namuwonderling's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Duomi: A jester car of sorts!]

The thing I like most about this is that the visual quality of the comic changes depending on the context; like how the starting panels are more simplistic, while the final panel has a significant amount of detail in it.

It's a real big brain move in my opinion, since you save a lot of mental energy from not having to give every single panel in the comic the same amount of high-quality flair that most viewers are used to seeing from your work.

Also, I wonder if we'll ever see more of Duomi's Goomba manager. He's honestly pretty funny.

[BLOOD FROM THE CONCRETE]

As an enjoyer of The Scary Jokes' April Fools album, it elevates the symbolism within those key lyrics being used from Blood From The Concrete.

The particular emphasis on "pavement" - the word being in all caps and having a pink border - greatly strengthens the themes that the original song expresses through its lyrics. Although, the character's pose in the center of the frame doesn't exactly match that. Had their position been more akin to a lying-on-the-ground pose, it would make more sense from a symbolic standpoint.

The use of (mostly) two colors is interesting. Yellow and pink is something that I don't usually see being used together, and their usage here creates a sort of.. candy-like vibe? That's how I'd describe the colors of the character in the centerfield of the frame. I'd say the colors serve as a good visualizer for the unique feel of Blood From The Concrete - and by extension the rest of the tracks from the April Fools album.

[Work Out]

A mutual of mine showed me this from your OG Twitter account months ago (I heard that account got suspended; RIP). And now that I have the opportunity to critique it, I can confidently say that this is yet another banger in a long list of banger artworks.

The highlight, unsurprisingly, is the soft shading and hard lighting; both succeed at giving Jayden's body (and his sweatpants, in particular) this illusion of looking almost photorealistic. And having that visual effect be constrasted with Jayden's cartoonish proportions, it makes for some real eyecandy.

The piece itself being monochrome will not affect my rating. But if this was in color, I imagine it'd look even more splendid that it already is.

[dolly vs. the world]

I really enjoy how bright and vivid this piece looks. And the composition's greatly improved since the "World Of Weirdos: Get Funked" artwork that I critiqued a while back; Dolly's in the center of the canvas and thus quickly gets the viewer's attention, meanwhile the colorful simplicity of the background - and the mini globe - provides some extra stuff for the viewer to look at.

Only thing I'd say is missing here is a little title screen of sorts placed above Dolly's head. But as it is now, this would make for one banger of a custom mobile wallpaper.

[TTYD Sprite Replication]

I don't know how you do it, but this is practically a 1-to-1 recreation of the modern Paper Mario artstyle, and the accuracy's incredible! (The soft shading, in particular, is on point.)

It leaves me curious as to what your other OCs could look like if they were given the Paper Mario treatment as well.

[OC REFS - CRESCENT]

At first glance, I almost thought that this was a reupload of Crescent's reference sheet that I saw back in 2022. But now that I've taken a closer look, the differences between that version and this new one are night and day (pun intended).

The most significant differences I can see here are the subtle changes in the artstyle - such as the thinner lineart - and more expressive faces on the bottom-left corner. The latter, in particular, has received quite the glowup and they add a lot more character to Crescent than the OG reference sheet.

I also like that Crescent's design is mostly unchanged, aside from her left eye now being fully obscured by her hair. It's a perfect design in my eyes; strong sithoulette, great color scheme, and her moon motif goes well with the themes of the story she plays a part in.

(Additionally, the little tidbit about her being calmer around friends she's known for longer is kinda funny. I can relate.)

All-in-all, this is deserving of a full five star rating, in my opinion.

[Sahara's Performance]

This may seem odd for me to fixiate on, but upon glancing at this particular piece, I've noticed a small quirk within your artstyle.

The lineart appears to shift in size for certain parts of the body, with the most notable example being Sahara's backside and the tips of her hair. The thicker lineart seems to subtlely provide greater visual prominence in the viewer's line of sight. And given that the clear goal of this illustration is to highlight Sahara's curvaceous form, it makes this goal highly achieveable - which it has.

With this observation in mind, I feel inspired to experiment with this method of lineart in my own drawings.

Now, as for the rest of the illustration, there isn't a whole lot that I can realistically comment on; it's just Sahara doin' her thing. Although, I do wish there was a more stylized background. Having no background's alright, but I feel that consequently kills an opportunity to take advantage of the canvas's negative space.

CacklingPumpkins responds:

Thanks for the compliment and criticism! And yep that's my goal with the line art. Thicker lines are bigger areas and/or what's closer to the screen. It also makes perspective easier and more fun.

[BLEH]

The paint-like shading makes Banban's smile actually unnerving, especially with the eyes. I would say that more could be done with the background, but I also think that adding anything to it *might* take away from the craft that's been put into Banban's glorious grin.

DRAGONKITTYiPOD responds:

you are true... i wasnt expecting to add a background at all, this was more of a painting test haha ^^;

[MS PAINT ICONS]

These two icons are gorgeous. Scrumptious even. If these had an ice cream flavor, they'd taste like birthday cake and salted caramel chocolate, respectively.

[2X13]

Not sure who this guy is and what his lore's about, but I like his design, although I have no clue what's going on with his bottom lip. Looks like it's supposed to be melded into his torso, which is an odd yet distinct detail.

The way you drew 2X13 in the first page makes it look like he's stepped out of a comic book, especially with his pose. Gives an intimidating feel most would expect from an EXE.

The second page, in particular, I like a lot. I feel it adds more to the comic book vibes of the first page by bearing a semblance to those intense action scenes, where the villain is facing the camera whilst unveiling some master plan or bombshell's worth of cruicial information. The second page could also be formatted into a cool desktop wallpaper, too.

Triki-Troy responds:

I plan to explain the lore a little later but yeah exactly it has a Comic vibe since it is something of the theme that I would like to give the lore of The Crimson [2X13] it would be something more [in Sonic Universe] and it would be something like Sonic fighting against this guy which looks exactly like him but this one is based on Glitches

And also the second image is based on the Marvel Zombies Cover art so you got it!