[Hekomi]

Please do not use this as a debate thread. Discuss the oekaki/drawing. Debates belong such as this belong in the Christian/Religion threads we already have.

Seriously commenting on the picture and then adding your opinion is the same thing. Comment SOLELY on the artwork.

[Equid Phantasm]

I dislike this picture for several reasons:

I'm not concerned if you don't like my art or not, you are one of 200,000 members, and your critique wasn't constructive, it was extremely picky and the way it was written and felt much more like an attack than a critique which it probably was and I hope you feel better about yourself, you're welcome Didn't bother me though, it's only words. You really make it sound like you expect this to be a piece I did by hand and scanned up to CS which is not anywhere near correct. Many of the things you mentioned have no basis in oekaki drawings, so I'll do my best to give you answers to your obvious attack.

First, it's done in Oekaki, not a real artwork copied to CS. Second, I used no references and since I haven't seen a horse close up in probably 25 years it's very well done. But seriously... have you ever heard of a cartoon or caricature or a semi-realism? When cartoons, semi-realisms and caricatures are drawn out they are very rarely anatomically correct completely, how else can you draw a "human" expression on an animal or add blush to emphasize anger? Animals do neither. And by the way, blush can appear almost anywhere on the face and horses don't blush, so that point was also mute... the one about the eye ridge... it's blush from her being angry, not a light accent.

This was not intended to be a real horse, it's my "character" Equid, and if you view my gallery (Which anyone really should do before making a critique like you did) you will see I do not have any problem with drawing horses. Here's one of my better realisms.


If you're wondering about the little banners on it, they are going to be removed at some point. It was a celebration of 500 likes on the artwork... yes, 500 people liked it... that's a whole lot of people that like my art on this site. Oh, but you probably thought they were part of it and shouldn't be there... they were added after I got 500 likes. Before you attack that one, check it's reference, only the background was made up. For your education, here's equid in a lineart. If you had looked at my gallery, Equid has over pronounced head, nostrils, eye and cheekbone, it's my own style and you can critique it all you want, it's my style and I like it.

that's just lines to show the emphasis that I mentioned.

The Christmas tree is faded into the background and vague intentionally to pop the other art and just the same is supposed to look out of focus, why do you think I used spray paint instead of lineart like the horse? it's done all the time. Much like a photographer completely blurring out a background. Whether the ornaments pop or not is no matter because it is not the focus of the picture. Why not mention there's no other background like presents or a table or a window or a wall or any other bg besides the tree, no you attacked the tree which is just added, not the focus of the artwork.

The piece of paper or whatever Equid has chewed on is just some random thing I placed in her mouth with the X- in it so it doesn't have to be perfect and as for the way it's shaded, have you ever seen anyone with something inside their mouth also talking... probably not... It's designed to represent the outline of the lower jaw because the horses's mouth is open as if speaking to it's audience and the whatever she has in her mouth is broken up a little and hanging over the side because she's chewed it up a bit. It looks fine, especially if it's poster board cardboard because that type shows thready material like substance when you tear it and it rarely tears perfectly and I had NO reference for any of the artwork, so how would one expect it to be perfect. (If you use reference, you have to quote the source, so go figure, you obviously didn't know that.)

Take a look around at the whole site and you'll see that NONE of the CS art is as anatomically so perfectly correct as you seem to want my art to look (Especially since it's a cartoon) and 2, seriously the letters... have you ever ever tried to do lettering in a program like oekaki, it's not easily done because the paint brushes (both of them) put color down in inconsistent stripes and you have to go back and edit out the extra paint or erase it and add paint where it did not put in paint. On the critique of it though... If you found a letter lower than the others it's because I had to move some letters around to make them fit instead of erasing and doing them again. But you wouldn't know this of course, you haven't used the oekaki. The letters took almost half the time of the art by the way. The color on the specific letters you mentioned was intended to be awkward and at different angles kind of thrown on paint, so I don't care if you didn't like that, it's the way I wanted it. AS for the color being outside the box, who cares if a little goes outside, it doesn't hurt the overall creation. I can easily, very easily in fact by your negative critique tell that you have never used a paint program or oekaki. (Why don't you go try it yourself... click on new drawing at the top left of the oekaki and let your computer bring up the oekaki drawing program... then you try to draw perfect straight, fully colored in letters and see where you get.)

The stocking cap is the same as any other holiday stocking cap and is drawn in the spirit of the season so that comment was out of place completely. Even devout Christians wear stocking caps. So what if it isn't perfect, I had no reference for it. Oh and you mentioned the head too high... take a look at your hair when it's pushed back by a stocking cap...it pulls the hair way back and so that was what I was implying and it's accurate.

I don't care where the light is coming from, mostly from the front and near side left due to the shadows being placed toward the rear so obviously, duh, it couldn't come from the tree which has very small led lights on it and would not provide a source of light on the near side of the horse. However in any given situation, shadows fall at different angles and shapes due to other light sources so your point is mute. There is never just one light source and set of shadows in a picture.

Before you go making such a huge negative only critique on a cartoon semi-realistic animal you should look around the site for reference. My horse creation "Equid" is no different than any other lineart on the site and shows how much effort I took in making a cartoon look realistic. I am fully aware of how the anatomy of a horse should look and this one was a cartoon character, so you are way overly disliking it for no reason. Obviously a person way over critiquing someone when they haven't used the program themselves is just not right.

Before you give such a huge negative critique, you must try the oekaki which I can tell you've never used. What I see here is an attack on the art, not a constructive criticism. None of the points you pointed out are really valid on a cartoon semi-realism. Especially the point about the background and signature. You really need to go try the oekaki before you make your next criticism on anyone.

Well, that's about all I can remember from your post, so you have a Merry Christmas.

[PortalShock]

Well said!

[AutumnTail]

Awesome!

[CaptainFirefly]

There are several things I like about this picture...


1. The cheek looks perfect and just the right shape for a CARTOON horse! This is obviuosly not intended to be realistical, and all the cartoon horses i've seen have had cute,plump,round little cheeks! ^^


2. The speech bubble has a very cute sqwiggle to it which looks adorable for the christmas-ness of it ( )


3. The "Christ" part in the speech bubble is so colorful and pretty! I love it!


4. The tree is obviously supposed to be blurred and off focus because it is in the background, the horse is supposed to be the main focus not the tree.

5. OBVIOUSLY, we can tell what the horse is holding in his mouth!

6. Cartoons can do anything,any were, any time! Even wear a santa hat!

7. The background it beautiful, I love all shades of blue and these two go together perfectly!

8. i don't think everyone studies what angle santa hats look on horses heads.

9. Cartoons are never specific species or breeds. What type of duck is Daphy Duck? What type of rabbit is Bugs Bunny? What type of pig is Porky Pig? The world may never know. What type of horse is Equid? She can be anything.

10. Nothing is perfect and there are thousands of different art styles in the world, everyone has their own unique style. Many people can have multiple styles of own they do there work. I know a girl who paints her lips and kisses the canvas to make her artwork. Im guessing you would say her lips aren't perfect, Richie? I would love to see you do better than any of Equids work. If art could kill,Richie, you'd be dead on the spot.



Your art is always beautiful, Equid!!


~Wolfy! ^_^

[Vargulf]

I dislike this picture for several reasons:

1. The "CHRIST" is done in too many colors, it makes it hard to read and almost seems to fade away which I think would be contrary to the religious message that the image is trying to convey. The angle of the stripes are not uniform they appear to start at a 45 degree angle and toward the end of the lettering they approach 10 or 20 degrees. It is very inconsistent.
2. The text otherwise isn't solid in color enough to make a statement - the pencil strokes allowing the white to show are distracting. The T in "NOT" sits higher than the NO.
3. The faded and blurry tree in the background seems rather flat. The balls on it don't hang properly. Three of them don't seem to be attached to the tree and one of the purple ones is particularly sharpened/focused more than the tree. The decorations don't extend to the lower level of the tree and what looks like brown tinsel is wrapped a little too tightly around the tree making it seem an unnatural positioning.
4. It's hard to tell what is in the horse's mouth. It doesn't have any particular dimensions. The colors on it make it difficult to tell what the material is. It looks like it is painted on to the bottom jaw or is stretched tight around the jaw and then it sticks out straight at the viewer. The only thing I can think of that might do this would be Styrofoam but the waves on the right of the green thing seem much different from the jagged parts of it on the left. The position of it in the mouth is awkward. The teeth don't quite hold it in place, it seems painted or draped in there, however the very top of it extends into the horses upper palate as if it were hovering.
5. It's hard to tell where the light source in this picture is coming from. The tree isn't giving off any. The light pink on the top of the cheek and bottom of the eye ridge are contrary to each other. The lack of a light source causes the entire picture to fall flat. That would be fine if this was done in a comic style, however what looks like shading on the green thing in the horses mouth seems contrary to that.
6. The hat: The hat on the horse doesn't lie naturally. If it is supposed to have holes for both ears it would sit forward across the brow. If it was made for one ear it would drape more down the side of the head. It also needs a lot more shading to define the fabric folds and the small poof at the end of the hat is a little too small. They are typically a pretty decent size. The curve of the end of the hat with the poof on it is over pronounced.
7. I don't understand why the horse would need a "Santa Hat"/hat commonly associated with Santa Clause, if the theme of the picture is to promote "Christ in Christmas". It makes the message confusing.
8. The bottom of the cheek rounds way too much like the horse has an orange lodged in its cheek. The top of the cheek is extending into the eye which makes it look strange and over the top. Placing the ears, nostrils, and eyes more naturally would give a better "angry" look to the face.
9. The eye is rather flat and it's hard to tell where the horse is actually looking. It needs more definition.
10. With the horse's nostrils, they flare at an awkward position by tilting forward instead of back. All of the features should sweep backward based on the positioning of the horse's head in an "angry" pose.
11. The hump on the top of the ears is too pronounced. It looks more like a floppy dog ear than a horse.
12. I am not sure what breed of horse this is supposed to be. My best guess would be an attempt at an Arabian - if that is so the eye brow needs to be more defined so that the eye flows into the dished face and forehead.
13. The forehead sits way too high up, even for an Arabian.
14. The background shading is awkward looking. It looks like the light blue was added after the rest of the picture. It has even overlapped the tree slightly on the right side of the tree. That background layer needs to be moved into the background. It needs to flow throughout the background. It looks choppy and confused on the bottom right part of the text bubble and the section where the signature is placed. The dark blue in those spots makes it look like an after thought addition to the picture instead of a purposefully placed background.
15. The text bubble leaks out of its outline in a couple places. It's shape is rather awkward as the font isn't center aligned. It's very lumpy looking. Text bubbles are usually symmetrical and sleeker looking. This one is rather lopsided.

Wow really?? You have the audacity to say anything to her and you haven't made not one drawing on here! And she is right it is just a cartoon nothing more...I would love to see you give this a whirl! She is one of the top not if one of the great artists on here and I ran into plenty of people who really have it and she does! So I'm going to tell you like it is because this is one herd leader that won't let you trample on one of my friends or favorite artist! SO STEP OFF!!!
Well I will leave it at that...by the way I love her Equid...it is cute as usual and I totally agree we have totally forgotten what Christmas is about and I can totally see the expression which is getting the point across! Marwari Christmas every one *Stomps front hoof* I'll be keeping an eye on you Ritchie420!

So think next time before you speak and remember this,

[Xiphire]

Well done! i truly love the art and don't worry Equid Phantasm people are just overreacting about the fact Christmas is Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year!

[Salamandaa]

Wow...So many debates going on here...

I'm just gonna be one of the good guys and say, awesome drawing ^^

[Daggett]

You'll always be a lovely artist hun, keep improving, you've come so far since Ioliar (which I didn't think was possible) <3

[diatomdude]

Very Nice! I love the horse's expression. Is Epic! xD In fact, this entire drawing is epic!

Oh and btw, not trying to extend the debate or cause problems I just thought I'd say that the letter "X" in Xmas actually wasn't originally meant to remove the "Christ", it's the letter form or something of the roman name for Christ, "Christos" I believe. And as it was originally Christ mass, or Christos mass, they merely replaced the "Christos" with it's symbol, "X" to shorten it in writing, but it was still meant to be said Christmas. Sorry Im a total nerd lol, not sure if it's 100% correct but it's pretty much the meaning. C: