[FANART] The Boy and the Ghost

[kaizykat.livejournal.com]

Author/Artist: Kaizykat
Character(s) or Pairing(s): Russia
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Pretty quick speedpaint after hearing 'Boy and the Ghost' for the first time.

All he wanted was a toy,
All he needed was a gentle heart,
To lead him through the dark,
Where there's nowhere left to fall,
Boy and the Ghost

If you've never heard the song, you can find it here.

I'd actually like to make a MAD of this, but I don't have the drawing skills at the moment. Instead you get a nice picture with snow. Funny thing, I have no idea if the snow and the scarf looks right because I've seen neither in real life. I already know that I cannot draw folds to save my life.


Comments

[izquierda]

Hold on--Tarja Turunen? Awesome! I'm a relatively new fan of Nightwish (and I love her voice, even though she left the band). Gotta love how mournful the song is--reminds me of The Little Match Girl, only with Russia without his sunflower. Kolkolkol...

First off, good atmosphere. I like how light and fluffy everything looks, and I like how the color palette makes it depressing enough. (Isn't it pretty even--a background with cool tones, and Russia with a warmer color palette--albeit one so light that it's almost cool.) The mist at the bottom is good and cloudy, but it makes it look like rain. But I don't really know much about Russia's weather.:/

I loved how you used a classic anime pose here--the hero moving forward, his scarf/cape/whatever flailing behind him, the snow/rain/frogs/whatever falling diagonally--it creates a lot of energy and movement.

Well, I've never seen snow before, but I'm confident of having seen scarves. The way Russia's wearing it seems a bit off--he's wearing it too loosely for such a cold and miserable night, dontcha think? (BTW, the scarf's wrinkles do look a bit off--but meh, such things are hard to draw in the first place.) And his arms are hanging at his sides rather loosely--okay, I can accept that his coat might be thick enough to protect him from the weather, but his pose doesn't scream "All I wanted was a toy" to me.

And while your piece does have some energy, I think that you're keeping too much of it to yourself. Show some restraint in your drawing, if you must. I can see that for the art to work, it needs some more detail--though honestly, this much is enough for me--the lovely colors stand out more. Since this is supposed to be a sad piece, I can allow for little movement, but there's no movement, and then there's outright lazy movement. Russia looks too slack for me, and while his head is bent, his body is straight--are you showing us some of that wonderful Russian pride?

But then--the fact that Russia is relatively small and shown off-center: nice. It gives emphasis to the diagonal snow, and shows some movement. The mist-y things I honestly like, since they look ghostly. And Russia's nose--always an epic thing, IMHO. Shading and highlights--yes, well done.

Now, I must apologize for all this critique. I've had some friends who are trained in the visual arts, and they teach me things. But of course, since this is fanart, conventions are generally thrown out into the cold.

BTW, we must talk more Tarja and Russia and Finland for giving us Nightwish.|D

[kaizykat.livejournal.com]

I must say thank you for giving me such a thorough critique. I don't get them often enough. :)

I like how the background came out (In fact it's one of the only things I really like about this piece). I've never painted snow before, so it's a good first attempt. I can see what you mean by the bottom looking like rain, but I have no idea how else I could have done it.

I thought the scarf looked a little off as well. To be honest I have no idea how to put one on, much less draw one. Now that I look at it again, I could have done more the the pose. I think I may need to do some more test runs with the pose before I have at this idea again. I was lazy with the pose, I'll admit that. "orz

I wanted for the mist to give a ghostly effect to it. Would you believe that I almost forgot his nose? I got to some of the final steps before I realized this. XD

Don't apologize for the critique! It helps me to see what I can improve on. I often know that something doesn't look quite "right", but have no idea on how to correct it. :3