Rabid-Animals's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tom Fulp: The Beard]

Triumphant

Ever seen that show "Code Monkeys?" I'm not sure if it's still on the air, but it's about video games and nerd-culture-- all of that fun stuff. This is perfect for the style of the show, and I can just see Tom Fulp popping into the show for an episode; I think it would be pretty funny.

As for the piece, you got most of the absolutely necessary details of Tom. The hair color is especially noteworthy. However, I think he looks a little too wide, especially in the stomach and face. He looks more like a trucker than a programmer to me. Also, I think the beard should be a little more pronounced; consider using smaller pixels.

The background is fantastic. It reminds me of the Moderator Aura you see around the forums. It's right at home behind Tom. One thing that puzzles me, however, is the use of the vectorized tank. Why didn't you just draw a new tank? I don't think it would be terribly difficult. Again, this might come down to pixel size. An overall good piece, though.

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EventHorizon responds:

Thanks for the review, maybe you're right about the size of the body in fact Tom Fulp looks more like a truck driver that a programmer, thanks anyway and I'm glad you liked my piece of art.

[Ikebana - Totem]

Something's missing.

After a while, I'm stumped to really find any kind of theme in this painting. It's only through your comments that I managed to figure out what was being represented. No worries, though, it's still nice enough to loom at.

I think, even for an abstract painting, it's a little too scatterbrained. I'm really not getting the flower arrangement motif, but the Caribbean colors theme works very well. Yellow, green, and red at the bottom make a nice explosion of imagery, even if it is tiny.

It's probably the discrepancy between the jagged shapes of the top and the more flowing, curved shapes on the bottom. That difference is a little bit disorienting, and it made appreciating the piece as a whole difficult. I think there needs to be some figure through the piece, like a stem, or a couple flowers that weave in and out of each other.

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[Marine Dance]

Lovely.

This has been in my favorites for a while; I'm surprised I haven't already reviewed it.

As school winds down, as I relax in the summer, and even as I daydream in class, my mind or body goes to the sea. I've lived on the coast for so long, taking in the water, the fish, the vegetation, everything. To see something that puts me in that mindset through abstract imagery is a true treat.

I don't find any technical problems with the piece. No errant brushstrokes, no confusing color choices, and no distracting uses of shapes. The focus of the piece is right there on the whales, as it should be, but the background offers a contemplative plane of a kind of reserved darkness. Not evil or foreboding, just mysterious, perhaps reflecting the misunderstood nature of whales (specifically Orca whales).

I actually thought the centerpieces were Orcas without reading the comments. It's good to know I have some kind of intuition on this piece. Again, even with these abstract shapes, just blobs of colors and line, I'm put in a setting of absolute tranquility, where I can just be satisfied with myself and my thoughts of the ocean. It's a calming, freeing experience, and I'd love to have this take up some space on my wall.

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Hacsev responds:

Thank you. You got it all. Very hard for me to add to your observations.

[Fred]

Cute, but a little too simple.

I'm really torn on what to make of this. Your style is kind of childish, but that's a compliment. This style, with the tiny eyes, and innocent, blank faces, really pleases me. That said, I think it's a little sloppy. Fred's smile is a tiny bit lopsided, and I'd prefer it if his eyes were rounder rather than more vertical.

Take a look at the bottom of Fred's pants. There's a little bit of some blue leaking out to the sides, and some orange leaking in. Fixing that up might be a good idea. I like the shoes, though; the perspective is very well done.

I think it's funny how you managed to capture Fred's image in so simple a picture. His clothes are very well done, which makes the rest of the picture look sub-par. I would have liked to see a little more detail in the background; perhaps put them in a cemetery or a cellar. The ghost is just adorable, and I think it adds to the style and feel of the picture. Keep working at it. I know you can make something fantastic with some more practice!

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up-a-notch responds:

Thanks dude!

[Nuclear Holocaust]

Doesn't hit like a bomb should.

When I think of a nuclear bomb, I think gray. I think fire. I think smoke. I think destruction. You've got all of that, but there's no oomph to the piece. It doesn't resonate with the viewer. What you need to create is an emotion to go with the piece.

Consider the evil of what dropping a nuclear bomb entails. Innocent people are going to die. Drawing an injured civilian can do a lot if done well. The grass should be on fire, and there should be a crater in the landscape. Darkness should be covering the sky, blanketing the city in ash. The picture as it stands looks like a particularly bad tornado combined with a small forest fire, not an apocalyptic disaster.

Like I said, you've got all the ingredients to make a great piece. What happened is that you mixed them incorrectly. There is far too much green and blue, natural, peaceful colors. Browns, reds, oranges-- they all communicate distress. Consider making one building a centerpiece. I like what you did with the broken skyscraper. Put more detail into the buildings; they shouldn't just be rectangles with smaller rectangles in them. Take a look at the New York skyline for inspiration.

You can do it.

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[Gay adventures at youtube]

On the unintelligible side.

There's so much I don't understand about this piece. It's a shame, really, because it seems like you had a lot of genuinely interesting ideas. After all, YouTube is ripe for parody. Unfortunately, the whole comic is jumbled, and it appears to have no actual coherence.

While reading this, I was unsure if there was a direction I was supposed to go, or if each drawing was a separate "adventure." I didn't get the "JewFood" joke. Was it just that, a rhyme? I'm not sure if the your/you're mistake was intentional (which honestly reflects YouTube), or if that was a mistake. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt on that one, because it's a funny joke if it's intentional.

Also, the layout of the comic was kind of unattractive. I understand you were going for a messy, explosive look, but the relatively uniform white space took away from that. Overlapping the drawings was a wise decision; use that more.

There's definitely something here, but without refining the piece, it'll stay buried. I suggest going over it again and making the jokes a little more developed. If you need more than one panel, use another. If that destroys your purpose, drop the joke. Maybe even color the piece in, but that's nothing I took points off for.

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[A Duck!]

A Kids' Book's Feel.

Like most meaningful art, I think I can find some meaning in this piece. It's certainly fun to look at, but it's also kind of perplexing. Is it a rubber duck floating by, or just a regular one? And, if that is the case, why is she trying to grab it? It reminds me of those cheap carnival games where you grab a duck and win a prize listed on the bottom of it.

There's a childish, kind of playful feel to this, but there's a very dark contrast. The grays and purples bring the tone of the piece out of the brighter zone, and into the more expressionistic, emotional, style. Bizarre, but definitely very original and thoughtful.

There's one point in this piece I don't understand-- the girl's size relative to the background. I'm not sure if it's the perspective of the piece, but she's either really huge, or those mountains are tiny. That's just how I see it, however, and it's one of very few flaws with the art.

I also want to note the pumpkin in the back. I don't know why it's there, but I inexplicably love it, so you gained an extra point for bringing that out in me! Overall, it's very pretty and I think you could write a short story based on this alone; there's a lot of interesting material.

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Merol responds:

THANKS A LOT!!
It's a real duck swimming by. And she tries to grab it because, I don't know, she's just curious!
She's not huge, but those are not mountains, just rocks. But yeah, I always screw it up when it's about perspective, those trees seem to be very close.

I already made a history with her, just a game, and it's not based on this, but still.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR REVIEW!

[Ikebana - Night]

A disconcerting landscape.

At the very top of the painting, that tiny strip of night sky and stars-- that's what gives the piece all of its power. Seeing that link between life and art is what allows the viewer to truly appreciate the abstract nature of the piece. Instead of just a blend of colors, we are consumed by what seems to be a million shards of life almost collapsing into themselves.

Unlike your other paintings, I struggle to find a central theme here. Is it fear of the unknown, represented by night? That's the one I feel most comfortable with; and it works, because it's an intrinsic characteristic of human nature. Exploding blues and greens in the middle put images and feelings of fear and nervousness into the mind of the viewer, which only serves to strengthen the artistic integrity of the piece.

You've struck gold with this one. It's really a great example of abstract art.

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[Ikebana - Sun of Ikebana]

Almost like art poured into a blender.

Flowers by themselves aren't interesting still-life pieces anymore. They come off cliche, almost like the ever-present bowl of fruit used as a method for teaching amateurs. Taking those flowers and surrounding them with brilliant swirls of bright color and lines is a stupendous reinterpretation of the design.

There's not much to say about the design of the piece, but the one thing that really strikes me is how the flowers are positioned. In the middle of the piece, they stand as the barrier between the bright and the dark. Are they breaking away from the darkness and causing the light? I love thinking about those themes; it's what makes abstracts interesting to me.

I don't see any technical errors in the piece, so I can't take any points on that. The flowers, though abstract, do seem to lack a little bit of detail. Maybe a petal flying away in the background, toward salvation or oblivion, would serve to bring a little more emotion into the piece. Great work again!

Review Request Club

Hacsev responds:

Thanks for your comments, especially the first paragraph. The concept of detail in abstract design is way different from representation, so I have to disagree about the lack of detail in the flowers. And yes, it is the thoughts and interpretations of the viewers what makes this form of art alive and interesting.

[Flathead Lake]

How's the fishing?

I see a landscape that doesn't scream any particular locale to me, but rather the idea of vacation. When I go fishing, I like to go out to a quiet spot like the one you've drawn and put my feet up; I sit back and cast, cast, cast, waiting for a bite. If it never comes, I still enjoyed chilling out. That's where my brain went when I looked at this picture.

I get a relaxed vibe from this picture. The only problems I've got with it have to do with really tiny technical details. The brown around the rock looked kind of like a glowing aura to me. Is it supposed to be dirt? I'm not sure. In the bottom-left corner of the picture, the water appears to be white, which just doesn't look too pretty to me. In the distance, the mountains have no detail; I'd have liked to see more than just black blobs, but combined with the entire piece, they are passable.

If you fixed up those last couple issues I had, this would probably make its way into my "Desktop Pictures" folder sooner or later. It's a brilliant piece.

Joshsouza responds:

Yeah, I might just cutout the rock and the things on the bottom left is supposed to be wood. Yeah, It's kind of hard to see it like that. I admit I was lazy when I drew the mountains in the distance. Thanks for the constructive criticism.