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CiCi-Arts [2016-12-31 07:14:36 +0000 UTC]

Hello and Happy Holidays, my friend! I'm here for this year's Critmas , bringing love and happiness through constructive commenting! I found your piece through... Well... I've had it in a new tab for a few hours now and I forgot where I found this piece, BUT I like organic stuff, I love tea, and I like plants, so I decided to critique this!

The first thing that caught my eye was how detailed this piece is. The background (or, really, the mid-ground) has a lot of details and Mako does as well, with his tattoos and patterned shirt. The details add a lot of depth to this piece and I can get a good feel about how Mako usually is. He seems a calm and generally happy person, perhaps with low self-esteem as indicated by his self-help book. I like how all of the plants have names as well -- quirky and adorable, and it fits with a guy like Mako.

             

I think your general composition could use improvement. Mako should be the focal point of this piece, but right now, the piece has no focal point. Mako is pushed too far off to the side and there's nothing really drawing me to him. Adding to that, the mid-ground and Mako are both of similar hue, contrast, and saturation, making it difficult to tell him apart from the background itself. Your character should stand out against the background, specifically in a piece such a this where the character is supposed to be the main focus. As is, he's bright, the background's bright, everything's bright and if you turned this piece to black and white, he'd become even more lost in the details.

Your shading could also use some sprucing up, as I can't tell where the light source is coming from. the leaves all have highlights right in the middle of the leaf, regardless of the leaf's shape and position. This translates over to his hair as well, and the flower petals. There's no shading at all under his cart (for instance, if the light where coming from above him like most homes do, the book would be shrouded in shadows because of its position under the shelving unit), making it difficult to judge the distance between him and the mid-ground; it also muddles your depth because everything looks to be on the same plane as your character, when clearly that's not supposed to be the case.

I also think that extra work in the background (the very back of the background, behind the frames) could've been beneficial. It looks like his house is facing a cement wall. Is it supposed to be? If not, adding some greens and browns to the background could help quite a lot to convey that he lives in a forest or next to a greenhouse (or whatever the situation may be).

Finally, I think Mako's shoulders and biceps are just a smidge too wide to be proportionate to the rest of his body. In this semi-realistic style, I'd say to make his biceps a little smaller and definitely shorten his left shoulder, as it's jutting out quite far.

             

I like that the background is detailed enough that we can see he lives either in a forested area or near a greenhouse, but not so detailed that it distracts the eye. I think you did a pretty good job on Mako's hands as well (aside from his right thumb, which is a little too chubby and below its knuckle seems a little long) and I really like Mako's gentle expression. He looks like he's ready to sit back and enjoy that rain. And his lovely cup of tea, of course.

So overall, I really like how detailed this is. There's a lot of little things that give us insight to Mako as a person (suppose some pictures really are worth a thousand words) and his gentle, calm expression not only tell us more about him, but provide the piece with a lovely atmosphere. Work more on your shading and try to find a definitive light source before you start, so you can add shadows where they logically should go to give your piece more depth. And be careful of just how wide you're making your characters' shoulders! Put a little more detail in the very back of the backgrounds to make sure we have a pretty concrete idea of what the setting is. And did I mention that I love how all of his plants are named? XD <3
 
Hope anything I've said here helps! If you need clarification or have any questions, feel free to let me know. Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year, my friend!

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Cynvii [2016-12-04 17:17:42 +0000 UTC]

damn pal that background looks 10/10 & so does Mako with his hair down!!! i love it <3

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Spazzes101 [2016-12-04 05:18:28 +0000 UTC]

my plant man
also
the bg is like
so good?? DAMN chica way to overdo it
pff



stan the cactus

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aliewren [2016-12-03 22:39:41 +0000 UTC]

pretty boi <3

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xXMorbidGingerXx [2016-12-03 21:53:50 +0000 UTC]

Bruh, he looks fab with his hair down. Thought, i think I do still prefer the manbun. Ah Mako is awesome either way, and I love that he names his plants X3

Also, i'm still enjoying this new shading! It looks nice :3

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Tart-Deco [2016-12-03 05:52:09 +0000 UTC]

He looks so cute with his hair down! And I absolutely love the background! 

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Kayisok [2016-12-03 05:50:15 +0000 UTC]

Amazing coloring!!!

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