Overall

Vision Vision

Originality Originality

Technique Technique

Impact Impact

I've seen this work pass through my devWatch several times now, but I didn't notice you had sought critique until recently.First off, congrats on the DD, it's definitely well deserved, if not a little overdue.Concerning this piece, I just have to come out and say it - the black bucket in the foreground character's left hand, it bothers me to no end. It just irks me that you have these gloriously designed characters who handle their weight quite well while maintaining the proper proportions for a human and a quadruped... and then these cylinders feel completely out of place. I would expect the red and purple buckets to have equivalent perspective since they are at approximately the same angle from the viewer, but the oval for the red is larger than for the purple. Similarly, the black bucket is hanging straight down from the paw (the handle suspension is vertical), but seems to have a far greater perspective angle than either of the adjacent cans, making it feel as if the can itself is deformed. I'd suggest drawing the handle at an angle to give the can a feeling of motion (as if it were swinging slightly as the character painted) if you were to return to this piece later.Although it's evident you spent most of your time on the characters, I can't say a whole lot about them. They are exceptionally well designed, as many of you characters are. The only thing I'd point out is that the foreground character's eye is a little hard to make out. Behind her hair and her cheekbone, it feels almost as if she is squinting evilly (ready to pounce) at her partner. But the other creature appears so innocent and doesn't respond to such an aggressive pose, I feel I am gravely misinterpreting her expression in her eyes. From whiskers to hair to fur, your style definitely brings the characters to life.Perhaps a note too on the background - I think the paint splatters do quite a bit to liven the picture up with color. It's actually rather interesting how you have these gray scale creates who manage to stand out with so much color around them. The splatters also nicely complement the background and do quite a bit to connect the background with the foreground. The background paint splatters are also a good focal point for when a user first glances at this image since it immediately identifies this work as pertaining to paint - the texture of the paint splatters brings this connection quickly to the viewer's forethought. Thus it then comes as no surprise as the user focuses on the detailed characters that they are playing with paints. The only thing I'd point out here would be the stark line connecting the floor with the background. While the floor seems realistic to a scene (as if they had spilled paints while working), the background appears metaphorical (simply that they are working with paints, and hadn't actually spilled on the walls). That's a tight line to cross (so to speak) and I'm not sure how one would actually go about linking the two portions of the scene into one other than what you have here. Putting in a floor railing to distinguish the floor from the wall would more clearly mark the background as a wall, but would also lose the abstraction that is the background paint since it would then be part of the scene and would be more difficult to pick up at a glance. And all in all, I'm most likely over thinking this portion of this piece. Your work has historically been about the characters themselves with usually very minimalistic scenes or color splashes behind them, and in that regard, I encourage you to keep exploring backgrounds in your work. While the characters are vital to telling a story or setting the mood of a piece, the background can play just as major a role in bringing the characters to life.Although it may not be your original intent, I find it interesting to perceive this work as a commentary on the design of furry creatures, in that their design past a certain point is completely arbitrary, so why shouldn't the characters be making it up as much as the artist who envisioned them? If the artist can choose where the coat markings will go, why shouldn't the characters do that as well? e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s… " width="15" height="15" alt="" title="(Smile)"/> Again, excellent work and congrats on the DD e.deviantart.net/emoticons/a/a… " width="31" height="19" alt="" title="Ahooooy Matey!"/>