Hi! I found your art on a critique thread so I thought I would share my critique here for you!



What's good:

>I absolutely adore this piece to bits. It looks so pretty and it gives me such a wave of nostalgia from my childhood and I think that makes me like the piece even more.



>My first thought when I saw your piece was that the colour scheme of the background is gorgeous and I am in love with how well all of the colours go together and create a pretty sunset. (Or is it a sunrise? I'm unsure sorry aha) The background really makes the whole piece and it looks stunning.



>The detail and definition on Totoro is also amazing. I love the little subtle hints of the texture of his fur and even though it's subtle it has a dramatic impact and makes Totoro really aesthetically pleasing to the eye!



To improve:

>As much as I love your background I think a few of the clouds at the top of your piece seem too stiff and not very cloud like. They sort of look solid and round rather than fluffy like the clouds in the middle of your piece and I think the top clouds would look more realistic if you fluff them up a bit and add some texture.



>As well as, I am very confused as to what the bottom half of your background is. Is it water or is it more clouds? If you were to draw this again I think you should try to define it a bit more so it's clear whether it's clouds or a body of water.



>Your lighting and shading is very confusing. The main light source is obviously of the sun in the background however there seems to be a light source in front and slightly above Totoro for there to be shadows under the children the way it is. However, it seems really unlikely that there's a second light source and so the front side of Totoro should be in the shade.