ShangXian's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[[Comm] Man-Moose, Merker of Messiahs]

I am absolutely amazed by the high level of details and technique used here. The curved lines of neck, legs and tail make this creature appealing to observe and I love the fusion of demonic, western and oriental dragon elements. Those horns truly look like a crown of a dark prince and I find a nice touch that this creature has fingers of different number: four in the wings, five of the hands and three toes.

One thing that caught my interest was the perspective of the left wing. It's gorgeous because it conveys the raw power this creature has as if he were ready to grab you. The red sclera fits well his malefic intents and I love those jaws, so primal and fantastic.

Despite the lack of a background the angle at which the creature is positioned, colours and overall design are more than enough to fully appreciate this work. Amazing job, frontpage well deserved!

RavenCorona responds:

Wow, thank you so much!! I'm really happy to hear that! ^^

[ASIY3 - Dumbo]

This is one of best dark humour piece I've seen in this period and despite the work is old I discovered it only today and instant love for the many elements that made me laugh and appreciate the work:

first the way the humour has been built. In the first four panel everything seems pretty normal (if we exclude an elephant who managed to fly up to a tree) but starting from the fifth panel we can see something slightly off if we focus how Specks and Fats are looking at each other (they are up to something) while Deacon builds what will be later a manipulation to make Dumbo take off. This is further reinforced by Dandy "Jim" Crow who uses reassuring words to convince Dumbo to fly. I've noticed Fats and Specks's surprised faces as if they were saying "Wow, he really fell for it" XD
When I then saw in seventh panel the crows faces, especially Specks and Fats's faces I immediately understood they were searching for an easy meal, lol.

second I love the different techniques used here from the realistic tree (shades, highlights and brush strokes of the bark) to the more cartoonish style of the characters in the main seven panels. It creates a nice contrast that like in a circle that engulfs everything brings the reader to reality with the crows drawn accurately (black bills and legs for example). I also love how the tree in the main bg gradually disappears the more one proceeds to read the comic as if we were seeing something dynamic that follows Dumbo's jump and attempted fly that will end catastrophically. (I also noticed the crow's eyes in the tree, nice touch!)

third I laughed so much at this, great job to you and Test. You did a fantastic job with both mixed techniques and well-built dark humour.

[OC Concept, Succubus]

Wow may I say this is absolutely fantastic? I love how sensual the pose, the angle she looks at the viewer and that magnetic stare is. The design is very appealing especially the main colour palette that tends to dark hues (the clothing and skin) and pink colour of horns and wings that stand out in a really nice way. These two elements combined together with eyes make her design and look quite striking and I love it. I see a harmony of shapes, colours and highlights.

Keep it up the amazing job, you have a great Gallery full of vivid colours and neat designs!

[Washing Taters]

There is something charming in each process that made possible the existence of this cool artwork!

Let's start from the sketch: I love how the rough linearts guide the viewer in the overall idea. Not all sketches are able to show immediately the core idea of an image since they are mainly used as a personal guide for the artist about how to direct future cleaned linearts, perspective and overall idea. I love it

Clean linearts: I love how clean, neat and pleasant to look at they are. The opossum eyes in the lineart are extremely cute and adorable. I also love how tiles of place where the opossum is sitting disappeared in the lineart compared to the sketch whereas they were added in the windowsill where the radio is. I like this sense of evolution of the composition and I admit the lineart would fit well in a short animation too. I am picturing the guy in the act of washing taters.

Flat colours: I love how they make the overall work look like an indie animation for an upcoming cartoon show I would gladly watch because of the wholesomeness this gives me. Flat colours helped to define even more the idea of the work by combining the sketch and lineart phases together.

Final product: I simply love the contrast that the final product (painting) gives compared to the flat colour phase. The flat colour phase gives me a feeling of movement (act of washing) while the painting gives me a childhood illustration book with its fixed shapes, volumes, shading and colours. I love the oil painting-like effect this gives me especially on the walls, the flooring and the door.

I simply adore the little details like the plants and grass growing from the floor, when I walk and see this I see life coming through hardships and I love it. This piece it's a nice and lovely slice of life from people who enjoy small things like washing taters or performing other daily activity. Fantastic job on everything!

Lundsfryd responds:

Thank you for your very nice review. I appreciate it.

[Thanator vs Panther]

This is simply stunning starting from the overall composition that gives a nice depth touch to the environment. The shades projected by plants, bushes and trees give a nice natural vibe as if you were really in that forest. I like how you can feel each texture of this forest, from the wood, to fungi, leaves, stones and grass; everything combines in a perfect dance of vivid colours and 3D-like volumes. Both panthers look fantastic, I can feel the raw power from Cameron's panther and the curiosity in the real life counterpart with that cute lifted paw.
I like how both seem curious at each other and seem to interact in a playful way (the lifted paws, the tilted head of Avatar's panther just to mention some).

I also enjoyed the animated gif that showed the entire making of the project. I find it inspirational for those who want to start practicing pixel art and I like when people decide to share how they make their stuff. Congratulations!

Everything feels so natural, I love it!

p.s. I am still trying to find the two leaves that made it in the final image even though it's not easy due to the high level of details, but I am having so much fun at trying to find them nonetheless because I love when people make their work interactive^^

Zanzlanz responds:

This is literally the most thoughtful review of any drawing I've made, thanks so much for this nice surprise today! :>

I'm really happy you felt things turned out natural. The curiosity of both creatures is definitely the driver here, which is probably an unusual portrayal of the Thanator in particular - but I love when there is some ambiguous tension in scenes like this.

I thought I knew where both of the leaves were, but I can only spot one of them right now haha! It's harder than I remembered!

Thank you again!!

[Triumphant Tit]

I love the overall composition of this piece. I like the texture of the bird and snow, nice strokes too. Great tits are notorious for searching for meat during harsh times like winter where they can even enter pipistrelle bat dens and eat their brain by repeatedly pecking at the head because the brain is rich in fat. This predatory behaviour was recorded in 2009. Nice job, I love it. Rest in peace little rodent but at the same time I commend the tit's successful kill. I think it's a female because the dark vertical stripe is narrower on females and often does not extend as far down toward the legs whereas in males the black stripe goes down towards the legs.

[untitled #5313750]

I love the simplicity of your composition starting from the background which conveys well the Dark World. I also love Ralsei, one of my favourite character, you drew him very well and he is adorable. I love the cell shading and different blending modes that give a nice appeal to the character. Amazing first post. Keep it up!

[✨🌈 Poppy X Branch (Trolls) 🌈✨]

You did a superb job with these vivid colours! I love how you captured well both Poppy and Branch's personalities well with these lively expressions! I like how well defined lineart is and the sugary background makes everything eye-candy. I agree with the upbeat part the series gives, and you managed to convey it in this composition.

I see joy, happiness, easy-going attitude and overall carefree vibe in this work. Nice anatomy, good balance between shading and highlights, lovely details of the background and overall great job. I like this a lot and congrats for the frontpage, totally deserved.

[Swan Lake]

Wow, I am simply enchanted by the overall composition of this masterpiece. I love the glare the ballerina has, there is a mix of elegance, concentration and determination through her gentle eyes. I love strokes of the clothing, you can sense with your eyes the texture of the leotard and skirt. I can see the silk-like texture in those superb colour blends and shades especially in torso area. I love how the background strongly reminds me a galaxy or a starry sky instead of the interior of a theatre, because the combination of lights, dark areas and colour choice give me this feeling and I love it since it allows to make Princess Odette stand out superbly.

I suppose it's Princess Odette judging by the attire and wings not to mention the title of the work, but I could be wrong. Anyway I am impressed how this work speaks elegance from the character and excellent artistic skill from you. I like to think this is Act two, Scène. Moderato, where she meets for the first time Siegfried, in fact I can sense a bit of fear in her eyes, especially on the left eye and the slightly frowned left eyebrow but maybe it's just me.

I also like to image that the ballet dancer is a talented Russian dancer who trained herself extensively in one of the two main methods adopted in Russia the Vaganova method and the Legat Method. I love how this work is letting my mind to brainstorm.

Asides from the theme of the work, she also reminds me of an angelic figure, an entity of light descending on earth. I could admire this gem hours and hours, you did an astonishing work!

sekim0118 responds:

I'm glad you liked this piece!
This is the revised version of my old work(you can find it in my gallery if you want) and I thought it was a perfect choice to paint over since the former design lacked the vibes that Odette has, which I didn't like.
Your appreciation really inspires me. Thanks for the compliment :D

[At The Pokemon Cafe]

Another masterpiece where colours, lights and technique combine to create a harmonious composition of cozy feelings and warm sensations made by the joy of hanging out with friends. I love how the focal point immediately makes the viewer focus on main characters and most of all that delicious cake with that adorable Eevee. This is a nice touch I really appreciated. Probably one of the thing I love the most of this work is its ability to make me live a synesthesia-like experience because looking at those foods and enjoying the overall atmosphere, activates my smell and it looks like I can really smell those delicious sweet aromas.

I also love Simisear's look towards the viewer because it's inviting him/her to join the party. Each character has unique qualities in terms of emotions expressed: maturity and kindness from Simisear, child-like innocence from Oshawott and carefree attitude from Woobat. The sunlight coming out the window is really a nice touch that well conveys the atmosphere and period characters are enjoying. Superb!