Hello. I voted for Kaloes. Although I'm not an artist by any stretch of the word, I know a bit about design (designing stuff like packaging and newspaper ads, etc in Photoshop was my job before the economy went to crap and I lost it), so I'll be judging based on that sort of knowledge.
Also note, that I tend to be kind of harsh when judging, but please don't take it personally. I love to see people challenge themselves, as it helps them grow in their particular field, and I feel one of the best ways to do that is to take constructive criticism and work with it.
Without further ado, here's what I have to say.
Kaloes: For the image itself, I have relatively little negative to say about it. Proportionally, your character looks more "correct" than the ones featured in Atlinsmere's entry. Perhaps some more muscle tone, but otherwise, it's a well-drawn image, if a bit rough. The problem comes in the colouration. You use solid colours, which doesn't help create a sense of depth perception. Add some shading to your images and you can help bring your characters to life in ways you've never managed before. Otherwise, it just looks like you took a black + white drawing and then coloured it in with MS Paint's paint bucket tool.
The eyes are really pretty though. Nice work, overall.
Atlinsmere: I both like and dislike the hairstyles. On the plus side, they were drawn exceptionally well. You mention these are characters you've designed in the past (as did Kaloes), so I'm not arguing against the hairstyles at all in that sense. Maybe it's just that I'm a bit of an outsider looking in on your work (as opposed to a tight community that's used to your art style), but I'd like to see a bit more variety. You did so with the characters' tops, to some extent, so it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a hairstyle other than "disheveled, medium length and somewhat pointy." The reason I voted Kaloes over you, however, is that her piece seemed to be more proportionate. For example of what I mean, look at the arm of your character on the right, the one gripping the can of soda/beer/V8/whatever. It looks stubby compared to the character's body length, as if you wanted to draw him holding something but were worried about going too far with it. Furthermore, this piece also suffers from a lack of shading, though from reading your submission post, it could have been a lack of time. Your avatar is great proof that you know how to incorporate shading into your pieces, and it shines because of it. It was disappointing that you didn't have it here, because I was fully expecting your piece to trounce Kaloes'. (No offense, Kal!)
Anyway, I hope you guys don't take my words the wrong way. I can't draw to save my life, so you're both better at it than I am, if that makes you feel any better!
|