arsnlartwerks says....
SPOTYMONKEY, I wanted to critique this piece the other night but I decided to hold off so I could organize my thoughts. The reason I only give " 5 " ratings is because I don't want to lower an artist's average rating, it serves no purpose. The idea you showed in depicting this scene from Snape's memory is spot-on in my opinion.
The up-close composition is exactly what I would have done because it's my favorite style of graphic art. The idea and composition deserves a " 5 " but if I had to give an overall rate it would have to be a " 4 " and here are my reasons why.

I know its probably just your style, but when you do tight, up-close comps you really shouldn't leave any dead space ( the blank area around her head and the hand ). My suggestion to this would be to simply fill in that space with Tuney's hair. If the hair was a shade darker and flowing around her face and Lily's hand it would have made the subjects pop out at the viewer. The eyes all beautiful, so my only criticism would be to not outline the sparkles, if they were not outlined it would create a 3-D effect. The shape of the mouth doesn't bother me at all, in fact I think it fits well with the emotion Tuney was feeling at the time ( a mixture of fear, repulsion, intrigue and jealousy ). The inside of the mouth could have been a shade or two darker, but no big deal. Hands are extremely hard to draw especially when you have to show perspective in a tight composition. I feel you did pretty well, I would have angled the wrist towards the corner and added a girly charm bracelet to help out in identifying the arm and hand belonging to a little girl. The flower doesn't give the impression of being affected by magic, maybe if it was floating above the palm and contorted in a slightly unnatural way, it would have given the proper effect. Giving Tuney pigtails is a good way of showing her age, but as a rule you really should only use a " free-floating " hairstyle in close-up comps. That way its free to flow off the edges of the page and you're not hacking off a pigtail distracting the viewer.

I don't know the type of paper you are using for your artwork, but for the medium you use, I recommend buying a sketchbook of CANSON WATERCOLOR PAPER. They have been making top quality art paper since 1557, ARTISTS LIKE VAN GOUGH, MATISSE AND OUR OWN FEATURED FAN ARTIST OF THE MONTH ( LILLYWMW ) used this paper for their artwork. I think it will greatly enhance the quality of your work.

I watched the VIDEOS you have posted on YOUTUBE and I am extremely impressed. I loved the TIN MAN vid, because ZOOEY DESCHANEL is 2nd on my HOT LIST behind EMMA WATSON. I have a personal request, I have absolutely no idea how to movie clip vid. It would really cool if you would make another HARRY POTTER video with the song WINTER BORN, by my favorite band since 1993, THE CRUXSHADOWS. There's a " 300 " video featuring that song ( search SPARTANS - WINTER BORN ) and once you hear the song you'll understand why I feel it would fit perfectly with HARRY POTTER.

I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT MY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ABOUT YOUR ART SHOWS MY RESPECT FOR YOU! ARSNL
07/20/08 | 05:32PM

Bella1951 says....
Very nice work! Petunia's eyes in particular are very well done. They're so wide that they creates almost a Disney effect. But that works for this picture! My one problem is that her lips are kind of oddly shaped. By the way, I agree with you ARSNL, everyone deserves a comment explaining reasons for bad ratings.
07/19/08 | 10:47AM

spotymonkey says....
Thank you ARSNL for all ur support, I agree with everything you wrote. I personally draw for myself and only myself and I post my pics because I like to share my work as is the purpose of fanart sites and if people are going to give a low rating to any artwork without an explanation that's just disrespectful
and wrong. everyone puts effort into their own work and shouldn't be put down just because people are cocky...
07/18/08 | 12:06AM