Hey y'all! This is the first time I've posted my own art thread on any forum (exception being my doodle-ish art shop during a couple of the events). So, I'll try to post art projects and such up as I continue, and hopefully I'll feel more encouraged to work harder and harder, 'cause I know that's what I need to do at this point. Just keep drawing and practicing.

So for now, I just have some school projects to show off, and though I've already received critique from my professor, I'd also really appreciate it if some of the Mene Artists could critique my art as well. ESPECIALLY since most of it is in Digital Format, which is not my area of expertise at all.

~~RULES~~

I really don't feel like this should be absolutely necessary, but in case you get stuck thinking of how to carry out a critique, here are some basic rules:

1. No flaming. If you don't like it, feel free to say so, but please don't be rude about it.

2. Post more than one sentence. Just saying "I don't like it" or "Wow, that's cool" is not a critique. I do welcome your opinions, without a doubt, but if you'd like to critique, you should explain yourself. State WHY you feel that way about the piece, please!~

3. Constructive Criticism. Explain something that you think could be improved. Would you do something differently? Would practicing a certain technique/object help improve something? Is there further research that you'd like to suggest?

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And, that's pretty much it! I'll post projects one at a time and wait a few days to a week-ish so that people have time to offer their thoughts and opinions on one thing before moving on to the next. This is mainly because I am in art school and would very much appreciate as much feedback on EVERY piece as I can get.

THANKS A BUNCH IN ADVANCE! ;)

PROJECT 1



This piece was for my "Advanced Survey of Computer Art Applications" class (otherwise known and furthermore referred to as CMPA). The assignment was to create pretty much anything using Adobe Illustrator by manipulating text. I chose to use Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Red Shoes" to create a text illusion of red ballet shoes. I did use a stock image of white shoes in order to get the shading correct, however it does not appear at all within that image. I'd also advise not trying to read the story directly from that image, simply because the font size is something like 8 or 9 and shows up even smaller and harder to read against the red background. The background is red mainly for the purpose of enhancing the shading on the shoes and making them appear to be more than just a block of colored text.

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Project 2



The assignment was to create a character using Adobe Illustrator. :D

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Sketches





Just thought I'd show you some recent work. These are some colored pencil media tests from my sketchbook. ;D




Critiques? :D

Hmm, it seems really hard to tell that they are shoes. :C I wonder how you can make that more apparent... I don't really get the position of the shoes either.

Sorry, I don't know much about digital art. XD I hope my critique can help~ ; w;

Project 2 up! Check it out~

Project One is my favorite so far =3

I really liked the way it was done and I think the shading was great, at first though, I thought it was a person. Until I read the description and looked more closely - realizing it was a pair of shoes. I am actually really impressed! Its pretty cool - especially know that I am able to point out those shoes.
So I'm not critiquing as much as I am observing and admiring.
I am anticipating more art work from you in the future Starr - great work! <3

Very nice.

It took me a bit to realize it was shoes tho. The reason is because my eyes were first drawn to the ribbons and spent most of the time trying to figure out what they were.

I say on the first two ribbons that came off the standing shoe there should be a space between them to break them up a bit.

Originally Posted by tavis harts

Very nice.

It took me a bit to realize it was shoes tho. The reason is because my eyes were first drawn to the ribbons and spent most of the time trying to figure out what they were.

I say on the first two ribbons that came off the standing shoe there should be a space between them to break them up a bit.

0.0 I think I see what you mean!

Thanks a ton! Observations are good, too. General reactions are still very helpful. ^_^

I like the first ones, and I think it really does evoke the story, if that's what you going for. I think it might have been better on a different colored background though, like a green to make the shoes pop more.

I like the overall look of it, but I think the glasses are too straight. They look slightly unnatural.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by fairywaif

I like the first ones, and I think it really does evoke the story, if that's what you going for. I think it might have been better on a different colored background though, like a green to make the shoes pop more.

I like the overall look of it, but I think the glasses are too straight. They look slightly unnatural.

Hope this helps!

Tons! Ya, I didn't originally draw the glasses that straight in my sketchbook. But Illustrator messes with my style. :lol:

I quiet enjoy your typography in project one! It's pretty neat and I'm sure took quite of a bit of tweaking. Soda awards you an.. A! Not much else to say, I'm sorry its late!

Wow, that first one looks like it was a pain to do. I think you'd get a better effect if the background wasn't dark-saturated-red with black text; it's kind of blinding, and since the main body of the shoes are bright red and pink, there's not much contrast. It's a really great idea, though, and I like how you varied the text color as well as the background color.

On the second one: I think the pop art style works really well on the character and their clothing, and how the background serves to give a better idea of the character's personality, which is a good idea for what's essentially a piece of concept art. All the contrasting orange and purple in the background draws the eye away from the character a bit much, though, even with all the the black and white on the character. I also didn't realize those were glasses until someone pointed it out. ^^; Maybe play around with the colors some, again.

lol I'm actually glad you thought the text was black. :lol: I had to tweak it into a deep red-brown because the actual black had a weird look to it. Thanks a ton for your feedback! I'll try to tweak and play with them some in the future. ^_^

on #1, are those ballet shoes? Very nice either way. :)

Originally Posted by Kaylesha Blackheart

on #1, are those ballet shoes? Very nice either way. :)

Yup! :D Thank you.

I was completely unaware they were ballet shoes.... I thought it was a girl sitting against a rock thinking.... Though it could just be my eyes its late and I'm really tired.

Originally Posted by BlizzardPixie

I was completely unaware they were ballet shoes.... I thought it was a girl sitting against a rock thinking.... Though it could just be my eyes its late and I'm really tired.

haha good to know. Other eyes are very helpful. :3 I can't see anything other than the ballet shoes, since I already know what they are and spent forever staring at that screen. :rofl:

Hey everyone! I've been on sort of a hiatus I guess. I have a couple new additions up top, so please feel free to check them out and comment or whatever. :)

I really like the colors and shading in that last one! Great job. :3

:D Thank you so much!

I thought project one was a mermaid sitting on the beach to be quite honest. I did not see shoes at all. I was going to compliment you on that too... xD I'm glad I read it all! But in any case. Your drawings have something to them all that is... quite visually appealing, an element of design that just works with the style. I like it a lot.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm not particularly skilled in Digital Art. Drawing's where it's at. I love seeing everyone's feedback about the first project, though. I kind of like that people are perceiving it differently. There's something intriguing about that.

I like your style (on the first two projects especially), but I have some advice. Try working on contrast a bit. I positively love the concept of your first piece (the one with the ballet slippers) but I think it would have done you well to use a different color for the background around the slippers, white perhaps, and made the words on that white background black/gray, then shifted to shades of red within the shoes so that the viewer could better tell what the object is.

On the second project I also suggest a little work on contrast. You've done well by making the background dark and the woman's outfit white; however, her hair is almost undiscernible from the background, which is the only major downfall I see to this project. Mayhap you could have put a halo of light around her hair or changed her hair to a different color that would have stood out? The lines you used were impeccable and the outfit was gorgeous, though!

All I can say with the sketches is keep practicing and perhaps study foreshortening and flow a bit more? Doing that has helped my art flourish fantastically.

Studying color is your best friend in any art course. Find out what colors are complementary (blue/orange, black/white, purple/yellow) and what feel they give a piece of art. Cool colors are solemn and relaxing, warm colors can make you angry, hungry, and happy.

Thanks a bunch! Yea, I took Color Theory last quarter, but my teacher didn't really do so much teaching as she did giving me attitude. I know the color wheel and basic theory behind stuff. It's just putting it into practice in a way that's relevant to me so my brain comprehends it correctly. xD

Oh, gawd. I know how that goes. I'm a pretty multi-talented artist and I've been lucky to have wonderful teachers in my time, but when I decided to take painting I got one of the worst teachers imaginable. On several occasions she would go around the class, pull a student's piece out from under their nose, hold it up to the class and declare it horrible and an example of what is not to be done. >.> Yes. She did that to me. >.> Ever since then I have kind of disliked painting. We all would've been so much better off had she not been such a snob that thought the only artist in the room that was any good was herself. Le sigh.

But besides that, I think color theory is one of the hardest things to put into practice well. You can know everything but still fail on an epic level, lol.

Ahh so true! I'm so glad I've been really picky about my teachers now. My drawing teacher has all these crazy stories from when he was in school and under mentorships and stuff about the instructor coming up and just ripping people's drawings in half and letting them figure out what to do with it.

Color theory really is difficult. I suppose it'll take me a great number of years to really be able to use it well. But at least now that I'm doing projects greater than painting little squares of color I feel like I actually have the chance of understanding it.

Now, then. Final projects are being started this week, and due at the end of next week. I should get to work. :lol: