Welcome, dear imps and readers, to the Goldstone Wood Fan Art Contest of 2014. This year's contest is far and away the biggest one yet, and I know you will have a wonderful time looking through all of these works of art by so many talented artists.
Remember, the winners are chosen by fan voting . . . so your vote counts! To vote on this contest, email me (aestengl@gmail.com) with your top three picks. Label them 1st Pick, 2nd Pick, and 3rd Pick. Your 1st Pick will will receive 10 points, your 2nd Pick will receive 5 points, and your 3rd Pick will receive 3 points. So choose carefully!
The rest of the rules can be found here, if you want to see them again. The first place winner will receive her or his choice of any FOUR Goldstone Wood novels (no novellas, sorry). The second place winner will receive two novels, and third place will receive one.
Have fun and enjoy all of this creativity on display!
Contest Submissions
A Wedding
By: Gabriella Silverstein
Digital Art
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Aethelbald Proposing to Una
By: Martha (age 9)
Crayon
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Aethelbald's Sword
Aethelbald's Sword
By: Rebekah L.
Pencil Drawing
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Diarmid
By: Micailah
Clay Model
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Inside All Along
By: Erin Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Princess Una
By: Jan Omega
Acrylic on Canvas Board
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Come Here, Mouthful - Your Heart Belongs to Me
By: Rebekah L.
Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Fire Burning Low
By: Kaylee S.
Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Flowing Gold
By: Jennifer M.
Crochet
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Hello Una
By: Kailin
Charcoal Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Una
By: Mercy
Chalk Portrait
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Old Bridge
By: Joseph W.
Crayon
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
A Neverending Love
By: Kristene
Pencil Drawing
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood Princess Una
By: Micailah
Clay Model
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Rest In My Love
By: Kat O.
Pencil and Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Una and the Yellow-Eyed Boy
By: Rebekah L.
Pencil Drawing
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Dragon
By: Micailah
Pencil Drawing
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Won't You Return to Me?
By: Rybrynn
Crayon and Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Princess Una
By: Micailah
Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Claiming of Her Heart
By: Kristene
Watercolor Paint and Ink
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood The Haven
By: Brenna Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Trust Me
By: Christa W.
Watercolor
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Old Bridge
By: Rebekah L.
Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Una the Dragon
By: Jessica (age 12)
Pencil Drawing
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Una and Monster
By: Kailin
Photography and Digital Editing
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Things from Heartless
By: Rebekah L.
Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Lost But Not Forgotten
By: Courtney E. Dusenbury
Photo Manipulation
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Una's Transformation
By: Kaylee S.
Colored Pencil
From: Heartless
Book 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Scroll down to the next post to see the second set of fan art!
25 comments:
I am absolutely blown away by all the work that has been displayed here!Four whole pages worth! I think this is by far the best contest yet!
WHOA!!! WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, I am so overwhelmed by all the incredible quality and quantity here. Phew!!! This is incredible! Well, I wanted to go through and comment on each picture but it might take me a while. Wow. Everyone, your work is fantastic. If it is on here, your work is fantastic. I'll start off with saying that. :)
@ Gabriella: What a lovely piece to start off the contest! I love the color, the swirls, the joy on Una's face, the kindness in Athelbald's smile.
@Martha: Oo, how cute! What a great scene to draw! I love the colors and detail.
@ Rebekah L: Ah, The Haven itself. Nice job on combining building and forest, light and dark.
@Micailah: Diarmid is too cute. Just too cute for words. :)
@Erin Jones: Whoa, this is cool. Awesome concept, great photo subjects.
@Jan Omega: Nice colors! Love the flowers!
@Rebekah L: Ah, the Dragon and Una. Very nice patience on drawing all the scales and stones. :)
@Kalyee S: Beautiful colors! And the dragon is very well done!
@Jennifer: Squee! May I have that? Like, that is so sweet!
@Kailin: Ooog, creepiness. Una's so small, and the Dragon...ugh, he has a creepy tail coming out from under his cloak!
@Mercy: Fun! Goldstone Wood goes everywhere, even into the classroom!
@Joseph: Great colors! And the perspective on the bridge is very well done.
@Micailah: Lovely coloring and flowers! Una would be delighted!
@Kat O: Wow, this is some talented color pencil drawing. I love the softness and sweetness.
@Rebekah L: Great concept! Diarmid poking over the rock looks so villainous.
@Micailah: Whoa! Nice drawing of the dragon! Awesome!
@Rybrynn: Aw, this is cool. I like you have a picture for each line of the songs.
@Micailah: How pretty! Love the blue, and the flowers.
@Brenna Jones: Love it! This is photo manipulation is great to combine the building and forest of the haven. Looks so real.
@Christa W: AW! I just love this watercolor, the surprise and innocence in Una's face, the anxiety in Leo's eyes, his hair...
@Rebekah L: Great idea to be looking down at the bridge, river, and wood! Well done!
@Jessica: Hey, this drawing is really good! Nice job on the scales! Una looks so cute and sassy.
@Kailin: This is fun! Nice models! Both for Una and Eanrin.
@Rebekah L: Oh, I think this is my favorite of what you've done! What detail on the elements of Heartless!
@Courtney E. Dusenburty: Whoa. I'm impressed. This is great, just great. Her scales and her eyes are so real. This is was a great idea, and you pulled it off superbly.
@Kaylee S: Nice coloring! I like how the fire points towards her, almost like it's attacking.
Okay! First set commented on! I'll get on to the others later. :)
Oh, I see some have been added in!
@Kristene: What a lovely, lovely, heart-wrenching drawing of Una dying as a dragon. And the dragon holding her heart...oh, *shivers*
Yes, my apologies to Kristene! She sent her submissions in on time, but somehow they ended up in my spam folder. :( Thankfully she alerted me right away, so I could add them in. She has a gorgeous piece in the VEILED ROSE section as well!
These are all just absolutely amazing!
AWESOME pictures!
Picking my top three was like the hardest thing I ever did. :P They're all so good!
-cracks knuckles- Oki doing now...wow...even I didn't the expect so much "competition" ;)
I'm going to start off by confessing that it's often very hard for me to socialize with other artists, especially if their work is incredibly intimidating, so every one of you should consider it a great compliment that I'm commenting at all, because you guys have just totally blown me away.
So anyway, I've somehow managed to muster up the courage to be a good little animation major and comment on every single one of them. Now don't be scared or discouraged, I AM going to offer BOTH compliments and constructive criticism. As an artist, I've found that constructive criticism has helped me exponentially in getting better at what I do (and I'd like to believe that I'm not a total jerk about it).
Overall I'm so ridiculously impressed and seeing so much art just warms my heart more than a cup of peppermint tea by the fire on a Saturday night. :D
@Gabriella (A Wedding) : Can I just take a moment to "SQUEE" like a fangirl? This is beautiful! The warm color scheme and textures are absolutely gorgeous (and that subtle bird texture? Love it. Teehee, so sneaky...)! And your sketchy Disney-ish-esque style is absolutely amazing. The expressions by far are probably my favorite part. The love and joy you've captured on their faces and body language is just breathtaking. Soo, how about a subtle background of some sort? Maybe rippling water or waves sparkling and shimmering in the evening/morning sun? ;)
@Martha: This is awesome! I don't think anyone's drawn this scene before! And may I just say you have a wonderful concept of "shape". I didn't have any trouble at all knowing what all parts of the drawing were or what scene they were from! And the beautiful chandelier is a nice touch! It'd be wonderful to see a little background or some kind of line where the wall and the floor meet. Also! Many of the best pictures have the main part a little to one side of the page (lower, higher, left, right) and you've done this wonderfully! You could actually probably move the chandelier down a little bit so we can see more of it. :)
@Rebekah L. (Aethelbald's Sword) : I love this concept! The sword looks absolutely fabulous, and the beam of light shining down is really really cool! I really love the idea of the sword being strung between the two trees overhanging the stone path, it feels so beautiful. Man, drawing perspective is hard. In this case, if the path doesn't go up a hill, then you could bring the "ground line" down lower and make the path get gradually thinner as it goes along. Looking up one-point perspective really helps, though it may take a little getting used to. If the path is going up a hill, then feel free to stuff a sock in my mouth and send me packing! Also, don't be afraid to make each "layer" of trees different lightnesses/darknesses so we can see the "depth" of the forest better. And don't be afraid to make the "darks" REALLY dark. They even sell different pencils at art stores with different size lead that can get really super dark. :)
@Micailah (Diamid) : Oh my gosh. This is so much adorable. I wants to hug it! So cute! Now, just a warning that clay is super out of my element, but I'll try. The paint job and color scheme is exquisite! His eye just "pop" and it kinda gives me shivers! It really is chilling, beautiful, and super cute. Now I don't know if this is just the lighting of the photo or not, but don't be afraid to put on multiple layers of paint to avoid little unpainted spots, you might even get some kind of super cool "faded" effect! :)
Part 2!
@Erin (Inside All Along) : Wow, this is so beautiful! The textures are absolutely stunning and the photos are all really well matched! The lighting of the photos all look natural and nothing looks out of place. The symbolism is so rich too...so awesome. I'm not sure which program you work in, but I know in most of them they have a faded edge/smudge/blending tool of some sort that you could use on the edge of "Una" so she could look a little more like a part of the rest of the picture. :)
@Jan (Princess Una) : All this is acrylic? Bravo! The "layers" and textures of this piece just leave me in awe...The blotching and spattering effects are just so awesome. And the contrast of that to the soft shading of Una's face? Amazing. It really makes you notice the piece as a WHOLE, not just one aspect of it, and you composed it all together so well! And the shading of Una's lips, neck, nose and hair is really really pretty. Some shadows on her eyelids and the area around her eyes would make such a gorgeous portrait! :)
@Rebekah L. (Come Here Mouthful...) : The color...oh the color...I can't get past the brilliance that is the color scheme. Everything else is so gray and dingy and dark and nasty-like. Then there's Una...One bright blue spot of hope left alone in her world that's been left to nast...it's brilliant! And sad... but brilliant! And color me strange, but I love that tree/shrub stripped bare in the background...it looks awesome, like a real shrub/bush/tree thing. One thing I've learned over the years is you don't HAVE to draw every scale or brick or whatnot. You can merely IMPLY scales or bricks by drawing a few overlapping or connecting here and there. It doesn't look bad by any means, but you don't have to work as hard to get a good effect unless you want to. ;)
@Kaylee S. (Fire Burning Low) : This is really beautiful! I love how dark Una's dress is in contrast to everything else. Both Una and the Dragon look really really great, and I love how you drew each part without changing the pencils' direction, it makes it look really consistent. I don't think the other colors, like the ground and the sky, need to be as bright, so your characters could stand out more. Also, art stores have some really great colored pencils, like Prismacolor, they're a little expensive but they're really good. :)
@Jennifer M. (The Flowing Gold) : Oh my gosh, I want one. So much wantage. There are no words for how adorable this is. I don't even KNOW how you managed to crochet a stuffed animal! Mind you I don't know how to crochet and I only know a little knitting, but this is amazing! So, I DO know that lately they've come out with yarn that's fuzzy or fluffy, I wonder what one of these things would look like if it was fluffy...All my petty thoughts aside, you could totally sell stuff like this if you don't already. :)
@Kailin (Hello Una) : Wow, this is as beautiful as it is chilling. The Dragon is so eerie...-shivers- Well done! And the bridge and Una look great. Especially Una's dress trailing behind her, it looks so dramatic! I love it! Don't be afraid of using the pencil to your advantage with some shading here and there to show where the light's coming from. And when you're done, you can actually use hairspray to keep the picture from smudging. :)
@Mercy (Una) : Wow! Bravo for choosing to use chalk! That's tough to work with! It looks great! I love how you chose to shade her hair with the chalk instead of just drawing it with lines! You know, you can actually try to only shade a part of her hair so it looks like the light is hitting that part OR you can try something really neat. You can draw a solid area with chalk and actually erase parts to make a picture. Messy, but really cool.
Part 3!
@ Joseph W. (The Old Bridge) : Whoa!! How awesome! You have a real gift and a really good concept of "depth", "perception", and "perspective". The bridge, the forest, the trees overlapping each other, it looks so awesome! The texture of the grass, the planks of the bridge, and the darker spots of water look really great! I also love the different colored wildflowers and bushes. Don't be afraid to make certain areas darker, like making the ground greener, and you can use different shades of that color to add a little more shading and variety to your art! You can also make the sun a lighter yellow and leave some white space around it and make the rest of the sky the color you want it to be, so it'll look like the sun is there even if you don't draw it in a whole lot. :)
@Kristene (A Neverending Love) : I. LOVE. your. style.The shading, depth, and composition of this is just too gorgeous. Ugh it's so beautiful! And the perspective of Aethelbald's hand? Absolutely stunning! I can't begin to tell you how much I love the shading on this. The depth of it is so beautiful... The shading near the text makes it a teeny bit hard to read though, so maybe going over the text in pen or sharpie or lightening the shading around the text a little more? :)
@Micailah (Princess Una) : Oh goodness, the colors on this one are absolutely breathtaking. The blues and greens and purples all marbled in together are simply gorgeous. And the purples and pinks of her flower crown contrast with the golden hair beautifully. It's only a teeny bit hard to see what her one hand is doing from this angle though...Maybe taking a picture from a slightly different angle when you have a sculpture that may not be as easy to "see" from the front? :)
@Kat O. (Rest in My Love) : This is gorgeous. Absolutely stinking gorgeous. The perspective, the shading, the color...wow. Somehow you made the piece almost look like watercolor. And you managed to imply the background beautifully. And the clothing folds! Oh my gosh, the clothing folds! -applauds- I am most definitely impressed. Ack and the proportions are awesome too! So I just recently learned that the shadows of something are always the complimentary color of the main color (red to green, yellow to purple, orange to blue), so if you use a more purplish blue for the dark shadows of something that's orange-ish yellow, the picture will be richer and you won't have to worry about any greyish-looking shadows. :)
@Rebekah L. (Una and the Yellow-Eyed Boy) : Wow, I love the feeling of this so much! It has this eerie looming feel to it that's just wonderful! You know, sad and eerie, but so complex! Again, don't be afraid to make certain parts really dark and leave other parts light, even if there isn't a whole lot of light wherever the picture takes place. And don't be afraid to imagine where the light is coming from and shade an object from light to dark (the rock for instance). You can even set up objects in front of a light to see how the shadows fall on them. :)
Part 4!
@Micailah (The Dragon) : Whoa, this is great! The proportions are awesome! This Dragon's head looks just flat out awesome. The eyes and the snout look great, and the implied scales make the texture look absolutely fantastic. I'd love to see this with a little bit of shading to it! :)
@Rybrynn (Won't You Return to Me) : Aww, this is beautiful, I love the layout of the song's words in relation to the pictures. And the colors of the sunset and the flower/plant on the third part are super pretty. The wood thrush and the pretty flowing letters are really nice touches. I'd really love to see what that sunset would look like in watercolor! :)
@Micailah (Princess Una) : I had a feeling this was yours after seeing your sculpture. I love your color scheme for Una. The blues, greens and gold are so beautiful together. And the pink flowers here and there are absolutely gorgeous. The "thatched" effect of her bodice and the log are also really pretty. Perhaps you could put a field or forest in the background instead of just the sky? It makes it easier for us to tell where she is. :)
@Kristene (The Claiming of Her Heart) : Can I just say that this puppy flat out gave me CHILLS when I saw it? I've always LOVED watercolor and ink, and this just proves why. The colors are so vibrant and once again, your shading is fantastic. The different colors, shading, and textures of the heart are amazingly fantastic, and the Dragon's claw looks amazing. Oh my gosh this is so fabulous. Totally heart wrenching, but gorgeous nonetheless. It's a teeny bit hard to tell how Dragon's thumb joints work, but that's it. :)
@Brenna (The Haven) : Wow, this is gorgeous! The photos are blended so perfectly that it really does feel like the book, impossible to tell if you're looking at trees or columns and whatnot. Amazing! It looks really great! There's only one point on the horizon line that the vanishing points don't seem to quite match, now I don't know what program you use, but selecting that part and moving/stretching it might fix it right up! :)
@Christa W. (Trust Me) : Wow I love this! The colors are so vibrant and beautiful, and the expressions are just beyond fabulous. I could tell what scene this was from just by looking at it! The shading/highlights of the hair and faces are just gorgeous. Una looks so adorably flushed, very beautiful! As far as watercolor goes, background or otherwise, you can get some really really amazing texture effects with strange things such as sponges and even salt! You should try it! :)
Part 5!
@Rebekah L. (The Old Bridge) : Oh my gosh, the trees...The trees look so beautiful and realistic! The branches, the leaves, and the overlap of the trees look wonderful! And the perspective of the bridge and the railing look amazing! Like, really amazing! Making rivers and roads and such look right is really hard, but it's easier in this case if you put the river parallel to the tree "line". Not quite sure if this is making any sense. :)
@Jessica (Una the Dragon) : Wow this is amazing! Beautiful and tragic and heartbreaking...Una's expression and proportions look amazing. I absolutely love her eyes...And I love the splotchy shaded backgound too, and the textures for the wings, scales, and background look great! The scales look great, but I've found it's easier and sometimes more effective to draw a few overlapping scales (maybe of various sizes) here and there to imply scales rather than draw every one, unless you want to. :)
@Kailin (Una and Monster) : This photo is really beautiful! The lighting is absolutely phenomenal! And bravo on getting the feline model to cooperate! I'm very much impressed! I really do love this photo! I think it would be even more beautiful if you set up "Monster" lower in the frame so we could see I teeny bit more of "Una's" body language, is she leaning against the windowsill? Is she huddled over Monster? And maybe so we could see some more of the window. I also love Una's ring, that's a really beautiful detail. :)
@Rebekah L. (Things From Heartless) : You know, I think this could be one of my favorites of yours so far! The composition is excellent, and every piece is placed so perfectly. The tree branches are once again, amazing, as are the leaves on each side and on the trees. The Dragon, the wood thrush, the sword, and Una and Monster all look fantastic! And I love Una and Monster's expressions! And the striking black writing really makes the words pop out, it looks really nice. Maybe you could make the background some kind of subtle color, whether that's blue, beige, or whatever, some off-white color so the background isn't just white... :)
@Courtney E. (Lost But Not Forgotten) : -Speechless- Words...words...d'uhhm... wow. This is gorgeous. Absolutely stinking gorgeous. The lighting...The composition, the editing, blending it all together...so amazing. And the gold and purple complimentary color scheme? Brilliant. The green and yellow accents of her eyes give just the right "pop" that make it absolutely stunning. And the scale textures are absolutely amazing. Have you tried playing with the contrast, lighting effects, and color overlays? It looks amazing the way it is, though I wonder how awesome it would look if you tried pushing the vividness of the colors and lighting just a teensy bit more. :)
Part 6!
@Kaylee S. (Una's Transformation) : Wow, this one's so powerful. It's heartbreaking, and the expressions and body language you've captured are just so emotional and gripping. I love the expression on her face and her pose...and the frame of fire that looks like it's about to consume her...oh the symbolism...it's so very tragically beautiful. And the color scheme, the Reds and the blacks, without a blue, green, or purple in sight, the viewer isn't allowed to "rest" and can only feel the fierceness of the piece that the angry reds and hopeless blacks communicate. I'd say don't be afraid to use more than just one medium. If you want a more solid color, like black for instance, to fully cover a certain part, you could use sharpie or charcoal. If you want a more textured or blotchy area, you can use watercolor and maybe a sponge, paper towel, or salt to make it look really neat. Try a bunch of different stuff! Test it out! Get your feet wet! :)
IMPORTANT: You guys have totally amazed me, and just to let you know, most of my critiques had to be teeny little nitpicks, you guys were so great! So whatever you do, keep artisting! And don't be like me and get discouraged by looking at other people's stuff! You are all the most amazing creations, created to turn around and be like our Lord by bringing creations to life ourselves with our the creativity that He's given each and every one of us INDIVIDUALLY, so take heart in the spirit of creativity He's given you, and feed it and let it grow by CONTINUING to create. The only way we can get worse is if we give up (and I'm saying this to me just as much as I am to you).
Joshua 1:9
And now I will promptly collapse in a heap of blankets and start on Part 2 tomorrow morning.
Blessings and Prayers! You guys are so awesome!
--Melanie J.
P.S. If I've forgotten anyone, misspelled or misgrammared anything I'm super duper sorry, keeping track of all this type is really hard on a phone.
It's been very kindly pointed out to me by a few people that, despite my best efforts, I very likely could have come across as a total jerkwad over my last few posts, and I must sincerely provide my deepest apologies....I'm really really sorry...I know I sometimes get kind of annoyed when everyone says nothing but good things about my stuff, and nobody answers when I ask if I can do something better.
I guess I just wanted to give you guys ideas you may not have thought of before. Eventually I probably got too excited and got carried away because I really wanted to share my knowledge of art and tricks of the trade so you all wouldn't have to learn the hard way like I have. I really did just want to encourage you and KEEP you all doing artwork, especially if I could see your even more beautiful art next time. Honestly, I don't do well with criticism myself, and, to be fair, I had been planning on tearing my own pieces up one side and down the other in addition, because frankly, lack of time doesn't excuse any of the mistakes in THOSE things.
In short and super juvenile GIF form,
http://img.pandawhale.com/100473-Lilo-and-Stitch-happy-sad-gif-cwlU.gif
So, I'm really really sorry, and, in the future posts, if I can muster up the courage to continue, I'll let each of you know all the things I find fabulous in your work and you can let me know if you'd like to hear my ideas, like I should've done in the first place but was too much of an air headed ding-dong to think of it. And don't worry, after this year I'll probably never super-comment again so don't be afraid to enter your stuff!
Keep artisting!
Blessings and so much apologies,
--Melanie J.
Aw, that's so sweet of you to apologize, Melanie! Personally, I was enjoying all your comments and thought your critique was quite graciously sandwiched. I guess it depends on whether someone wants critique or not, what with it being a contest and all. So I'll volunteer and say I'd love to hear what you think of my pieces and in what ways you think I could improve. :)
By the way, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your work and wish you had entered more.
God bless!
@Melanie: I completely second all that Hannah just said! I thought your comments were tasteful, and I was impressed that you'd take the time to say that much about each and every piece. :) I shall also volunteer, for I'd like to know what you think about my piece (Rose Red in the Netherworld) -- good and bad. If there's something I can improve in, I'd love to know.
And YES! Eanrin's expressions, especially in his cat form, were utterly excellent.
-Tracey
EVERY submission was beautiful! I'll certainly have my work cut out for me as a voter...
@Hannah: Thank you! ^_^
@Melanie J.: You're fine. :) I never thought about art critiquing before. I've had people critique stories I've written but never anything I've drawn. Thank you for the tips! I'll keep them in mind in my future drawing! :) Your comments made me very happy and I saved them so I can look at them whenever I want to. I think it was sweet of you to take that much time out of your day to analyze every one of the pictures. (And you did all that on your phone? :O That's impressive!) And it's not like you're saying "this drawing is awful, this is how you could make it good:..." you're just telling us some tips along with the things you liked. And wait a minute. . .you're the Melanie J. Morgan who did those awesome Eanrin expression things? I LOVE THOSE! THEY'RE SO AWESOME!!! :D <3 I feel so honored that you looked at my pictures and took time to think about them! Thank you so much! ^_^
@Hannah : Awwww that's so sweet!! Thank you so much! Actually, I've been keeping my eyeballs on your work for quite a while myself! Seriously! I've just been a too much of a silly cowardly chicken-face to speak up before now. It does indeed depend on whether someone wants it or not, but silly me got so excited, "Oh my gosh, this is something I DO know a thing or two about! I could be useful and actually help people out!" :P It's probably a bad habit I've gotten from college...None of us were allowed to leave class until every student's work had been critiqued in front of the class by our peers. Five years later...oops! Forget to ask if people want my opinion or not! -chuckles dumbly- Anyway, sorry it's taken me so long, I've done my best to give you all my thoughts on your piece in the Veiled Rose and Moonblood section (Since that's as far as I've gotten as of now). And thank you so very much for your wonderful words and support! I would've liked to enter more, but unfortunately my portfolio is in desperate need of finishing, thus time is quite a luxury. So now that I've decided to try to stop being that kid in the corner, twiddling thumbs and saying, "But what if they don't like me?" in a room full of super awesome people, you may hear a little bit more from me (And mind you, much of this is spoken in the greatest humor, so do feel free to laugh at my attempts to humor and imagine silly voices in your head or acknowledge that I'm attempting it, even if it fails miserably) ;)
@Tracey: Aawww man you guys are sweet!! Thank you so much dearie! I've done my best at giving my thoughts on your beautiful and bittersweet piece, and I really hope to see more of your stuff!! And I take your compliment with utmost grace and thankfulness (and style, if Eanrin had anything to say about it! ;) ) Thank you so much for your comment and your wonderful kindness!! It truly warms my heart!
@Rebekah L.: Thank you so much!!! It means so much to me to hear you say that! (Haha...yeah, I did it on my phone, unfortunately it's my only source of Internet at the moment...autocorrect ahoy! :P ) I really truly hoped I came across that way, that's what I was hoping for, at least. So thank you so much. ...And yes, I'm that Melanie J. Morgan...-scratches neck and grins sheepishly- Aww shucks dearie...Thank you. Thank you very much. It gives me great big joy to think I could be a little blessing to you. :D Please keep drawing! I'm anxious to see what else you come up with!!
@ Melanie J
I am very thankful that you took the time to review us. I thought it sweet. And I believe that both good and bad criticism helps improve and encourage. You should not be afraid to give or to take constructive criticism. One does not fully learn without it. =)
@ Melanie J
Also, to answer your question:
I did a lot of playing around with color, contrast and lighting. The lighting on this piece is different than the original two main photographs. (The girl and then the cave) I ended up giving cool tones (left) and then the other bright tones.(right) I have a friend who understands lighting well and she nitpicked the combining of the individual photographs so that eventually they could all become one piece.
I have a tendency to over contrast my artwork. (I am a big fan of vivid, intense colorization) I just felt like it had a decent balance.
@Melanie: You're most welcome, and another big thank you to you as well! I'm about to hop on over to the other post to properly respond to your review of my drawing... :)
-Tracey
@Melanie: Aw, your work is definitely not something to be shy of! Remember, art can be sent in at any time to Dame Imraldera's Library! All we Imps would love it! =D
Thank you to every one who commented on my artwork. It gives me great joy to hear that you like it. To Anne Elisabeth Stengl, I too am glad that I alerted you right away, and do not worry about how my artwork ended up in the spam file, I am just happy that you got it. :) Thank you @Melanie J. for the praises and the criticism. I shall take both to heart!
- Kristene
Sorry it took so long to reply, dearies, life is chaos and the third batch of reviews is by far the longest bunch and has taken quite the energy out of me.
@Courtney: Frankly, dearie, that was the only thing I could POSSIBLY find that you could do in a different way (believe me when I say I think either way would look just as fabulous). Now, I'm no super expert on photography and photo manipulation, so maybe an expert would do better than me at such a review, but your work was amazing and left me absolutely speechless. :)
@Tracey : Thank YOU dearie! I'm so glad to do so! Now I'll head on over and respond to your response. ;)
@Hannah : I'll most definitely keep it in mind, hon! Especially whenever I actually get a chance to doodle again! Thank you so much!
@Kristene : You're welcome! I wish I'd had the sense to ask if people wanted it before I spewed my mouth but I hope my words were able to encourage you! :)
Blessings my dears!
-Melanie
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