on and I just love images that try some more difficult angles since I can't do it myself... yet :)

Executionwise the image is great, nice japanese style to it and nothing feels over the top. Just enough shading and highligts on everything to make it pop. The rimlighting of the hair, arm, legs, etc is also nice that it is so feathered as it gives some softness to the image.

Was hoping to see some things on the highres to critique but I can't find anything really. Sure, the brush is a bit uneven in places like forinstance the armband holding the sleeve, etc. But fixing that would have taken away some of the focalpoint from the eyes so I don't know really. I think it's very well done and I can't fault it. Just a great piece.

KanesakiHyudou responds:

Thank you

[Brumak]

Simply amazing piece! Almost makes me wanna play the game!

What impresses me most with the image is the determinsm of the brushstrokes! The brush is soo smoth and you can almost feel all the little bumps, cracks and cranies on the skin and armor. Further, the level of detail and shadowing is top notch, and the fact that it's made in a traditional medium just blow me away. Yet another artistic decsion you've made which I really like is just to keep the "eyes" red and the rest in black and white. Let's your eyes wonder around the red spots and see your amazing brush work. Really nice.

To give you soome critique, I'm struggling to give you any but let's try :) The only thing I can think of really is that I'd wished you had played a bit with the contrast when you put it into the digital medium. For instance the mouth is just a bit brighter than the dark part in the middle of the headpiece, which I think should be the same or even a bit darker in the mouth? Perhaps you could also have given a few of the teeth the second once over as some of them are a bit thinn, perhaps due to smudging during the paiting process? However, these are really me nitpicking since the piece is awesome.

Great design, execution, composition, you name it. Great work :)

jungmeister responds:

WOW THANKS FOR AWSOME CRITIQUE AND COMPLIMENT . WEL IT IS NOT DONE WITH BRUSHES AT ALL IT IS ALL DONE WITH LEAD PENCIL. THERE WAS NOT DIGITAL MEDIUM INVOLVED. AND YEAH ABOUT THE TEETH. I HAD TO ERASE LIKE 3 TIMES OF THE TOP TEETH TO MAKE IT BETTER BUT IN THE ERASING PROCESS THIS NON DURABLE STUPID MANGA BRISTOL PAPER PROTECTIVE LAYER OF THE PAPER STARTED TO RUB AND PEEL OFF. SO IT GOT ROUGH PUTTING IN 3 TIMES REDRAWING THE TOP TEETH. BRISTOL VELLUM PAPER IS BETTER U CAN ERASE ALOTTTT AND STILL CAN HOLD UP ITS PROTECTIVE LAYER AND IT IS CHEAPER THAN MANGA BRISTOL PAPER.

[Boba Fett]

Amazing image! Love how Boba is fading into runny ink, really nice transition that plats the charecter well in the environment and gives presence to him. The brush overall, as well as composition and anatomy are all spot on. The detail of the piece is also great with emphasis on a few distinct places like the ship and helmet to give some natural focus points. Really nice.

I opened the highres to hope to find something to critique but I can't really find anything! The white color on the helmet, which is a lightflare or something, looks a bit odd on the highres but on the normalres it looks great. Will also look great in print I think.

So I simply congratulate you to an awesome image. Well done.

jeneiakos98 responds:

Thank you for your greatly detailed review, I really appreciate it!

[Burning]

This is a cool image and the longer you watch the more cool stuff you see. I first didn't notice that the scary guy in the background was connected to (Or perhaps is?) her shadow! Really cool touch. Further I really like the perspective with which the piece is painted with a solid horizonline at her hips roughly which makes it possible for you to do a much more dynamic picture with nice depth on the ground stretching into the darkness. Very nice. I'll actually try that out myself!

Next I really like the design of the main charecter, she looks ready for battle but she's been through something but is ready. Sort of reminds me a little of Ripley from the third Alien movie. Strong woman ready to kick som butt. Very nice.

The things I have some critique against are the shadows on her face that I think are a bit dark and the lack of detail on her feet. The funny thing is that these are just things that you see in the high-res. In the standard view these things look good so I'm gonna guess you are threading just on the line what is the proper level of shadow. Still, perhaps something you want to fiddle more with in the future, i.e. how to balance the shadows and avoid solid black shadows in covex shapes as that generally does not happen.

The next quirk is the fire, it looks a bit odd and simply think that you should've used a reference for that. Also, it doesn't quite follow the perspective, should have been angled a bit more to the right I think. You could also have been more genorous with the coloring of it, stronger more vibrant color as it is a lightsource after all. The same goes for the background, would have loved to have seen a sky, perhaps a moon that could have cost some pale white light on the main charecters back and perhaps added some white rimlighting. These are subjective comments though and I, at the same time, like your design choices.

In your comment you posed a question about her looking clipped in. I don't really see that, I think she fits well with the background. What you could have done though is to add some yellow/orange-ish highlights to her, especially the pants, as they would be lit by the fire and reflect the colors of said fire If you have made this in Photoshop, add a new layer ontop of everything, set it to color, pick an orange color, fill the entire layer and set its opactiy to around 5-10 percent. It will probably blend the colors nicely and make her fit better by evening out the palette. Also, I think the angle of the shadow contra the fire is what makes her float a little. The fire should have been a bit further to the right to give the shadow that angle. (These points are motivation for 4/5)

Overall though a cool piecce, the brushing, perspective, design are all really nice. Just that the devil is in the details, or in this case right behind you! Looking forward to your next work. Cheers.

BaldSiren responds:

Thank you so much for that review! So many great poitns to think about in the next thing i do. I did have an orange glow on her, but turned it off to add more skinhighlights and forgot to turn it back on, what a rookie mistake! Haha, doesnt really have that problem in traditional art :D
I will try to implement your suggestions in this, and upload a (hopefully) better version :)

[Cheetah]

I am superglad that I opened the highres and could see all the fur textures and how well the follow the body. Top notch and I would love to know how you did that!

In regards to the image I like the charecter and the pose as it gives a sense of movement, i.e. that she's flying through the air. I just wish that her left foot had been a bit more angled towards the center of the piece to change her direction more towards us. I guess that means angling the foot down to the left. Otherwise the anatomy and style of the piece looks great. The only thing I'd like to see improved are the teeth as they look a bit wonky at the moment, but as I know how difficult teeth are I will not fault you for it. Further, I think the shadows might be a bit dark in places, for instance her left shoulder, which adds to the toony style I think. (These points are motivation for 4.5/5)

Regardless, a cool image. I could see her being a nice counter to Black Panther or some other hero in the Marvel or DC universe. Very nice.

jago1996 responds:

My problems with the piece are just a few anatomical and posing mistakes. Thank you for pointing out the teeth I definitely neglected them. I got a treat for you. I made a video of the process of this piece. Hopefully it sheds some light on what you'd like to know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAAACcAqNxI

[The mad lady]

I love the insanity of the piece, the dark figure picking on her shoulder and which I guess is the source of her madness? The metaphore is really nice as you have objectified the fear that is sometimes the root-cause of such an illness. The balance then also of the dark shape of against the light background and the angle on which he sits is also very nice because it gives depth to the image almost as if it was painted in a 3 point perspective. I just now also noticed the embrella or whatever it is he is holding, covering her in darkness. Also a very strong metaphore. Severly cool. Additionally I really like the maddening charecter. At first I thought it was a little, almost dragonesk, charected as the tie looked like a tongue coming out of a white mouth. Then I noticed that it was a tie and then I saw the charecter as you've intended. Yet I kept falling back to my view of him which is cool because then he is sort of a man and a monster at the same time. Very nice.

Overall execution, well of course the woman could have been painted more realistically (Motivation for 4.5/5), but I am not sure that would have suited the painting as it is more about the fear and madness itself rather than her and the demon on her shoulder sort of speak. I did however mention the perspective and wished the whole piece had been like that, i.e. stretched up towards the left corner. However, that is more my subjective view than anything else :) Otherwise I can't really critique it, its a very nice image that will look great on your wall.

Great work :)

TheNutellaQueen responds:

Thanks for the critique ^^ Also I think you read in more in the pice's metaphor's. To tell you the truth I didn't think about them at all - only wanted to convey a feeling of madness. (I'm a bit stressed at the moment and needed to went) The thing on the hat was to be some qind of companion to her, as she was as far from normality as it was.

[Greek Traditional Dancing Festival]

Great piece, not quite sure how it fits with dancing but I guess the people you made it for get the reference :) I'll just stick to commenting on the image as is.

First I think the composition is great, well structured and there is clear differentation between the charecters achieved through good colorchoices. I also like the rendering of the charecters as you can really tell that they are from southern europe, both through the shape of their faces and the cloathing. Very nice.

The only critique I can really give is that the woman in the bottom left looks a bit yellow in comparison to the rest (Key motivation for 4.5/5). Everything else, even though quality could be improved, follows a common estetic and everything holds more or less the same quality, as such it doesn't bother me.

So, its a nice image. Hope the dance was fun as well. Cheers

EvanScale responds:

Thanks for the great feedback.
The people in the image wear traditional clothing, which comes form specific locations around Greece. The dances of the event also derive from these locations. So they asked me to research the clothing of these specific traditions.
The style i did this piece, was also a request. They wanted a pretty loose depiction, with no details whatsoever.
I agree with you about the woman in the bottom left is kinda off. Messes up the balance a bit. This must have occurred during the final lighting additions i did.

Overall, i know its not my best work, but i had fun working on it since it is was a kind of experiment for me too.
Thanks a lot for the informative feedback :D

[Phantom]

Instantly recognized the artist even though I've only commented once before. Another great piece! Reminds me of Anubis of ancient Egypt with the sort of wolfhead and the neckpiece remenisent of the old Pharoes. Not sure that's the estetic you were going for but I like it.

As the other image I commented upon it surely follows your own estetic and art and I think its awesome. Just a tad dark and abstract but yet rooted in reality somehow. It's a fine balance to thread but you do it nicely.

Also, the fact that you work in a traditional medium yet there are not brushstrokes! The coloring is super solid and it implies (after seeing other traditional artworks on this site) that you have mastered how to do solid linework. Hence, drawing lines all the way from start to finish. A skill that should not be underestimated.

Cool work regardless, hope to see more :)

TheChessPlayer responds:

Thank you for the comment! It means a lot for me! I like the ancient Egypt but it wasn t intentional !

[Luca]

Cool charecter design. Recognizable yet novel in a sense with the bony external details, horns, etc. I also like how the colorsheme, especially with the eyes, make it so that it is not certain if he's a goodguy or badguy. He could be both. On the one hand he looks demonish, on the other, he looks quite tidy and although the facial expression is a bit on the darker side it could be sadness rather than evil or hate. Really perplexes me and makes me wounder who he is! Nice work.

Exceutionwise I like the estetic overall with the srt of cartoonish style. The pants and boots look great, so does the body overall. My quirk comes with the boony pieces that I think are a bit too bright and could have gotten some more shadow. Now there shapes are carried by the linework but I'd liked to see some more emphasis through shadows to make these pieces follow the charecter better. They are not, in places a b it flat, for instance on his left shoulder where just a small shadow at the top to separate the bony from skin had gone a long way (Motivation for 4/5 since its such a prominent part of the piece)

Otherwise a really nice concept and I like the purple shadow to break off from the black background. I just wished that you hadn't put it under his left foot but ended it just behind the foot to emphasize that he is standing on the ground, thereby planting him in a plane. Now he is a bit floaty as the shadow is shown underneath the shoe which is only possible if there was nothing there.

Great work, cool charecter, love'd to see more. Cheers.

ArchviIe responds:

Thank you very, very much for the critique. I appreciate it! I'll work harder to focus on the smaller details from now on.