Monthly Art Contest Poll [MAC #22 - Minimalism]

Hello! Due to how short February is, I've decided to make the poll now so we can wrap up everything to bring up the next MAC around March. So, let's get to voting for this month's MAC!

It seems this month's theme had a LOT of entries, so thank you everyone who entered and good luck!

The theme goes as follows:

Entries:

Cheeno

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The Knights of Wario Land

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ium

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ZapDraws

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Sæglópur

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andrew3391

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Juicy Fruit

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RitterCat

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Eagle4

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bluehoundoom

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CBMeadow

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Quanyails

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Domoz

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Eol

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ZcX

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Particular1

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NMx13

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Edacosis

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defno16

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Get to voting! The voting will end around February 25, 2013

Cheeno, saegolpur, CBMeadow and Edacosis' entries all stand out to me; they're excellent and certainly represent minimalism one way or the other. Good job to them!

Dirty liar, said it was going to end the 19th and so I was planning on making my sub this weekend. It's like the world is conspiring to punish me for my art procrastination each MAC.

Ah, well. Plenty of entries, good job everyone. Voting for the ones that emphasize a minimum of extraneous details, as minimalism is really about the barest you can do to make the point.

Now I just have to make sure Danmire doesn't killmurder me for not participating again. >_>

Loads of good ones. My favourites are Cheeno's and CBMeadow's but I will have to go with CBMeadow. GL All!

Critique:

@Cheeno One of my favourite entries, has a childish charm about it yet still looks professional. You've really nailed the colours, and the background is perfect, not only does it complement the image but suits the theme. To improve, there's just a tad which could be touched upon regarding shading, e.g. why is there some random grey line on his ball?

@TheKnightsOfWarioLand Still struggling to see quite how you were attempting to capture the theme here, however, it is a difficult theme and one I don't fully understand myself so fair enough. It's a sweet piece, brush up a nice background and remove some of the overlapping lineart and it'd be great. I'm not going to say neaten the lineart because I think it suits the whole style of the picture.

@ium Another of my favourite pieces, this one is sadly and undeservedly being ignored in the polls. Flawless lineart, unique style, great interpretation of the theme, lovely colours. Those flowers really stand out well! I can't really fault this piece, and it was so close to winning my vote.

@Zapdraws Again, another flawless display of lineart- albeit with a simply shape. That's really what let you down in my oppinion, yes the theme is minimalism, yes voltorb is about as simple as it gets. I would've liked to have seen you attempt to draw a more challenging pokemon in a minimalistic style, but what you have drawn is fantastic.

@Saeglopur A nice enough piece, yes it's simplistic, yes the colours are ok. But it just lacks something to stand out about it, there's no creative use of the theme, or particularly impressive drawing shown. One of the casualties of minimalism I guess. I think your choice of Diglett let you down, there's really not a lot you can do to repose something which is essentially a head in the ground.

@Andrew3391 Lineart's relatively clean, all drawn nicely in proportion, I'm a bit disappointed that you haven't even attempted to repose magnemite, its quite obvious where you drew your reference from really. Your shading as well, you really shouldn't leave gaps of colour in your shading, that's just not how light works, it should all come as a block if you're doing that style. Nice use of colours and background though.

@JuicyFruit Go home you're drunk.

@Rittercat One of the more interesting uses of the theme and certainly one of the most unique. My only problem being that there are also some other entries with some really great creative ideas, which have required a lot more effort in terms of the art, whereas yours is just rectangles coloured in - no offence, I guess it's just my bias against minimalism really.

@Eagle4 Try and work on your proportion in drawing, one of pikachu's feet looks bigger than the other, as does one side of his torso. It looks like his head is turned one way, his body another, and then his feet another again. Try using some reference photos to help you out. I'd also work on trying to clear up your lineart, especially on that lamp.

@Bluehoundoom I actually like your MAC entry quite a lot, except for that blue line which shows the outline of the front leg. I don't think its necessary and it clashes with the style of the piece. Either remove it and fill it with the base blue colour (people will assume the leg is there anyway from the position of the spike) or erase the line and let the black background fill the outline. It's also not terribly original, as I've seen something very similar to this style before. However what you've drawn is clean and well proportioned, so good stuff.

@CBMeadow Another of my favourite entries which I find hard to fault, my only problem being that his tail appears to go through his wing. Other than that, this is really original, really clean lineart and really well thought out. Great stuff.

@Quanyails Unfortunately I cannot award you the same originality as CBMeadow since although you both posted very close together, his was first by a time long enough for you to replicate a piece in similar style. Its a nice drawing, but the lineart is very jagged which I'm guessing is something to do with your programme or brush settings. But I can see that underneath you actually have quite a nice shape, I'd have liked to have seen more colour though.

@Domoz Another nice enough piece, but again lacking colour - the background is especiallly bland. In general though, your lighting and your lines are well drawn, and it does suit the theme. Good stuff.

@Eol Not a bad piece, but It feels like a clash of styles to me. The black background, bright colours and jagged lines speak more grunge than minimalism. I think if you'd opted for thick, clean lineart it would've worked better.

@Zcx @NMx13 Both are reasonably well drawn, but again it's a style I've seen before here and here, so I can't really credit you guys for originality. Nevertheless what you've both drawn is good, and although your shapes could do with a little smoothing you're getting towards some really solid performances.

@Edacosis Definitely one of the most unique and original, and for me it's so close to working really well. But I think you've just lost a bit too much of which pokemon it is (I'm hoping empoleon), and it could do with being a little more easily recognisable as a pokemon. I do like it though.

@Defno16 My winning vote. Just an all round incredible entry really, deserving of a win for the detail to the eyes and the lips, if you want a lesson in realism - look no further. Again it follows the theme well, you can tell what pokemon it is (Jynx) despite most of the face being blank white. I love the monocolour effect as well, makes it look very professional. The lineart is clean, the shading is fantastic. Once again, notice the sharpness of detail around the eye, immediately it draws your focus to the most impressive part of the painting. I know from experience - and I'm sure many more here do as well- how hard it is to paint an eye and make it look realistic, which only adds to the impressiveness of this piece. For these reasons, it gets my vote.


The standards of art this round are incredible, hopefully the next one will be as good.

@Juicy Fruit- Ritter's image is based of this. Therefore, it does actually follow the theme of minimalism.

I voted for a lot of people, so many good ones!
I think my favorite was CBMeadow, it just stands out to me from all the rest. It fits the theme well and the lineart is quick and smooth, good job!

And thanks Juicy for the mini critiques, I don't think I've seen anyone do that before, and it's nice to know how I could've improved, so thanks! c:

I know, its one of the entries which follows the theme most closely. Nevertheless my oppinion still stands, but thank you for pointing that out.

.. Wow.. I'm happy; And surprised to get likes on my submission. Thank you.

@JuicyFruit: Thank you. I was trying to make that smudgy childish watercolor effect so I put random water spillage blots on some spots.

I really like CBMeadow and Juicy Fruits enrty. As the first entry submission, i thought that my work was minimalistic enough, haha, but I never thought it could get as minimal and meaningful as both your entries.

I like Edacosis's and RitterCat's entry too but it feels more Abstract than Minimalist to me.

thanks for the critique Juicy Fruit, you're absolutely right on mine. I was sloppy (and lazy) and didn't worry about tying up lose ends. On another note, I really like yours, RitterCat, and also Edacosis. RitterCat's made me smile and Edacosis' is just frikkin sweet :)

This is really fun! I will definately enter the next MAC as well (and maybe have a more serious attempt). Edacosis won my vote, that Empoleon is sweet!

Yeah, I admit I did think that I struggled a bit with keeping the theme in my submission, and it prolly would've worked better in another MAC (like the last one).

The other ones are really creative though, most of my favorites have already been stated.

Voting is over! Check the mega thread for the winners.