CONTEST SUBMISSIONS
Vista Over Rudiobus
By: Allison R.
Watercolor
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
A Friendly Proposition
By: Bret W.
Lego and Digital Art
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Bard Eanrin of Rudiobus
By: Jessica (age 12)
Pencil Drawing
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Glomar the Badger
By: Micailah
Pencil Drawing
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Tower of Etalpalli
By: Brenna Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Lake
By: Allison R.
Watercolor
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Hound and His Knight
By: Lynn and Jasper
Photography
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Starflower's, Panther Master's, and Fairbird's Name Beads
By: Micailah
Clay Beads
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Starflower
By: Beka
Watercolor
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Orfhlaith and Imraldera
By: Chloe W.
Colored Pencil
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Imraldera's Necklace
By: Caitlyn
Photography and Painted Paper Bead
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Bracelet of Rudiobus
By: Micailah
Clay Jewelry
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Imraldera
By: Anna
Watercolor
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Faerie Queen
By: Bret W.
Lego and Digital Art
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
King Iubdan and Queen Bebo
By: Micailah
Clay Models
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Song for Starflower
By: Beka
Colored Pencil
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Guardian of Fionnghuala
By: Caitlyn
Ceramic Model Painting
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Glomar
By: Micailah
Clay Model
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Eanrin Character and Expression Sheet
By: Melanie J. Morgan
Digital Art
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Eanrin (Cat Form) Character and Expression Sheet
By: Melanie J. Morgan
Digital Art
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
ChuMana's Demesne
By: Micailah
Pencil Drawing
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Starflower
By: Jemma (age 11)
Clay Model
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Eanrin Names Imraldera
By: Hannah W.
Acrylic and Digital Animation
From: Starflower
Book 4 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
By: Jenelle Hovde
Pencil Drawings and Animation Effects
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Hri Sora: Bed of Ash
By: Jenelle Hovde
Pencil Drawing
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Unicorn of the Stars
By: Jessica (age 12)
Pencil Drawing
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Dragonwitch
By: Bret W.
Lego and Digital Art
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Hri Sora: Hope Lost
By: Jenelle Hovde
Pencil Drawing
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Gaheris Castle
By: Brenna Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
I Wouldn't Ask You to Marry a Dwarf
By: Tori and Kitty A.
Lego Art
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Etanun Ashiun: Vengeance
By: Jenelle Hovde
Pencil Drawing
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Brothers Ashiun
By: Hannah W.
Acrylic and Digital Art
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Dragonwitch Book Teaser
By: Hannah W.
Movie, Photography, and Recording Effects
From: Dragonwitch
Book 5 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Scroll down to the next post for more fan art submissions!
23 comments:
I am stunned. By all of the talent, by the number of submission, by everything! I can't believe how stupendous this year's contest has been!
Wow! All the art is amazing! Great job everyone! For some reason I can't see Dragon Witch Book Teaser and Eanrin names Imraldera. :/
@Micailah: Your computer probably has a filter on it that blocks video players, such as Youtube. Our computer blocked those two entries also, but since I'm in charge of the filter, I was able to temporarily allow the videos.
Lego art! I love that, what a fun idea.
Third set! And go!
@Allison: The hero stands in epic glory looking to sun setting behind the mountain...sulking about a girl not giving him enough attention. Nice job!
@Bret: SQUEE! Legos! Such great figurines of Eanrin and Glomar! This is great and very detailed!
@Jessica: Aw, what an adorable kitty! Wonderful drawing talent!
@Micailah: You're so good at your animals! Glomar is so darling!
@Brenna Jones: Very nice combination for Etallpalli. Ruins in fire and smoke...
@Allison: I really love the water here. The ripples set out from Orthlaith's muzzle is a nice touch.
@Lynn and Jasper: Aw, sweet! What a loyal and good puppu to pose!
@Micailah: Nice job on the name beads! I can see them looking like this!
@Beka: Beautiful work, again! Soft, gentle colors.
@Chloe: Very nice! I love your horse, and the way her head is angled to look across the lake.
@Caitlyn: Pretty name bead!
@Micailah: This bracelet continues to delight me. I want, I want!
@Anna: Lovely Imraldera! Nice shading too.
@Bret: SO DRAMATIC. And chilling. Despite the fact the subject is Legos. You genius, you.
@Micailah: This is so great! I love these miniatures!
@Beka: Aw, such a precious scene. Very sweet.
@Caitlyn: Cool! Orthlaith has entered model horses! Fun!
@Micailah: Did I mention I like this Glomar?
@Melanie: Okay. Just hilarious. COMPLETELY hilarious. Both his man and cat forms. The funny thing is, all these expressions fit. Awesome.
@Micailah: Wonderful depiction of Chu Mana. Great detail in the scales. And it's fun to see the frogs!
@Jemma: This is too cute! So sweetly darling and so nicely set off in your composition.
@Jenelle: Nice way to highlight your art. Augh, that story of the Dragonwitch and Etanun just gets me.
@Jenelle: Whoa, nice, nice, nice drawing of Hri Sora.
@Jessica: *Gasp*, what a lovely drawing of the unicorn! Great angle and detail!
@Bret: *DAdadaDA* Soooo creepy. I really like it!
@Jenelle: Oh, great depiction of Hri Sora! I can easily see this being her. I love how lovely she is, yet so hopeless and emaciated.
@Brenna Jones: Great job, again! Love this all.
@Tori and Kitty: OH! More Legos! What a great scene to depict! I can believe you caught the chronicler's reflection in the bricks. And Leta's expression!
@Jenelle: Be still my heart. It's HIM. You have him as SUCH the classic knight here. Steely eyes, light beard, huge arms, big sword. Pretty awesome.
I'm in love with the legos! Especially "A friendly proposition" :)
@Jemma: Every time I see your Starflower, I think, "No wonder Eanrin fell absolutely head or heals (or was it whiskers over paws) for Starflower." Your Starflower is absolutely adorable.
Everyone has done SUCH a fantastic job! The various Lego artworks killed me, and I love Micailah's badgers. (Glomar is so cute!)
@Hannah and Bret W.: Wow! Eanrin Names Imraldera is so amazing. My sister I both agree that that is in fact the voice of the great Bard Eanrin. You have somehow kidnapped him, holding him hostage until you got his voice for your animation clip. :D
@Ghost Ryter: THAT is such a HUGE compliment! Thank you so much! I'll be sure to tell him...he's so good at doing different voices and when I asked for Eanrin, out Eanrin came. :D
I want to chime in with Clara about the Lego entries. These were so much fun and imaginative. Please keep them coming!
Part 2!
@Micailah (Glomar the Badger) : He's adorable! In a strange, waddling creature sort of way. ;) Your proportions are great! I never realized how strange badgers look until now, but you've done wonderfully! Did you look up references or do this out of your head? The texture and markings of his fur look amazing, and I love how you drew his whiskers, and the shape of his ears look really great! My favorite parts are definitely his eyes and his nose. His eyes have such a beautiful shape. They're so dark with just enough highlights to look really deep. And I don't know why, but I adore the shape of his nose. It's shaded phenomenally and the angular shape contrasts fantastically against the curves of his head. It looks super duper great! :)
@Brenna (The Tower of Etalpalli) : This looks so dreadfully ominous! Fabulous job! The sky photo gives such a smoky atmosphere that works wonderfully! The orange clouds above make it look like it's reflecting an orange glow (maybe from fire on the ground or something? ;) ) and the dark clouds resemble smoke. My favorite part is the clouds near the bottom, which look like this ominous smoky fog skulking like a hungry beast through the wasteland. So it gives a wonderfully dark and brooding atmosphere. Wonderful job! :)
@Allison R. (The Lake) : Oh, how beautiful! And the colors are simply gorgeous! Orfhlaith is just beautiful, graceful, and peaceful. Her expression and the calming color scheme give off a really serene and calming atmosphere. And the rippling of the water is just wondrous. And her reflection in the water is just gorgeous. My favorite part is definitely the lake itself. You didn't use a whole lot of bright colors or super obvious techniques, and I love that. The subtle textures and washed out colors make it look absolutely amazing. The simplicity of it all makes it feel clean and clear, it really makes the picture. Awesome. :)
@Lynn and Jasper (The Hound and His Knight) : Oh heavens to murgatroyd, my heart. You've hit the "Animal Lover" button and the "Feels" button all at once! This is so sweet and pretty! And bravo for getting your handsome animal actor to sit still! It would've taken tremendous effort and many failed shots to have gotten my dogs to do that! ;) I really love the angle and the posing you chose! It portrays so much feeling and emotion! The background also works really well and congrats on finding a setting without pavement or buildings! It may sound odd, but my favorite part is the distance from which you chose to take it. The wide shot, versus a close-up, communicates a...change. A change bigger than oneself. A close up communicates emotion and gets the viewer up close and personal with the characters, but a wider shot gives the viewer some space to see the larger picture, to see what's really going in, and I think you've achieved that absolutely beautifully.
@Micailah (Starflower's, Panther Master's, and Fairbird's Name Beads) : Ooh! More of your wonderful craftsmanship! These are most beautiful! All of them are incredibly similar to what I imagined from reading the books. I especially love Panther Master's and Fairbird's! The way you used such bright colors and silhouettes, covered in a shiny glaze looks awesome! And I really love how Panther Master's is a different shape from the girls'. It gives a wonderful uniqueness to it. Fantastic! :)
@Beka (Starflower) : How beautiful! The colors, the expression on her face, they all look so sweet. The washed out colors of the background make it feel soft and gentle. Her expression is very sweet and kind, but also looks very sad. And you were subtle about the expression, but I see it and feel it all the same. I adore the texture of her hair. I adore it. I think my favorite part is the style you used. It's sketchy, detailed, and textured, and the shapes the lines make of her eyes, lips, and nose, is exquisite. I love it. :)
Part 3!
@Chloe W. (Orfhlaith and Imraldera) : This is really beautiful. It feels calm yet somehow very sad, a sweet melancholy. The expanse of the lake is really beautiful, I love how large you made it, it feels a little daunting spread out before Imraldera and Orfhlaith, who look tiny in comparison. I also really love how you made the detailed trees on the other side of the lake. I love the poses you chose as well, but by far my favorite part is the implied motion of Orfhlaith's mane and tail swooshing about her. It makes the picture look so dynamic. It's wonderful. :)
@Caitlyn (Imraldera's Necklace) : Aww wow! So pretty! How'd you do the bead? It says paper, did you do paper mache, origami, etc? Either way it looks fabulous! The angle you took the photo from is great, and I love the lighting, and putting the Starflower book in the crook of the tree is subtle but genius. My favorite part is the necklace's paint job. The colors are striking and beautiful, and the layout of the starflower is gorgeous. You did really well at centering it and making all the petals symmetrical, it looks super awesome. Bravo, my friend! :)
@Micailah (Bracelet of Rudiobus) : This by far is my favorite sculpture piece of yours. I want one. Oh my gosh I want one. No lies, I seriously want one of these puppies. The size and style of the "charms" is perfect for the bracelet. And all the colors work out really nicely. And it's so stinking adorable. The thing that most impresses me is how you found a way to use your sculptures in a super practical way...and oh my gosh is that how small all your sculptures are?! You're telling me all your brilliant super-detailed sculptures are THAT tiny? Or did you completely remake them in miniature form?? Either way, you're ridiculously awesome, dearie! I'm totally astounded by your talent! :)
@Anna (Imraldera) : Awww wow, she's so pretty! And you did this in watercolor? Did you use black watercolor or watercolor pencils? I love this stylized look for her, it's very beautiful and the style really works for her character! I love the subtle shading on her face and I really love the style and texture you used for her hair! The bridge of her nose and the shape of her lips are fantastic! And the shape of her eyebrows is really pretty. My favorite part is her eyes. The shape, shading and depth of her eyes are amazing. How her eyes slant upwards gives an air of mystery, maturity, and femininity, it's very beautiful! :)
@Bret W. (Faerie Queen) : Another amazing Lego piece! Your construction is, once again, fantastic, and the angle of the photo is absolutely exquisite! The concept is tragic and sad and ominous, but so well-executed! What a fantastic job! Having Hri Sora's back to the camera overlooking her ruined kingdom is genius, it allows us to imagine what's going on inside her mind and heart without actually seeing her face. Yet it allows us to have some distance from her as the viewer, making her seem more lonely and alone. My favorite part is the background you used. The fiery destruction completes the desolate and tragic mood and does so wonderfully! Great job once again! :)
Part 4!
@Micailah (King Iubdan and Queen Bebo) : More of your beautiful sculptures! How exciting! And these are equally beautiful and detailed! I love how you remembered the Rudiobus Fae Folk's "Green Rule" , and the shades of green you chose are beautiful! I love how you used a fresh light green for Bebo and a dark green for Iubdan, and both their headdresses look awesome! The red accents are a really nice touch! I also really love Bebo's lips and Iubdan's beard! My favorite parts are definitely Bebo's long beautiful "Flowing Gold" and Iubdan's deep blue eyes. They both look awesome. :)
@Beka (Song for Starflower) : Awww the feels! It's so sweet! And cute, and sad, at the same time! The shading and colors are absolutely beautiful! And they're all used wonderfully! The color schemes you used for Eanrin and Imraldera are beautiful, and the details, like the cuts on Eanrin's face, are really well done! I also love the subtle music notes. So cute! And the textures of both of their heads of hair is fantastic! The slightly different colors mingled in Eanrin's hair and the knots and braids in Imraldera's is super beautiful! My favorite parts are definitely the expressions. The expressions on their faces are adorable and absolutely heartbreaking! You did so incredibly well with the portrayal of these emotions! So awesome!
@Caitlyn (Guardian of Fionnghuala) : How beautiful! This piece looks fantastic and it works really well! The composition works really nice and the placement is great! The leaves/grass in the foreground creates a great depth effect, and the depth of field you used is fantastic. How the grass/leaves in the front are blurry, as is the background, while Orfhlaith is perfectly clear, it's great! My favorite part is the painting of the model itself. What did you use as the model? Is that a Breyers horse? The painting is gorgeous, the colors are so incredibly well-chosen and you applied all the colors so well! The paint job is fantastic! Bravo! :)
@Micailah (Glomar) : So cute!! I have no idea how you've had the time to make all these adorable little things! You're really awesome! And Glomar is no exception to the adorableness. He's just flat-out all-around adorable. The markings, his eyes, his tiny little feet, so cute! Excellent job! :)
Part 5!
(As promised...) @Melanie J. (Eanrin Character and Expression Sheets) : These are alright. The color schemes work pretty well, and the line art of the full body and head detail both look nice, but when an artist whose style is really sketchy tries to do a clean style using line art like the actual expressions themselves, it looks kind of awkward. Additionally, the expressions look a little stiff, try to be more fluid and natural with them, and don't be afraid to go a little more off-model and exaggerate them a little bit. The hands on his man form also look super wonky, so try to study up BEFOREhand, not two days before you have to turn it in. The Disney style looks nice, but stop trying to be like everybody else and embrace your own style, be okay with being sketchy and stop worrying about what other people will think. The border also looks nice, but the edges aren't smooth and you can tell you took it from another picture you did beforehand. Overall, satisfied with the design, and will continue to use it, but keep working on it, see if those kinks can be worked out. :)
@Micailah (ChuMana's Demesne) : Wow how cool! I love how detailed this is! Seriously, hon, how do you find the time to do this massive amount of super detailed artwork? The textures are fantastic, and I absolutely adore the background. I love ChuMana's scales, and I love how she's coiled around while the frogs are on the ground around her. Speaking of the frogs, they're one of my favorite parts. They look so awesome, and their scale in relation to ChuMana's is really nice, intimidating, considering how large she is, but really nice. My other favorite part is the orange accents on her belly and in her eyes, it gives a wonderful "pop" factor to it. Great job! :)
@Jemma (Starflower) : Excuse me while I gather up the exploded portions of my little heart that seems to have just burst from too much adorable. You're not eleven. I refuse to believe it. If I could do stuff like THIS at your age, I'd have Disney clinging to my heels, BEGGING me to come work for them right now. Whatever you do, do NOT stop creating stuff. I would love to see what else you come up with, because this is fantastic. The pose, the hands, the color scheme, and especially the eyes are absolutely fabulous! Exquisite job! :)
Part 6!
@Hannah (Eanrin Names Imraldera) : No lies, I've been looking forward to reviewing this puppy. And may I just say... "Welcome...to the Dark Side...we frequently have cookies, and donuts don't last more than 3 minutes in our realm." All jokes aside, I'm still in absolute awe of your pension for detail. Your shading, color schemes, and details are absolutely phenomenal. And your backgrounds? Total jaw-droppage. So it says partly acrylic, how did you scan your paintings to make them look so amazingly vivid? Absolutely amazing. And my question of ridiculous productivity extends to you too. How in the whole of Goldstone Wood did you do SO much beautifully detailed artwork in such a small amount of time? You, my dear, have ridiculous hands. Treasure them justly.
IMPORTANT! I'm probably about to go off on an excited animation rant/borderline college lecture. If you don't intend to do animation much anymore, or don't really care/wanna know, most of this will probably be a load of confusing and unnecessary mumbo jumbo, and feel free to skip to the bottom. However, should you be exceedingly interested or should your curiosity get the better of you, this may be a little confusing so please bear with me. :)
-assumes silly drill sargeant pose- Oki doki! Rule #1 of Animation! Simplification and Exaggeration! : Animation is very time consuming. Judge first how much time you have to do something, measure that alongside how long the piece is and how much time it would take. Adjust accordingly. Animated characters don't have to be super detailed or super realistic. It's much easier, much less time consuming, and much more fluid to animate a more simplistic exaggerated character rather than a super detailed one. Now, there are 2 kinds of 2-D animation. The first is to animate everything frame by frame, think Disney 2-D animation, and then there's puppet animation, think Disney's Phineas and Ferb, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, and even Sponge Bob Squarepants to an extent.
Frame-by-frame animation is much tougher and much more time-consuming, but it generally looks much better when done right. Puppet animation is when you create all the parts of a character you're going to need (in the computer, preferably flash or toonboom), put each of those parts on a different layer, and "parent" each layer to the layer above it, the waist being the parent of all parents (ie the waist is the parent of the thigh, which is the parent of the lower leg, which is the parent of the foot). You can also move the rotation points so when you rotate the forearm, it'll rotate at the elbow, etc. It's pretty confusing and it takes a while to get the hang of it, but it's much less time-consuming than drawing each frame by hand. The trade-off is it doesn't look as good. Also! Animation is done 24 frames per second, though if pressed you can probably skate by with 12 frames per second, holding each drawing for 2 frames. So keep that in mind when you're in planning-mode!
Part 6.5!
@Hannah (cont'd):
Finally, animators generally can be lazy, generous show-offs, so whatever you may have trouble with, somebody probably has a tutorial for it (especially if there's a shortcut). My Animation Director/professor says, "Work smarter, not harder." and all my professors, classmates, and myself say to ALWAYS make back-up copies of your computer files, and save, and save often. So much so that we've all adopted the saying, "Jesus saves, so should you." :P
Lip syncing is really hard, I'm very impressed! If you ever have trouble, they also have "lip-sync" sheets online that show generally what the mouth looks like when it makes any certain sound, but nothing beats a good old desk-mirror. Professionals have mirrors on their desks so they can look at their expression and shape of their mouths so they know generally what it should look like and translate it into animated form.
Oh! And books...I love my animation and drawing books...I still have to get them out and put them back all the time. And feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
And if you don't have and can't get Flash, Toonboom, or another animation program, don't be afraid of old school! Pencil drawn/flip books are still just as awesome as they were before computers, and you can always transfer the drawings to the computer if you like. :)
I hope I didn't overwhelm you! You've done so much hard work on this and I'm so SO impressed with how this came out. Your voice actor did a fabulous job of Eanrin and it turned out wonderfully. You've just done so much detailed work, that, if you decide you want to do more animation, you don't need to work so hard! And with the extra time, you can feel more free to focus on the other parts, like animating more of their bodies and doing more lip-sync movements. Your attention won't be as torn between all the details. :D
And by the way, your backgrounds still cause my jaw to clatter to the ground. Bravo, dearie, bravo! You're absolutely amazing! :)
Part 7!
@Jenelle (Book Teaser for Dragonwitch) : Wow, this is awesome! It showcases your work and talent wonderfully! If you plan on making a career of art/animation/design, I'd say this is a wonderful way to present your work in a demo reel/electronic portfolio! I absolutely adore the fire and ember effects, they look absolutely superb! And it all came together immensely well! C'est fantastique! And now, I'll get to you other work. ;)
@Jenelle (Hri Sora: Bed of Ash) : Lemme start by saying that your concept of proportion and shading is absolutely fantastic. I can see where the light is coming from easily and you translated that to the dragon's shading expertly. The shading on her face is especially awesome. How the light and dark on her face is split right down the middle is amazingly fantastic, it feels so symbolic and it's wonderful. You handled the skin of her wings beautifully and the slight foreshortening and the way you did the curve of her tail implies depth in an awesome way. My favorite parts are her face and the amazingly fantastic texture. Her face is awesome. The angle, proportion, and the especially awesome ridges and textures of her face are absolutely fabulous, it makes it look so realistic. And the textures of her body? Oh my gosh, amazing. You made the scales look so realistic. And you put it all together to look so believable, you know, for a creature that doesn't exist in our world. ;)
@Jessica (The Unicorn) : Oh my gosh, you need to stop being fabulous. ;) Kidding, dear, this is fantastic! Still not believing you're twelve! And drawing any creature from that angle is really tough, much less a horse-like creature! And to be able to pull it off? Shockage. And you did it! I'm speechless. Speechless! The placement and look of the legs and chest is perfect. And that's one of the toughest parts! The head is beautiful, the ears look fantastic, and the eyes are so deep. And I really really love the shading. The shading of the legs and the muzzle is especially phenomenal. And I love that shaded point at the tip of its horn. My favorite parts, though, are definitely the mane, tail, and feathers on the fetlocks/ankles. The texture, style, and just overall the way you did them is super fantastical! I love it! And the beard! I adore the beard! I sense you have drawn horses before...I can smell it like a bloodhound. There's no way someone who's never drawn a horse before can do this out of their head, let alone at twelve years old. If you stop drawing, I am going to be most disappoint. I'll be on the watch for your stuff next time...I will! :)
Part 8!
@Bret W. (The Dragonwitch) : Once again, fantastic. The construction and the lighting look amazing again as well. The digital flames and fiery smoky background do so amazingly well at setting the mood and they work so well! The placement of the flames as a crown about her head is especially fantastic! One thing I especially love is how you used the pillars as framing for the photo, it makes it look especially awesome, and way to use a great photography technique! My favorite part is most definitely the photo itself in relation to your other piece. Allow me to explain. The mood of your previous work was melancholy and distant, allowing the viewer some space to observe Hri Sora's heartache and rage. This one does the exact opposite. It thrusts her rage and hatred at the forefront, forcing the audience to take it, whether we like it or not. It's in our face, and we can't escape the burning she feels. And that effect, doing both those photographs with opposite effects that created opposite moods, that, is absolutely genius. Amazingly done. :)
@Jenelle (Hri Sora: Hope Lost) : Once again, phenomenal. The shading is exquisite and the implications/shadows of wings on her back is a wonderful effect. The proportions are great, again, and your style is wonderful. My favorite parts are her hair and the style of her features themselves. The texture of her hair, her hairline, and how it lays on her shoulders looks absolutely splendid. The rest of her features look amazing. You've drawn her with such stark sharp features, and it gives off a wonderful impression of her character. The sharp features, high cheekbones, and fierce expression all work wonderfully to give us a sense of this fierce, hardened character. Amazing job! :)
@Brenna (Gaheris Castle) : You know, I think this might be my favorite one of yours. The monochromatic style of the castle is very striking, and the lighting job is amazing. You've blended the photos wonderfully, and it looks very consistent. The night sky looks awesome, and that one bright star brings it all together fantastically. I think my favorite part is the lighting. The contrast is amazing. The light gates against the dark castle looks amazing. The whole thing is immensely striking and vivid, I love it. :)
@Tori & Kitty A. (I Wouldn't Ask You to Marry a Dwarf) : Awwww so sad and cute! The construction is fantastic, and using what I suspect was a Hobbit once? Genius. Total genius. The setup is really great too, the stairs and the table are great details. The background you used is really nice and subtle as well, it really sets the mood. My favorite part is definitely the setup. How you have the Chronicler facing away from Lady Leta is wonderful, it's so emotionally telling and sets the mood perfectly. And this is the first time I've seen any pieces featuring any of the four protagonists of Draginwitch. Awesome job! :)
@Jenelle (Etanun Ashiun: Vengeance) : -stutters- Wowww, awesome...supremely awesome. Oh ma gosh, with the proportions and the realism? Fabulous. The framing and angle are both amazing, and once again, your shading is fantastic. My favorite part is just...His face. The whole thing. The expression, the depth of the eyes, the shape of his nose, it's just so awesome. The way you drew him is so distinct, great job! And oh! His beard! I adore the shape, realism, and texture of his beard. So awesome. Amazing job! Oh my gosh it's all so awesome!! :)
Part 9!
@Hannah W. (The Brothers Ashiun) : And once again your color sense and ability absolutely blows me away. This is so beautiful! I love how you gave the brothers different features (and even different builds!) enough to make them look like totally different people, but gave them enough similar features for us to tell that they're related. And you pulled it off awesomely! The lighting is fantastic and the colors are amazing! The brilliant shine of the lantern and the sword look splendiferous (not to mention the swords shading! Wow!) and their different color schemes work wonderfully! I also adore the background you used and it's shading! It blends fantastically! The layout looks absolutely splendid, a lot like the sort of layout of a poster or movie cover, and it looks great! I also love the little sparks of light in each corner, they bring the whole thing together super well! The back lighting also makes it much easier to see their faces at the top and brings our attention towards the center. My favorite part by far is the wood thrush. I didn't see him the first time I glanced at it, but oh my gosh he's so cute! And his little speckled breast, and I love the shining outline, that's one of my favorite parts.
Not gonna lie, this one's hard to critique! The layout and lighting are absolutely gorgeous! And the color scheme, as usual, is wonderful! The only thing I can think of is maybe finding a font that has a bold option, making the words bigger, or if you use photoshop, you can put a "stroke" on the layer, which mimics the effects of "bold"ing. The font is really beautiful, it's just a teensy bit hard to read because the letters are so thin. That's about it, this is wonderful! Fantastic job, dearie! :)
NOTE @Hannah: I'm running super low on my data this month, so I can't watch your last video until tonight or tomorrow, when I can go somewhere to get some real internet. So rest assured, I will, it'll just take me a little longer. :)
IMPORTANT: You guys have totally amazed me, 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
Again! Let me know if you want any additional tips/opinions or whatnot!
Blessings and Prayers! You guys are so awesome!
--Melanie J.
P.S. Again, 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.
OOPS! It seems Part 1 somehow got away from me! Sorry guys!
PART 1!!
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 what I find fabulous in every single one of them. If you'd like, just comment if you'd like to know any ideas I have and I'll be happy to throw out there any ideas that might help. :)
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
IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm so sorry, life has been so crazy and this is the largest batch so it took me a lot longer. I HAVE NOT seen the winners NOR have I opened my email, nor do I intend to until I've finished giving ALL of you guys the reviews you deserve. So the last batch will be coming hopefully within the next two days.
@Allison R. (Vista Over Rudiobus) : This is absolutely amazing. The colors are so soft, and the textures of the mountains and the forest are fantastic. And the Grey blue of the sky looks wonderful. My favorite parts by far are the composition and huge scope you've portrayed. Where you placed Eanrin on the Cliffside overlooking the "valley" is perfect, and placing him there gives off the impression of this huge epic scale, like his size in comparison in turn makes the viewer feel small and in awe of the hugeness before them. It's absolutely fantastic. :)
@Bret W. (A Friendly Proposition) : I'm not gonna lie, this one made me literally laugh out loud, effectively weirding out my family at my sudden outburst. This is amazing! It's so perfect! I didn't have to even look at the title to know exactly which scene this is from. And how you captured Eanrin and Glomar in pretty much the EXACT way I imagined them from reading the book is absolute genius. The environment is built wonderfully, and how you placed a photo or a painting as the farthest backdrop is super awesome. My favorite parts are definitely the lighting and our eccentric heroes' expressions. The warm lighting and beautiful high-contrast shadows look amazing, and it lights the characters perfectly! The expressions on their faces really complete the scene, they're hysterical! So appropriate and gut-bustingly funny! Terrific job! :)
@Jessica (Bard Eanrin of Rudiobus) : Oh my gosh, he's adorable! Absolutely adorable! No lies, I'm really super impressed. His proportions, his pose, the background, it's all phenomenal! I can't get over how you drew his body...All of it looks so incredibly beautiful! The curves of his body, paws, legs, tail, and markings all look so realistic! It's phenomenal! And the background! Oh my gosh, honey, I refuse to believe that you're twelve. This background is soo profoundly amazing! Your concept of space and distance are astounding, the textures, the trees, the ground, the details are all jaw-dropping! My favorite part is Eanrin's face, most specifically his eyes. There's so much depth, sparks of sadness and mischief in those eyes. It's wonderful. :)
@Melanie: Thank you so much for your amazing, encouraging, and sweet comments! These are so wonderful to have and it's such a blessing for you to give your time to everyone this way! Thank you for all the information on my movie! It's a big help!
Oh, and my brother, Bret, enjoyed your comments on his picture and voice as well. :)
God bless!
@Hannah : You're most welcome! I'm so happy that it ended up being a blessing to you! Your welcome! I'm sorry if I made it sound kinda confusing or strange, I hope I was of some help! :) Seriously, let me know if you have any more thoughts/questions! I'll do everything I can to help! Oh! I forgot! If I remember correctly, the animation was a teensy bit hard to hear, so don't be afraid to turn the volume of the voice clip up if you can, just be careful that it's not so loud that it starts to sound ear-burstingly fuzzy. But of what I could hear, your Eanrin did a super amazing job. :)
Really? Bret's your brother AND your voice actor?! Well tell him he did a super awesome job and he better keep doing stuff! I'll be looking for it! ;)
Now, your "Dragonwitch Book Teaser"...it was awesome. You pulled off the Teaser Trailer structure to perfection! The photos you used were incredibly appropriate and fit the content wonderfully. I could only watch it once thanks to low data and time constraints, so I can only do this from memory, and I'm sorry if my comments are short and lacking... Your structure still amazes me. And the voiceover...is that your voice set to a lower pitch? Whatever the case is, the voiceover is my favorite part. Whoever did your voiceover is a mind-blowingly fantastic voice actor. The emotion and inflection put into it is fabulous and makes the trailer really feel like a teaser trailer. I'm not positive what your reasons are for why you pitched the voice, so I can't judge anything on that regard. But it's my personal opinion that the voice is so good, that, personally, I don't think you need to pitch it differently. From what I can hear, I think it would sound just gorgeous if you left it the way it was and still have the same impact. Now again, I have no idea what your reasons were, so what do I know? Anyways, it was fantastic. -singsongs- I can't wait to see more of your stuff!! :)
Thank you, Melanie! Do you have a blog or something that I could contact you if I have any questions or problems to overcome?
Yes, my brother is super-awesome. He was very good to give his best imitation of Eanrin at my first request instead of sounding ridiculous and making me laugh against my will (he does that a lot).
I'm glad you enjoyed the teaser! I wish I had everything at hand to make what was REALLY in my head, but at least I got show an impression of what I wanted. Yes, that is my voice! *blush* I've read all five books aloud twice, so I'm really keen on getting the voices down. And yes, I lowered the pitch because I have a high voice on the computer and I wanted Hri Sora to sound like she has a deep, raw voice, not Miss Chipmunk (okay, the chipmunks an exaggeration.)
I hope to do more videos! Perhaps another animation where Bret and I can talk back and forth as Eanrin and Imraldera or someone. :D
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