Review #5: Sparklewand12

Second out of four requested reviews is the review of Sparklewand12. Kirsten started off with a swimwear line called Tidal and was later on chosen as a contestant for the first cycle of SDNTGD and ended up on fifth place. With help of SDNTGD's judges and a lot of practicing, she has improved a lot indeed, but the real question is, how good is she now?

Two recent graphics:

Review:

On the first sight, her graphics look rather amazing. Her skin shading technique is balanced, but very basic. On the top right graphic, for example, we can see that a highlight goes in a pretty much straight line with the same "thickness" and opacity all the way down her arm, thus it looks rather unrealistic. Her technique of drawing and shading hair seems to have improved a lot, it is alright now, but the hair still does not look like she spent a lot of time on it, it isn't very detailed. I can tell she tries to shade her clothes the way they would reflect light in reality, but sometimes she fails, and the shading turns out rather odd. When it comes to shading the neck area, the shading looks very blurry, almost like it was done in a hurry. Highlights are supposed to be there, too, but they do not make much sense when they are misplaced. Her backgrounds are always white(or any other solid color).

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve?

First thing I'd probably recommend is to keep on improving, obviously. Work on your shading technique in general and do not always choose the same model - yourself. Choose models with lighter and darker skin, as weird as it may sound, I feel like you've gotten too acclimatized on a specific skin tone, which is not always a good thing. 

Also, I'd like you to get more risky with your selection of clothes. If I was you, I'd find some good reference pictures and practice drawing and shading - clothes and hair. 

When it comes to shading a neck, it is better to stick to a basic shading (maybe even Stardoll's?) and draw the collarbones, than to completely change up the shading and make it blurry and odd-looking. 

Try to incorporate some bright colors into your graphics and do not stick to pastels, greys and whites. They might be trendy, but too much of them can make a graphic look plain, or even sad!

And last, but not least - your models are always makeupless. Give makeup a chance!
I'd love to see some graphics from scratch, but I think you may not be ready for those yet.

Blog link?

http://sparklewand12graphics.blogspot.com/ 

Do they provide graphic tutorials?

No, Kirsten does not provide graphic tutorials.

Do they take requests?

Kirsten is currently too busy to take those, however, her prices are really affordable and you can check them out HERE.

RATE

Improvement: 6/10

First impression: 8/10

Shading technique in general: 6/10

Proportions/anatomy: 8/10

Custom poses: 0/10

Hair: 6/10

Medoll/face shading: 5/10

Clothes shading: 6/10

Attention to detail: 5/10

Background choice: 1/10

Sparklewand12 scored a total of 51%!

Graphic level: Decent

Review #3: LadyGagaMcQueen

My very next victim is the french graphic designer, owner of Victor&Klaus and a contestant of the second cycle of SDNTGD, LadyGagaMcQueen a.k.a. Amanda Lucy! She's started off with writer banners for Beg For More and went onto designing her own fashion line, Victor&Klaus! Let's take a look at her graphics, shall we?

Two recent graphics:

 

Review:

My honest opinion of her graphics would be, they're nothing special, but damn, look at her SDNTGD task entry above! Now that's something decent, isn't it? She seems to do a good job when it comes to recreating real-life images (poses, clothes), but sadly it looks like she is facing trouble when drawing clothes off of scratch, such as for her fashion line (top left graphic). Clothes look very basic, there is no or barely any folds to make them look more realistic, while on the top right graphic, which is a real-life recreation, we can see how well she pulled off the folds in clothes. Her hair designs are basic, nothing surplus. Looking all the way through her blog, I even found an old graphic, portraying what seems to be a custom pose, and it wasn't that good. But hey, at least she gave it a try! Amanda's skin shading technique is unbalanced, with some lowlights but no clearly visible highlights. She usually creates backgrounds by herself, but sometimes uses Stardoll's interiors as well.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

 

What to improve?

Practice clothes! Try to put folds into your own designs to get rid of that plastic feel! I'd also recommend you to try out different hair designs and structures! Loose curls, buns, plaits, try a bit of everything! When shading skin, increase the opacity of highlights to balance out your shading technique. Try to draw custom poses, you can take a photo of yourself or anybody else and use it as a reference picture, if needed. 

Blog link? 

http://ladygagamcqueen.blogspot.com/

Do they provide graphic tutorials?

No, Amanda Lucy does not provide any graphic tutorials.

Do they take requests?

Yes, Amanda Lucy takes requests and your best bet is to contact her through her guestbook. My guess is that her prices depend on complexity of your request.

RATE

Improvement: 10/10
First impression: 6/10
Shading technique in general: 5/10
Proportions/Anatomy: 6/10
Custom poses: 2/10
Hair: 5/10
Medoll/face shading: 4/10
Clothes shading: 4/10
Attention to detail: 5/10
Background choice: 6/10

  

LadyGagaMcQueen scored a total of 53%!
Graphic level: Decent

Review #1: Doggy_Starpuppy

I decided to start off with a seemingly very busy graphic designer, Doggy_Starpuppy, whose real name is Julie Carol, but often refers to herself as Harley Quinn. Why so, still puzzles me.

Two recent graphics:

Review:
Her graphics do not seem to be anything special and often lack attention to detail. She does not seem to have a well balanced shading technique; model's legs in the very first shown graphic are over-highlighted and not shaded at all, which is and looks wrong in so many ways. Models' faces do, color-wise, not match their body, which is very sloppy and could easily be fixed with use of the Color Picker Tool! Hair seems to be one of her weakest points as she always draws the same kind of a hairstyle, yet still fails to make it look Stardoll like. Another disappointmet, she does not seem to work or have any experience with custom poses, everything seems to be a re-designed magazine page. My very first impression when I took a look at a few thumbnails of her graphics was quite good, however, it was ruined as soon as I zoomed in. As a background, she often uses compositions and interiors off of Stardoll, which lately seems to be trending. Depending on the fact that she does possess a pen tablet, she could do much more.

Two oldest graphics I've found:

What to improve:

Try to balance out your shading technique, girl! Two, three layers at maximum of highlights and about the same amount of lowlights shall do the job! Barely anybody can make shiny graphics work! Try to make a custom pose and hit me up with it, try to look for a tutorial if you face any trouble. To match model's body color with her face color, try using the colorpicker tool, which is available everywhere - even in Paint! Try different hair styles!

Blog link?

http://www.julie-graphics.blogspot.com/

Do they provide graphic tutorials?
No, Julie Carol does not provide tutorials in any shape or form.

Do they take requests?

Yes, Julie Carol takes requests! Her prices vary between 20 and 30 Stardollars and are negotiable. The also accepts payment in Starcoins and takes custom requests (which she charges depending on complexity). For more info, click HERE.

RATE

 

Improvement: 2/10

First impression: 8/10

Shading technique in general: 5/10

Proportions/Anatomy: 9/10

Custom poses: 0/10

Hair: 6/10

Medoll/face shading: 1/10

Clothes shading: 7/10

Attention to detail: 3/10

Background choice: 9/10

Doggy_Starpuppy scored a total of 50 points, which is equal to 50%!
Graphic level:  Decent